IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 2, NO.

4, DECEMBER 2014

739

Full-Scale Modeling, Control, and Analysis of

Grid-Connected Wind Turbine Induction
Generators With Back-to-Back
AC/DC/AC Converters
George C. Konstantopoulos, Member, IEEE, and Antonio T. Alexandridis, Member, IEEE

Abstract A model-based dynamic analysis of a variable-speed

wind generator system consisting of an induction generator
connected to the grid through a full power frequency converter
is conducted. To this end, a nonlinear modeling of the entire
system is used in a manner that permits a novel controller
design with common structure for both the generator- and gridside converters. The proposed controller, acting directly on the
duty-ratio inputs of the converters, ensures the boundedness
of the duty-ratio signals in the permitted range although its
structure is independent from the system parameters and open
to different control objectives. Therefore, maximum power point
tracking and power factor correction are easily implemented.
Furthermore, the controller is proven to guarantee stability of
the whole system under field- or near-field-oriented conditions
without needing any flux measurement or estimation. Hence,
the main contribution established by this approach is that a
rigorous stability analysis taking into account the generator,
converters, dc link, and controller dynamics is presented on
the basis of a complete system modeling and controller design
approach. The theoretical analysis and controller effectiveness are
confirmed via extended simulation results for a commercial size
2-MW induction generator operating under varied wind speed
conditions and are further validated on a similar system with
real-time results.
Index Terms AC/DC/AC converter bounded control,
nonlinear analysis, squirrel-cage induction generator (SCIG)converter modeling, stability, wind power systems.

I. I NTRODUCTION

HE high penetration of renewable energy sources to

the electrical power systems has lead wind energy to
represent one of the mainstream and most promising solutions
in modern power systems applications. This fact has an
immediate impact on the analysis, modeling, and design of
grid-connected wind turbines (WTs) with basic aim being, the

Manuscript received January 30, 2014; revised April 8, 2014; accepted

May 4, 2014. Date of publication May 19, 2014; date of current version
October 29, 2014. Recommended for publication by Associate Editor
B. Shao.
G. C. Konstantopoulos is with the Department of Automatic Control and
Systems Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, U.K.
(e-mail: g.konstantopoulos@sheffield.ac.uk).
A. T. Alexandridis is with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Patras, Rion 26500, Greece (e-mail:
a.t.alexandridis@ece.upatras.gr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JESTPE.2014.2325676

most efficient and reliable operation. Nowadays, since variable

speed is the standard technique for the WT operation, a backto-back ac/dc/ac converter is used as a basic circuit structure in
the link between the wind generator and electric grid [1][4].
Particularly, in variable-speed mode, induction generators are
widely used in two basic types: 1) the squirrel-cage induction
generator (SCIG); and 2) the doubly fed induction generator
(DFIG) [1], [5][11]. Although until now, DFIG WT schemes
constitute the majority of variable-speed applications, SCIG
schemes is expected to be the most important in the near
future due to the following facts: 1) the high-efficiency and
the low-cost installation and maintenance of the SCIG; and
2) the continuing reduced cost of the power electronic devices
even in higher power levels, since the SCIG connection to the
grid is implemented using a full-scale back-to-back ac/dc/ac
frequency converter.
Both the generator-side and grid-side converters consist of
three-phase IGBT controlled ac/dc switching power devices.
In this scheme, the converters control inputs, namely the dutyratio signals of each converter, are actually used to drive the
system at the desired operation. As pulse-width-modulation
(PWM) is the standard technique used to implement the dutyratio performance, it becomes evident that the controller design
has to satisfy all the constraints imposed by such an operation,
i.e., to create a bounded signal [12] that in the frame of linear
modulation [13] can effectively achieve the desired performance. On the other hand, the induction generator dynamics
should be taken into account. As it is well-known, the most
common control technique for an induction machine is the
indirect rotor field-oriented control (IR-FOC) method that has
been widely used in the induction motor case [13], [14].
IR-FOC is a complex and demanding technique, which has
been developed on the dq synchronously rotating reference frame. According to this method, the reference frame
alignment with respect to the rotor flux state is required
in order to simplify the electromagnetic torque expression
as in a separately excited dc machine [13][15]. In this
way, the maximum power extraction is achieved from the
optimum torque as determined by the WT aerodynamics.
To this end, several techniques have been used [16][18],
known as maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques
that eventually provide the rotor speed reference with respect
to the wind speed. This task is realized at the generator-side

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IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 2, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2014

converter, whereas the aim of the grid-side converter is to

achieve unity power factor operation and dc-bus voltage regulation. In both sides, proportional-integral (PI) controllers
are often used in a single and cascaded structure as well
[19], [20], whereas external (dynamic) limiters are important
for maintaining a desired PWM operation for each converter
(i.e., linear modulation [13]). Additionally, decoupling terms
are also introduced to simplify the analysis of the complete
system; a fact that increases the system sensitivity to parameter
variations.
Although several control methods have been proposed for
a grid-connected WT energy system, to the best of our
knowledge, the stability of such a system has not yet been fully
considered. The converter dynamics are often omitted from the
analysis [21][26], whereas in cases where they are included
in the complete system, small-signal model and linearization
methods are used, which decrease the validity of the stability
analysis. Since both the induction generator and converter
dynamics are nonlinear, it becomes clear that nonlinear control design and analysis is essential for guaranteeing global
stability for the required WT operation. Nonlinear Lyapunovbased and passivity-based techniques have been proposed
for ac/dc converter systems [27][29], but they cannot be
analytically expressed when the induction generator dynamics
are included in the system. Intelligent techniques have been
also applied [30], but their structure cannot guarantee stability
for the closed-loop system and are not suitable in this case
where the system model, though nonlinear, is well-known and
an operators experience does not exist.
In this paper, a nonlinear system analysis is developed for
the complete system consisting of a SCIG wind generator and
a back-to-back ac/dc/ac converter connected to the grid. The
analysis is based on the full-scale nonlinear model of the entire
system and on a novel bounded design for the controllers in
both the converters sides. As shown in this paper, the controller
design is based on a common module structure for both the
converters sides (generator side and grid side), although the
control objectives are different. It is proven that the proposed
controller is fully independent from the system parameters and
directly provides the duty-ratio input of the converters exactly
in the permitted range that ensures linear modulation. These
controller features are essential since they maintain a simple
and parameter-free structure while they significantly improve
the performance with respect to the traditional PI and cascaded
PI controllers, which require external dynamic limiters. In our
case, adopting for the generator-side converter, the IR-FOC
technique through steady-state conditions, the main tasks of
the duty-ratio d, q components are determined as current
and speed regulations that ensure flux orientation in steadystate and MPPT operation, respectively. In a similar way,
adopting voltage-oriented control techniques for the grid-side
converter, the main tasks of the duty-ratio d, q components
are determined again as current and voltage regulations that
achieve unity power factor and constant dc-voltage operation,
respectively. Additionally, closed-loop system stability, firstly
in the sense of input-to-state boundedness and secondly as
convergence to the desired equilibrium, is proven for the
complete converter-generator system, even in cases where,

due to parameter variations, field orientation is not accurately

achieved [31]. According to the best of our knowledge, this is
the first time that nonlinear stability is proven for the complete
dynamic system of a grid-connected SCIG with a back-toback power converter operating under bounded controllers and
without needing any flux measurement or estimation. Extended
simulation results of a 2-MW SCIG system are provided by a
detailed model, developed by us on a MATLAB/SIMULINK
environment, to verify the efficiency of the proposed controller
under different wind speed values. To further evaluate the proposed controller performance, real-time results are additionally
presented as these are extracted using a similar SCIG, in pu,
using the OPAL-RT system.
In the following sections and particularly in Section II, the
dynamic model of the grid-connected SCIG with a back-toback converter is obtained using nonlinear average analysis of
the switching devices. In Section III, the WT aerodynamics
and IR-FOC theory are briefly presented. In Section IV,
the nonlinear controller is proposed and its properties are
analyzed. In Section V, the analysis of the closed-loop system
is given under the proposed control scheme wherein a rigorous
stability analysis is included. In Section VI, simulation results
of a 2-MW SCIG system and additional real-time results are
presented. Finally, in Section VII, some conclusions are drawn.
II. C OMPLETE SCIG AND BACK - TO -BACK
C ONVERTER M ODEL
Fig. 1 shows the WT system of a SCIG connected to the grid
through a back-to-back ac/dc/ac converter. The power converter system consists of two conventional three-phase ac/dc
voltage source converters linked through the dc-link capacitor
C. The dc-link resistance Rdc represents the parasitic resistance (in M) of the capacitor combined with the resistance
of the dc-chopper that is often applied in real applications.
A boosting inductor L g with series resistance Rg are assumed
between the grid-side converter and grid bus.
In order to study the dynamic behavior of the whole SCIGconverter system, the widely used dynamic equations of the
induction machine are used in the synchronously rotating dq
reference frame, after applying Park transformation [13]


Rr L 2m
Rr L m

+ Rs i ds + e i qs +
dr
i ds =
2
Lr
L r2
Lm
+
pqr r + 2m ds Vdc
Lr


Rr L 2m
Rr L m
iqs =
+
R
qr
s i qs e i ds +
2
Lr
L r2
Lm

pdr r + 2m qs Vdc
Lr
Rr L m
Rr
i ds
dr + (e pr )qr
dr =
Lr
Lr
Rr L m
Rr
qr =
i qs
qr (e pr )dr
Lr
Lr
3L m
3L m
Jm r =
pqr i ds +
pdr i qs br Tm (1)
2L r
2L r
where = L s L 2m /L r . States i ds , i qs , and dr , qr are
the d-axis and q-axis components of the stator currents and

KONSTANTOPOULOS AND ALEXANDRIDIS: GRID-CONNECTED WT INDUCTION GENERATORS WITH BACK-TO-BACK AC/DC/AC CONVERTERS

Fig. 1.

741

Schematic diagram of a grid-connected SCIG wind power system.

rotor fluxes, respectively, Vdc is the dc-link capacitor voltage,

m ds = Vds /(2Vdc ), m qs = Vqs /(2Vdc ) are the d-axis and
q-axis duty-ratio components of the grid-side converter with
Vds and Vqs representing the d-axis and q-axis components
of the stator voltage. Parameters Rs and Rr are the stator and
rotor resistances, respectively, e is the synchronous speed
(reference frame), r is the rotor speed, and p is the number
of pole pairs. The stator and rotor inductance are noted as
L s and L r , respectively, whereas L m represents the mutual
inductance. Finally, Jm is the total SCIG-WT inertia, b is the
friction coefficient, and Tm is the mechanical torque at the
rotor of the induction generator.
Continuing with the dynamics of the back-to-back converter
with the dc-link, in the synchronously rotating dq reference
frame, the following nonlinear model is added to the SCIG
model:
L g id = Rg i d + s L g i q 2m dg Vdc + Vd
L g iq = Rg i q s L g i d 2m qg Vdc + Vq

and the initial angle phases of each inverter phase-a output

voltage




m qs
m qg
, g = arctan
.
(5)
s = arctan
m ds
m dg
Additionally, in most converter applications, it is preferred the
converter to operate with linear modulation [13] in order to
avoid the existence of higher harmonics. This means that
m as 1, m ag 1

Vdc
(2)
Rdc
where i d , i q , Vd , and Vq are the d-axis and q-axis components
of the grid currents and voltages, respectively, and s is
the grid frequency. Parameters m dg = Vdg /(2Vdc ), m qg =
Vqg /(2Vdc ) are the d-axis and q-axis duty-ratio components
of the generator-side converter, where Vdg and Vqg are the
d-axis and q-axis components of the grid-side converter output
voltage.
Assuming that the phase-a grid voltage is aligned with the
q-axis, which is the common scenario for the grid-side converter, it holds true that Vd = 0 and Vq = Vm , where Vm is
the peak value of the grid phase voltage.
By combining (1) and (2), one can easily show that the
complete system, shown in Fig. 1, can be described in the
nonlinear dissipative Hamiltonian form
C Vdc = 3(m dg i d + m qg i q m ds i ds m qs i qs )

M x = (J (x, m ds , m qs , m dg , m qg ) R)x + 

1) M is constant, symmetric and positive definite; 2) J is

skew-symmetric; and 3) R is constant, symmetric, and positive
definite.
Finally, the duty-ratio d, q components of the control inputs
can be combined to provide the modulation indexes of the
generator- and grid-side converter, respectively


(4)
m as = m 2ds + m 2qs , m ag = m 2dg + m 2qg

(3)

where x = [ i ds i qs dr qr r i d i q Vdc ]T is the state vector,

 = [ 0 Vm 0 0 (2/3)Tm 0 0 0 ]T is the external uncontrolled input vector, whereas the control inputs are the four
duty-ratio signals m ds , m qs , m dg , m qg . Matrices M, J , and
R are shown in the Appendix and satisfy the properties:

which according to (4) is translated to the input signal

constraints
m 2ds + m 2qs 1, m 2dg + m 2qg 1.

(6)

III. T HEORETICAL BACKGROUND

A. WT Aerodynamics
The aerodynamics of the WT are characterized by the power
coefficient C p , the tip speed ratio , and the blade pitch angle
[17]. There have been several references on the theoretical
background of the WT aerodynamics, where the reader can
be referred to [10] and [17]. According to [10], C p can be
approximated by the function


116
12.5
0.4 5 e i
(7)
C p (, ) = 0.22
i
with
i =

0.035
1
3
+ 0.08
+1

and the tip speed ratio is given as

=

r Rb
ng v

(8)

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IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 2, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2014

where Rb is the blade radius, n g is the rate ratio of the gearbox,

and v is the wind speed. By choosing the optimal opt for the
maximum power coefficient C popt , maximum power can be
extracted from the wind by setting the reference rotor speed
opt vn g
rref =
(9)
Rb
and the torque
1 Rb5 C popt ref
r
2
3opt

Tmax =

(10)

where is the air density. For zero blade pitch angle = 0,

it is calculated that opt 6.325.

A. Generator-Side Converter Control

The controller design for the generator-side ac/dc converter
is based on the IR-FOC technique as modified in Section III-B
for steady-state operation and the MPPT technique as determined from the WT aerodynamics. Therefore, the control
objective is to regulate the rotor speed r to a reference
value rref as given from (9), with respect to the wind speed
in order to achieve MPPT and to regulate the d-axis stator
ref = i
current i ds to a reference value i ds
ds as given from

(14) for r , determined from the rated characteristics of the

induction generator. Hence, the following nonlinear controller
is proposed:

B. IR-FOC of Induction Generator

IR-FOC technique relies on operating the induction generator as a separately excited dc machine. In most applications, the indirect field orientation is applied when the total
rotor flux r is aligned on the synchronous rotating d-axis,
particularly
r = dr and qr = 0.

(11)

This operation decouples the rotor flux dynamic equations

leading to simplified control design. Applying (11) to the
nonlinear dynamic model (1) and assuming steady state operation, one can determine the desired slip frequency from the
fourth equation of (1) as
Lm
i qs
(12)
e pr sl =
r r
where r = L r /Rr is the rotor time constant. Since the rotor
flux cannot be measured, the amplitute of the flux is usually
estimated from the third equation of (1) as
+ = L i
(13)
r r

m ds

where r is the estimation of the total rotor flux [15].

Assuming that the induction generator is operated below the
rated power, the rotor flux should be maintained constant and
therefore the reference signals are the desired speed rref and
the rotor flux r .
Assuming steady-state operation, r = r , one can define
from (13) the constant d-axis current ids as follows:
r = L m ids .

(14)

Conventional IR-FOC techniques require the r calculation

as given by (13) in order to ensure stability. Instead of (13), we
adopt IR-FOC at steady-state and therefore (14) is adequate
for flux determination. This becomes possible since, as it is
proven in the next sections, stability is guaranteed with the
proposed controller scheme independently from the dynamic
estimation of the flux. Moreover, cascaded controller schemes
or other assumptions necessary for linear designs are avoided.
IV. N ONLINEAR C ONTROL D ESIGN
Due to the nonlinear dynamics of the complete system (3),
a nonlinear controller, fully independent from the system
parameters, is proposed that fulfills the basic control objectives
for each converter.

m ds = z 1

(15)

m qs = z 2

(16)

with dynamics given as

z 123 = Agen (i ds , r , z 123 ) z 123

(17)

Agen



ref
0
0
k1  i ds i ds

ref

=  0
0
k
2 r r
 (18)




ref k ref c z 2 + z 2 + z 2 1
k1 i ds i ds
2 r
1 1
r
2
3
where z 123 = [ z 1 z 2 z 3 ]T is the controller state vector, k1 ,
k2 are nonzero constants, and c1 is a positive constant. It is
clear that the proposed controller is fully independent from
the system parameters.
In order to achieve field orientation for the induction
generator, the synchronous speed is obtained as
e = pr + sl

(19)

1
i
ref qs
r i ds

(20)

where
sl =

with (20) to result by combining (12), (14) and by replacing

ref in the denominator,
the measured i ds with the desired i ds
because field orientation is only required at steady state.
This substitution simplifies the controller implementation and
achieves the same goal, whereas the analysis described in the
following section guarantees a stable nonlinear operation during transient. Note that conventionally sl is given from (12)
with r estimated according to (13).
Even though the control scheme seems to depend on the
value of r , as it will be explained in the stability analysis,
closed-loop stability is guaranteed independently from the
value of r used, thus proving robustness of the proposed
scheme with respect to variable changes or inaccurate knowledge of r (certainly within the induction generator ratings).
This case represents a near field-oriented operation. This represents a significant advantage compared with the traditional
IR-FOC techniques, where field orientation is crucial for a
desired performance.
B. Grid-Side Converter Control
The control tasks for the grid-side converter is the regulation of the dc-bus voltage Vdc to a desired constant value

KONSTANTOPOULOS AND ALEXANDRIDIS: GRID-CONNECTED WT INDUCTION GENERATORS WITH BACK-TO-BACK AC/DC/AC CONVERTERS

ref while maintaining unity power factor operation for the

Vdc
complete system. As mentioned in Section II, the phase-a grid
voltage can be aligned with the q-axis resulting in Vd = 0 and
Vq = Vm . Taking into account the fact that the real and reactive
power injected to the grid are

3
(21)
P = Vd i d + Vq i q
2

3
(22)
Q = Vq i d Vd i q
2
then unity power factor operation, i.e., Q = 0, can be achieved
by simply controlling the d-axis grid current i d to be zero [27].
Note that the minus signs that appear in the expressions of P
and Q are to ensure that the power flow direction is from the
generator to the grid.
Recalling the same nonlinear controller structure as that
given for the generator-side converter, the following controller
is proposed:

m dg = z 4

(23)

m qg = z 5

(24)

z 456 = Agrid (i d , Vdc , z 456 ) z 456

(25)

with dynamics
Agrid

0
=
k3i d

0
0


ref
k4 Vdc Vdc

 k3i d ref 

k4 Vdc Vdc
 2

2
2
c2 z 4 + z 5 + z 6 1

(26)

where z 456 = [ z 4 z 5 z 6 ]T is the controller state vector, k3 ,

k4 are nonzero constants, and c2 is a positive constant. Once
again, the proposed controller is fully independent from the
system parameters.
C. Controller Properties
Since the proposed controller has the same structure for
both converters, the following analysis will be restricted for
the generator-side converter. From the
 dynamics structure
 (17),
it can be observed that the term c1 z 12 + z 22 + z 32 1 in (18)
implies that the control law acts as an attractive limit cycle for
the controller states z 1 , z 2 , z 3 on the surface of a sphere Cr1
with center the origin and radius equal to 1, particularly
Cr1 = {z 1 , z 2 , z 3 : z 12 + z 22 + z 32 = 1}.
After being attracted on the surface of sphere Cr1 (c1 is the
rate of attractiveness), states z 1 , z 2 , z 3 will stay on this surface
for all future time, independently from their initial values.
Particularly, according to the convergence definition [32], there
exists a time instant T 0, after which the controller states
have practically converged on sphere Cr1 , where they remain
thereafter.
As a conclusion of the aforementioned controller analysis,
we point out that after an initial time period, the following
hold true.
Control states z 1 (t), z 2 (t), and z 3 (t) are bounded each in
the range [1, 1], as a demand of sphere Cr1 . Hence, it holds
true that
z 12 (t) + z 22 (t) = 1 z 32 (t)

Fig. 2.

743

Sphere Cr1 in z 1 z 2 z 3 space and disk D on the z 1 z 2 plane.

with 0 z 32 (t) 1. This means that z 1 (t) and z 2 (t) lie on a

disk D with radius r = 1 (see Fig. 2).
Thus, the duty-ratio input becomes


m as = z 12 (t) + z 22 (t) = 1 z 32 (t).
(27)
Hence, it is guaranteed that always: 0 m as 1.
The controller acts as a three-state oscillator with angular
velocity depending on the difference between the measured
and the desired values for i ds and r . Furthermore, assuming
ref and ref , there exists an equilibrium
that i ds i ds
r
r
point for the closed-loop system corresponding to some dutyratio signals m ds = z 1 and m qs = z 2 .
Thus, the proposed controller provides a bounded duty-ratio
control input, exactly in the range permitted by the linear
modulation of the PWM applied on the ac/dc converter. The
attractiveness of the controller operation guarantees robustness
of the controller states response on the sphere Cr1 . In order
for all these controller properties to hold, it is essential to
ref
prove that i ds and r are bounded while as i ds i ds
ref

and r r , the resulting z 1 and z 2 coincide with a

stable solution of the entire system at the desired equilibrium.
A similar analysis holds for the grid-side converter, where the
controller states z 456 are attracted on a similar sphere Cr2 in
z 4 z 5 z 6 space, particularly
Cr2 = {z 4 , z 5 , z 6 : z 42 + z 52 + z 62 = 1}.
V. C LOSED -L OOP S TABILITY A NALYSIS
A. Closed-Loop System Dynamics
After incorporating the proposed nonlinear control strategy
(15)(17) and (23)(25) to the complete system (3), the resulting closed-loop system can be also written in the dissipative
Hamiltonian form
x + 
M x = ( J(x)
R)
T

T
T
and matrices
with state vector x = x T z 123
z 456




R
086
M
086

, R=
M =
068
I6
068 Rc
 T
T
 = 
016

(28)

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IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 2, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2014

with





Rc = diag 0, 0, c1 z 12 +z 22 +z 32 1 , 0, 0, c2 z 42 +z 52 +z 62 1
and J as given in the Appendix.
B. Stability Analysis
To begin with the stability analysis, consider first the
unforced closed-loop system ( = 0)
x
M x = ( J(x)
R)

(29)

with Lyapunov function candidate

 
2
1
1
V x = x T M x + z 12 + z 22 + z 32 1
2
4
2
1 2
2
+ z 4 + z 5 + z 62 1 .
4

Fig. 3.

Wind speed.
TABLE I

(30)

C OMPLETE SCIG-C ONVERTER PARAMETERS

Then, the time derivative of V is calculated as



1
V = x T M x + z 12 + z 22 + z 32 1 2z 1 z 1 + 2z 2 z 2 + 2z 3 z 3
2


1
+ z 42 + z 52 + z 62 1 2z 4 z 4 + 2z 5 z 5 + 2z 6 z 6
2
2

= x T Rx c1 z 12 + z 22 + z 32 1 z 32
2

c2 z 42 + z 52 + z 62 1 z 62 0
(31)
which proves that (29) is Lyapunov stable. Since (29) is a
nonlinear autonomous system and the Lyapunov function (30)
is radially unbounded with nonpositive derivative over the
whole state space, then according to the Global Invariant Set
Theorem 3.5 described in [33], all solutions uniformly globally
asymptotically converge to the largest invariant set N in E.
Set E is defined as the set, where V = 0 and since R > 0, then
it consists of the union of x = 0 and z 123 and z 456 constrained
on spheres Cr1 and Cr2 , respectively.
J, and R,

From the matrix-diagonal form of matrices M,

it becomes clear that the SCIG-converter system (plant) and
the controller system can be handled separately. The controller
system operates as two attractive spheres for the states z 123 and
z 456 , respectively, as shown in the previous section, independently from the plant states i ds , r , i d , and Vdc . This is a very
important property that distinguishes the proposed controller
operation from the existing approaches. In this manner and
returning to the system with the external input vector , the
controller state vector z can be considered as a bounded timevarying vector for the plant system
M x = (J (x, z(t)) R)x + 

(32)

which is handled independently as a nonautonomous nonlinear

system with external input vector .
For (32), consider the Lyapunov function candidate
W=

1 T
x M x.
2

(33)

Taking the time derivative of W , it yields

W = x T Rx + x T .

(34)

Then, it can be easily shown [32] that there exist 0 < < 1
such that
W (1 )min (R) x2

x


min (R)

(35)

where min (R) is the smallest eigenvalue of the constant

positive-definite matrix R. Inequality (35) proves that (32) is
input-to-state stable with respect to the external input  [32].
Therefore, since the external input vector  is a bounded
signal consisting of the grid voltage and the mechanical torque,
then the SCIG-converter system is stable in the sense of
boundedness, i.e., x is bounded. Furthermore, since z 123 and
z 456 are attracted on a closed set described by spheres Cr1
and Cr2 , then it is concluded that the whole closed-loop state
vector x is bounded.
Assuming that the reference signals and external input
vector  are provided in a manner that technically result in an
equilibrium point (certainly within the SCIG-converter system
requirements), then for the closed-loop system, which is given
in the Hamiltonian-passive form [31] and under some common
assumptions mentioned in [31], it is proven that the bounded
states x will eventually converge to the desired equilibrium.

KONSTANTOPOULOS AND ALEXANDRIDIS: GRID-CONNECTED WT INDUCTION GENERATORS WITH BACK-TO-BACK AC/DC/AC CONVERTERS

Fig. 5.

745

Wind power and real power injected to the grid.

MATLAB/SIMULINK under several wind speeds that correspond to a hard real-life scenario. The wind speed is initially
assumed 11 m/s. At time instant t = 50 s, it drops to 8 m/s,
at time instant t = 150 s, it changes to 10 m/s, and finally
at time instant t = 250 s, it becomes 11.5 m/s. It is assumed
that the wind continuously changes around each one of the
previous values in order to represent an actual wind response,
as shown in Fig. 3. The complete system parameters are shown
in Table I, whereas the controller gains take the following
values during the whole demonstration:
k1 = 0.03 A1, k2 = 0.003 s/rad, k3 = 1 A1
k4 = 0.01V 1 , c1 = c2 = 100.

Fig. 4.
Simulation results of the complete SCIG-converter WT system.
(a) d-axis stator current ids . (b) q-axis stator current iqs . (c) d-axis rotor
flux dr . (d) q-axis rotor flux qr . (e) Rotor speed r . (f) DC-bus voltage
Vdc . (g) d-axis grid current id . (h) q-axis grid current iq . (i) Generatorside converter modulation index m as . (j) Grid-side converter modulation
index m ag .

VI. R ESULTS
A. Simulation Results Using MATLAB/SIMULINK
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
nonlinear controller, a complete system consisting of a
2-MW SCIG and an ac/dc/ac converter is simulated using

For the grid-side converter controller, the dc-bus reference

ref = 1600 V constant, whereas the d-axis
voltage is set at Vdc
grid current should be regulated at zero in order to achieve
unity power factor operation for the complete system. For the
generator-side converter controller, the reference speed of the
rotor is calculated from (9) according to the wind speed value
and it is shown in Fig. 4(e), whereas the reference value of
ref = 286 A. As it can be
the d-axis stator current is set at i ds
seen from Fig. 4(a) and (e), the nonlinear controller for the
grid-side converter regulates the d-axis stator and the rotor
speed at the desired values in order to achieve maximum
power injection. Due to the field-oriented technique that holds
at steady-state, the q-axis rotor flux qr is expected to be
around zero as it was explained in the analysis of Section
IV-A. In Fig. 4(f), it is shown that the dc-bus voltage is
suitably and rapidly regulated at the desired value, whereas
the d-axis grid current i d is controlled at the zero value to
achieve unity power factor operation [see Fig. 4(g)]. This is
also verified by the time response of the reactive power Q g
injected at the grid, which is regulated at zero (see Fig. 6).
The rest of the system states are suitably regulated to their
steady-state values corresponding to the desired equilibrium
(see Fig. 4), a fact that verifies the theoretical stability analysis
described in this paper. The time response of the real power
injected to the grid for several changes of the wind speed
is shown in Fig. 5 with respect to the power delivered
by the wind. Finally, from the modulation index responses
shown in Fig. 4(i) and (j), it is verified that both converters operate in the linear modulation area as it is expected
from the controller properties analyzed in Section IV-C.

746

Fig. 6.

IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 2, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2014

Reactive power injected to the grid.

Fig. 9.

Fig. 7.

Real power, reactive power, and dc-bus voltage.

Measured and reference rotor speed.

Fig. 10.

Grid voltage and current (phase).

B. Validation With Real-Time Results

Fig. 8.

d and q axis currents.

As a result, the proposed parameter-free controller produces

a bounded control output for the modulation indexes in order
to guarantee operation in the linear modulation area, whereas
it effectively regulates the complete system at the desired
equilibrium.

To further evaluate the proposed control approach,

real-time results have been obtained using the real-time system
of OPAL-RT for a SCIG system with similar parameters
(in pu). For this SCIG-converter system, the control tasks
are again the maximum power extraction from the wind,
unity power factor operation of the complete system, and
ref = 0.3 pu
accurate regulation at the reference values i ds
ref
and Vdc = 0.9 pu. During this scenario, the wind speed is
changing between 8 and 10 m/s to represent an actual wind
change and the power flow is considered from the generator
to the grid.
Fig. 7 shows the measured and reference generator rotor
speed. The reference speed is always calculated from (9)
according to the value of the wind speed and it is clear that
the proposed controller suitably tracks the desired value in
order to achieve maximum power extraction. The responses
of the d-axis and q-axis currents of the generator (i ds and i qs )
and the grid (i d and i q ) are shown in Fig. 8. It is verified

KONSTANTOPOULOS AND ALEXANDRIDIS: GRID-CONNECTED WT INDUCTION GENERATORS WITH BACK-TO-BACK AC/DC/AC CONVERTERS



1 1 2
2
M = diag , ,
, , Jm , L g , L g , C
Lr Lr 3
3

Lm
0
e
0
0
L r pqr

0
0
0
LLmr pdr
e

e pr
0
0
0
0

Lr

p
e
r

0
0
0
0
Lr
J =
L m pqr L m pdr
0
0
0
Lr
Lr

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
2m ds
2m qs
0
0
0

2
Rr L m
+ Rs
0
RrLL2 m
0
0
0
L r2
r

Rr L 2m
R
L

+ Rs
0
rL 2 m
0
0
0
L r2

r
Rr L m
Rr
0
0
0
0

L r2
L r2

Rr L m
Rr
R=
0

0
0
0

L r2
L r2

0
0
0
0
0
3b

0
0
0
0
0
Rg

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

J
081
081
081 ref 
018
0
0
k
1  i ds i ds 

ref
018
0
0
k
2 r r





ref
ref
k2 r r
0
J =
018 k1 i ds i ds
018
0
0
0

018
0
0
0
018
0
0
0

ref = 0.3 pu and i is

that i ds is regulated at its desired value i ds
d
always regulated to zero in order to achieve unity power factor
operation. Additionally, depending on the wind changes, the
q-axis currents of the generator and grid are suitably regulated
to their steady-state values corresponding to the closed-loop
system equilibrium. The regulation of the dc-bus voltage Vdc
ref = 0.9 pu is verified in Fig. 9,
to its reference value Vdc
which is maintained independently from the wind changes.
Fig. 9 also shows the real and reactive power of the grid along
with the power delivered by the wind. The reactive power Q g
injected to the grid is always maintained to zero verifying
the unity power factor operation and the real power Pg is
regulated just below the wind power. This proves that the
proposed controller effectively extracts the maximum power
from the wind. Finally, in Fig. 10, the steady-state values
of the instantaneous phase-a voltage and current of the grid
are presented to verify that they have the same phase and
achieve the desired Q g = 0. As a result, the real-time results
effectively validate the performance of the proposed nonlinear
controller in order to support the rigorous theoretical analysis.

VII. C ONCLUSION
A Hamiltonian-passive formulation has been used for modeling a SCIG-converter WT system in a manner that effectively
incorporates novel nonlinear duty-ratio controllers for both the

0
0
0
0
0
0
s L g
2m dg
0

0
0
0
0
0
s L g
0
2m qg

0
0
Rg
0

0
0
0

081
0
0
0
0
0
k3i d

3
2Rdc

747

2m ds
2m qs

2m dg

2m qg
0

081
0
0
0
0
 0

ref
k4 Vdc Vdc

081

k
i
 3 d ref 
k4 Vdc Vdc
0

generator- and grid-side converters. As it is proven in this

paper, the proposed approach is parameter free and can achieve
MPPT operation for the induction generator, whereas it can
regulate the dc-bus voltage and achieve unity power factor
operation for the complete system. Using nonlinear Lyapunov
methods, stability and convergence to the desired equilibrium
of the closed-loop system have been proven as well as robustness with respect to field orientation and parameter variations.
Extensive simulation results for several wind conditions verify
the fast and very good system performance, which is further
validated using a real-time system.
A PPENDIX
The system matrices are shown at the top of this page.
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George C. Konstantopoulos (S07M13) received

the Diploma and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and
computer engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of
Patras, Rion, Greece, in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
He has been with the Department of Automatic
Control and Systems Engineering, The University of
Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K., since 2013, as a Research
Associate. His current research interests include nonlinear modeling, control, and stability analysis of
power converter and electric machine systems with emphasis in microgrid
operation, renewable energy systems, and motor drives.
Dr. Konstantopoulos is a Member of the National Technical Chamber of
Greece.

Antonio T. Alexandridis (M88) received the

Diploma degree in electrical engineering from the
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Patras, Rion, Greece, in 1981, and the Ph.D. degree
from the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown,
WV, USA, in 1987.
He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Patras in 1988,
where he is currently a Professor and the Head of
the Power Systems Division. In 1998, he joined the
Control Engineering Research Centre at the City University London, London,
U.K., as a Visiting Researcher. He has authored more than 130 international
journal and conference papers. His research interests include control theory,
nonlinear dynamics, optimal control, eigenstructure assignment, passivity, and
advanced control applications on power systems and drive systems. His current
research interests include renewable power generation control and stability
(wind generators, PV systems, and microgrids).
Prof. Alexandridis is a Member of the National Technical Chamber of
Greece.