Hysteresis Control 3-Level SI-NPC Inverter with Wind Energy System

Abstract

The system is a 3-level Neutral point clamped hysteresis current controlled Inverter with Wind energy as power source. The input DC Power for the multi-level inverter is drawn from wind turbine generator connected through a rectifier circuit. An inductor has been introduced for smoothening the DC output from the rectifier. The inverter uses Neutral Point Clamped topology. The switching pulses for the inverter are achieved by hysteresis current control technique. This system is advantageous over the conventional SPWM based system as the hysteresis current control allows to reduce the low frequency harmonics while also allowing to control the fundamental amplitude depending on frequency. The outputs for the system are verified using MATLAB simulations. The hardware for Hysteresis current control for the inverter is implemented by using a dSPIC microcontroller. The proposed system can be implemented in households for supplying backup power in case of power shortage and can also be used as a primary power source if wind flow is abundant. It is easy to implement, economical and provides clean energy. Keyword:Diode-clamped three level inverter (DC-TLI) Wind Energy System Hysteresis Current control dSPIC microcontroller Copyright © 2017 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.All rights reserved.Corresponding Author:R. Palanisamy, Departement of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SRM University, Kattankulathur, Chennai Email: krspalani@gmail.com INTRODUCTIONIn the midst of the current energy crisis, the need for the use of Renewable energy sources has become utterly important for driving mankind and his machines. Reckless exploitation of the non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels since the Industrial age has caused an alarming downfall in the reserves of non-renewable sources of energy besides deteriorating the environment to a critical level [1]. Among various such renewable sources such as solar energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy and others, wind energy is one of the cleanest and efficient forms of energy. Wind energy can be generated in any part of the world where suitable environmental and terrain conditions can be achieved. Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, variations in the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. The kinetic energy of wind can be converted to electrical energy to meet our requirements using a wind turbine [2]. Wind energy is the second fastest growing source of electrical energy in the world with a capacity of 432,883 MW (till the end of 2015).The general structure of multilevel inverter is to integrate a sinusoidal voltage from several levels of voltage. It consists of an array of semiconductor devices and capacitor voltage sources, with output voltage in a stepped manner. In such inverters, parameters such as voltage magnitude can be controlled and harmonics can be supressed. Power rating can be enhanced by increasing the voltage level [3]. The concept of Multilevel inverters aims to reduce the harmonic content in output waveform w...