Design of a Medium Voltage Generator with DC-Cascade for High Power Wind Energy Conversion Systems

Jonas Steffen, Sebastian Lengsfeld, Marco Jung, Bernd Ponick, Mercedes Herranz Gracia, Aristide Spagnolo, Markus Klöpzig, Klaus Schleicher and Klaus Schäfer
Additional contact information
Jonas Steffen: Department Converters and Drive Technology, Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology, 34119 Kassel, Germany
Sebastian Lengsfeld: Department Converters and Drive Technology, Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology, 34119 Kassel, Germany
Marco Jung: Department Converters and Drive Technology, Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology, 34119 Kassel, Germany
Bernd Ponick: Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics, Leibniz University Hannover, 30167 Hannover, Germany
Mercedes Herranz Gracia: Corporate Technology, Siemens AG, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Aristide Spagnolo: Corporate Technology, Siemens AG, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Markus Klöpzig: Corporate Technology, Siemens AG, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Klaus Schleicher: Corporate Technology, Siemens AG, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Klaus Schäfer: Flender GmbH, Vogelweiherstr. 1-15, 90441 Nürnberg, Germany

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: This paper shows a new concept to generate medium voltage (MV) in wind power application to avoid an additional transformer. Therefore, the generator must be redesigned with additional constraints and a new topology for the power rectifier system by using multiple low voltage (LV) power rectifiers connected in series and parallel to increase the DC output voltage. The combination of parallel and series connection of rectifiers is further introduced as DC-cascade. With the resulting DC-cascade, medium output voltage is achieved with low voltage rectifiers and without a bulky transformer. This approach to form a DC-cascade reduces the effort required to achieve medium DC voltage with a simple rectifier system. In this context, a suitable DC-cascade control was presented and verified with a laboratory test setup. A gearless synchronous generator, which is highly segmented so that each segment can be connected to its own power rectifier, is investigated. Due to the mixed AC and DC voltage given by the DC-cascade structure, it becomes more demanding to the design of the generator insulation, which influences the copper fill factor and the design of the cooling system. A design strategy for the overall generator design is carried out considering the new boundary conditions.

Keywords: wind energy conversion systems (WECS); permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG); DC-cascade; power rectifier; medium voltage insulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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