Carlos Reusser

By Carlos A. Reusser

The introduction of renewable energy resources since the late 1990s as an alternative to fossil energies has impact the development of wind energy and its integration to the grid. From the early 2000s, the wind energy has positioned itself as the most grown-up energy market in the world. This fact has introduced the need to deal with increasing power demands with limited generation capabilities, in terms of generator power density, for low rotation speeds and medium voltage generation within a grid interconnection in high voltage, and other grid code demands, like THD, power factor regulation, and the requirement of continuous operation under faulty condition. Until today, this issue has been solved using classical power converter topologies, using three-level voltage source converters (3LVSC) or multilevel configurations, such as neutral point clamped and cascaded H-Bridge topologies. In this chapter, the main advantages and drawbacks of classical multilevel converter topologies are analyzed, in terms of their DC-link voltage stability capability and different approaches to DC-link control and to new converter topologies, derived from classical topologies, are presented and compared with simulation results.

Part of the book: Vibration Analysis and Control in Mechanical Structures and Wind Energy Conversion Systems

By Carlos A. Reusser

The yet growing demand for higher demanding industrial applications and the global concern about harmful emissions in the atmosphere have increased the interest for new developments in electric machines and power converters. To meet these new requirements, multiphase machines have become a very attractive solution, offering potential advantages over three-phase classical solutions. Multiphase machine’s power demand can be split over more than three phases, thus reducing the electric field stress on each winding (protecting the insulation system) and the requirements on maximum power ratings, for semiconductor devices. Moreover, only two degrees of freedom (i.e. two independently controllable currents) are required for independent flux and torque control. Due to the previous facts, the use of multiphase drives has become very attractive for applications and developments in areas such as electric ship propulsion, more-electric aircraft, electric and hybrid electric road vehicles, electric locomotive traction and in renewable electric energy generation. As a consequence of this multiphase drive tendency, the development of power converter topologies, capable of dealing with high power ratings and handling multiphase winding distributions, has encourage the development of new converter topologies, control strategies and mathematical tools, to face this new challenge.

Part of the book: Electric Power Conversion