Modern electric machines and drives for wind power generation: A review of opportunities and challenges

Abstract

With ever-increasing concerns on energy crisis and environmental protection, there is a fast-growing interest in wind power generation systems. As electric machines and drives are core components in wind turbines, it is a pressing need for researchers and engineers to develop advanced electric machines and drives for wind power generation. This paper provides a thorough review of modern electric machines and drives for wind power generation, with emphasis on machine topologies, operation principles, performance characteristics, as well as control strategies. The key features of electric machines and drives including their merits and demerits, e.g. torque/power density, efficiency, and cost, are compared and summarised. Trade-offs involved in various presented methods and strategies are highlighted. The major challenges and difficulties, which electric machines and drives for wind power generation are facing, are discussed. Moreover, the developing trends and opportunities are revealed, while the latest development is also discussed.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

On the Design and Topology Selection of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generators for Natural Impedance Matching in Small-Scale Uncontrolled Passive Wind Generator Systems

“…Seeing that the machine selection was for a low-speed direct-drive application, PMSGs with fractional-slot concentrated (non-overlapping) windings are very attractive [22]. Nonoverlapping winding PMSGs (NO-PMSGs) have shorter end-winding lengths, resulting in less copper losses and a more compact mechanical structure [23].…”

Integration of Switched Reluctance Generator in a Wind Energy Conversion System: An Overview of the State of the Art and Challenges

“…In other words, the worldwide energy production has been shifting to renewable energy sources to avoid collateral damages such as climate change. In this framework, wind energy conversion systems (WECS) are becoming in fact the most rapidly growing renewable energy source in the world, and have gained interest among key academic and industry research communities [1,2]. The rated power of commercial wind turbines have increased exponentially during the last decades [1], as presented in Figure 1.…”

“…In this framework, wind energy conversion systems (WECS) are becoming in fact the most rapidly growing renewable energy source in the world, and have gained interest among key academic and industry research communities [1,2]. The rated power of commercial wind turbines have increased exponentially during the last decades [1], as presented in Figure 1. We highlight the availability of a 16 MW rated wind turbine at the end of 2021.…”

Non-Conventional, Non-Permanent Magnet Wind Generator Candidates

“…However, their low PM energy product and vulnerability to Thus, to keep the turbine size compact is often an objective of careful drivetrain selection and wind generator type. The rare-earth permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) are very reliable and have been trending in recent times, especially for direct-drive wind power generation [6,10]. This is due to the fact that PMSGs produce a very hightorque density and exhibit a high efficiency, which make them the mainstay technology for direct-drive systems [8].…”

“…Alternatively, conventional non-PM generators such as the electrically excited synchronous generator (EESG) and doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) have been developed and are widely used in wind turbine applications [10], where EESGs have been deployed as a low-speed direct-drive machine with an overall good generator efficiency while being less costly. However, windings on the both rotor and stator make high-power EESGs overly weighty and, with regards to DFIGs, transmission of 20-30% power over slip-rings (say 3 MW for a 10 MW wind turbine) is quite challenging (considering potential arcing and maintenance issues).…”