CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 4, NO.
1, MARCH 2018
The Mechanism of DFIGs Grouping Tripped Off
from Power Grid
Gang Mu, Member, IEEE, Jian Wang, and Gangui Yan
Abstract—With more and more big wind farms integrating
to grid, the faults of doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs)
grouping tripped off (GTO) have occurred and bring serious
power impacts on the grid. Usually, it was considered that the
fault of DFIGs GTO is only related to the low/high voltage
disturbances in the grid and manipulated as an electromagnetic
transients. But, we discover that the fault of DFIGs GTO
are also related to operating condition of DFIGs and schemes
of crowbar protection equipped with DFIGs, and it may be
extended to an electromechanical transient in some situations.
Based on the investigation of the factors related to DFIGs GTO
, such as degree of voltage disturbances, operating conditions
of DFIGs and schemes of crowbar protection, three types of
DFIGs GTOs are classified and corresponding mechanisms are
revealed. The calculation methods to confirm the mechanism
are established. The effectiveness of the proposed methods are
verified by simulating some cases of DFISs GTO.
Index Terms—Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG),
grouping tripped off (GTO), simultaneously grouping tripped
off (SGTO), cascading grouping tripped off (CGTO), over-speed
grouping tripped off (OGTO).
I. I NTRODUCTION
R ECENTLY, wind power has rapidly developed over the
world to cope with the demand of low carbon energy
supply. By the end of 2016, the installed wind capacity of the
world reached 486.8 GW [1].
In China, 10 huge wind power bases with the level of
10 GW have been planned and constructed. The total capacity
of wind power in China reached a new world record of more
than 168.7 GW at the end of 2016 [1].
With more and more huge wind power bases integrating to
grid, especially for those wind farms of doubly fed induction
generators (DFIGs), some faults of many DFIGs suddenly
tripped off from power grid repeatedly occurred [2], denoted
as DFIGs grouping tripped off (GTO). By the statistics, more
than 190 faults of DFIGs GTO took place from January to
August in 2011, and 4 of them caused more than 3200 DFIGs
to be tripped off from power grid [2]. The DFIGs GTO lead to
power impact and security risk of grid. E.g, the fault in North
Manuscript received October 10, 2016; revised March 19, 2017; accepted
November 6, 2017. Date of publication March 30, 2018; date of current
version December 25, 2017. This work was supported in part by the National
Basic Research Program of China (2013CB228201).
G. Mu (corresponding author, e-mail: 1787812653@qq.com), J. Wang, G.
G. Yan are with the School of Electrical Engineering (Northeast Electric Power
University), Jilin 132012, China.
DOI: 10.17775/CSEEJPES.2016.01530
2096-0042 © 2016 CSEE
103
China Power Grid on April 17, 2011, which was triggered by
the 2-phase short-circuit fault of a 35 kV overhead line, led to
644 wind turbines tripped off from power grid successively
by voltage protection with 854 MW power injection lost,
and finally caused the frequency of North China Power Grid
dropping to 49.95 Hz [3]. For another example, the fault in
Northwest China on April 24, 2011 was triggered by the 3-
phase short-circuit fault of a 35 kV cable, similarly resulted
in 598 wind turbines tripped off from power grid by voltage
protection with 837.34 MW power injection lost, and finally
caused the frequency of Northwest China Power Grid dropping
to 49.854 Hz [4].
As a simple example of a DFIG integrating to grid under
a certain load condition, rotor currents of the DFIG will be
related with a voltage dip in the grid. If the voltage dip is
severe enough, rotor currents of the DFIG will reach the
limitation of rotor-side voltage source converter (VSC). For
protecting rotor-side VSC from being damaged, the crowbar
protection equipped with the DFIG can be started up to block
rotor-side VSC and 3-phase rotor windings are short-circuited
instantaneously, and then, via a short time delay, the DFIG
is tripped off from power grid by opening the switchgear of
3-phase stator windings.
Many studies have been done focused on the DFIGs GTO
from grid. In Yang Cui et al. [5], the process of the DFIGs
tripped off from power grid had been investigated, and the
property of the stator windings absorbing reactive power after
the rotor windings being short-circuited by crowbar had been
revealed. Based on the case studies, Dan Li et al. [6] shows that
the DFIG without the low voltage ride through (LVRT) ability
could be tripped off from power grid under the disturbances
of low/high voltage in grid. Xi Ye et al. [7] investigated the
main factors that affect the transient process of the DFIGs
GTO, such as parameters and topologies of grid.
To prevent DFIGs GTO caused by disturbances of low/high
voltage in grid, a common practice is to upgrade crowbar
protection to enhance the LVRT ability of DFIG [8], [9].
Most of previous studies were concerned on disturbances of
low/high voltage in grid, and focused on an electromagnetic
transient process after voltage disturbances in grid. But the
other factors related to DFIGs GTO, such as loaded condi-
tions of DFIGs, different schemes of crowbar protections and
even electromechanical dynamics, have not yet been soundly
investigated.
Based on the comprehensive analysis on the related factors
causing DFIGs GTO, the mechanism of DFIGs GTO from
104 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2018

1600
grid has been revealed, and three types of DFIGs GTO
(simultaneously GTO, cascading GTO with no low voltage 1400

and over-speed GTO with active crowbar) have been defined 1200

Active power (kW)

in this paper. Corresponding calculation methods to confirm 1000
the mechanisms have been established. The effectiveness of 800 Near full load conditions
the proposed methods have been verified by simulating some
600
cases of DFIGs GTO.
400

II. M ATHEMATICAL M ODELS OF A DFIG 200

A. Operating Principle of a DFIG 0

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 ≥16
A DFIG is composed of stator windings, rotor windings, Wind speed (m/s)
a converter which connecting the rotor windings to grid and (a) Active power v.s. wind speed

a crowbar protection. The structure of a DFIG is shown in 1800

Fig. 1. Where ira , irb and irc represent rotor currents, and 1700
icbset is the setting value of crowbar protection. 1600

Rotor speed (r/min)

Contactor Relay UH Grid 1500
Gearbox DFIG 1400 Near full load conditions
Back-to-back VSC Box Main Transmission
transformer transformer Line 1300
Rotor-side Grid-side Reactor
VSC VSC
1200
ira irb irc
Rotor currents 1100
monitoring Pulsesblocking
Crowbar protection 1000
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 ≥16
Crowbar controller
Wind speed (m/s)
Yes No
ira≥icbset or irb≥icbset or irc≥icbset? (b) Rotor speed v.s. wind speed
Rcb Closing
Fig. 2. Wind power and rotor speed vs. wind speed.
Crowbar circuit

The early equipped crowbar circuit was a type of passive

Fig. 1. The structure of a DFIG integrating to grid. crowbar circuit in which thyristors are used as switch elements,
as shown in Fig. 3(a).
The converter consists of the rotor-side VSC and the grid-
side VSC. By a proper control on the converter, the DFIG
can operate in the variable speed constant frequency (VSCF) DFIG DFIG
mode. Stator Stator
If the wind turbine is being driven by a small wind, the Rotor windings Rotor windings
windings windings
DFIG operates at a light loaded condition and rotor windings
of the DFIG are fed in power from grid, and rotor speed of
the DFIG is less than the synchronous speed, which is called
the sub-synchronous state. Rcb Rcb
Otherwise, if the wind turbine is being driven by a strong Control signal Control signal
wind, the DFIG operates at a heavily loaded condition and (a) Passive crowbar (b) Active crowbar
rotor windings of the DFIG feed out power to grid, and (with thyristor) (with IGBT)
rotor speed of the DFIG is greater than the synchronous Fig. 3. Passive and active crowbar circuits.
speed, which is called the near fully loaded state or the over-
synchronous state. Because a thyristor is a semi controlled device, once a DFIG
The relationships of wind power vs. wind speed and rotor is turned to an inductive machine state by a passive crowbar
speed vs. wind speed for a DFIG rating of 1.5 MW are shown circuit, it is hard to recover the DFIG to the mode of VSCF
in Fig. 2. unless the DFIG is tripped off from power grid.
A crowbar circuit connected to rotor windings is equipped To survive the DFIG from inductive machine state back to
to rescue the converter from over-current. If a rotor current the VSCF mode in the state of the DFIG not being tripped off
reaches setting value icbset of crowbar protection, crowbar from power grid, a passive crowbar circuit can be constructed
circuit will be started up to block the rotor-side VSC to prevent by replacing thyristors to fully-controlled power electronic
it from being damaged, and to short-circuit terminals of 3- devices, such as Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs).
phase rotor windings via a resistor Rcb instantaneously [10]– The two crowbar circuits are shown in Fig. 3.
[13]. After the crowbar circuit is started up, because the
terminals of 3-phase rotor windings are short-circuited, the B. Mathematical Models of a DFIG
DFIG turns to an inductive machine state. For a DFIG integrating to grid with initial stator voltage Us0 ,
MU et al.: THE MECHANISM OF DFIGS GROUPING TRIPPED OFF FROM POWER GRID 105

the rotor currents will be changed under a voltage disturbance III. T HE M ECHANISM C AUSING DFIG S GTO AND
ΔUs applied at the stator windings. C LASSIFICATION OF DFIG S GTO
To analyze dynamic behaviors of a DFIG, the rotor currents Voltage disturbances in grid and initial loaded conditions of
equations and the rotor motion equations are necessary. DFIGs are important to the faults of DFIGs GTO.
In a d-q synchronous reference frame, the rotor currents Considering a wind farm of n DFIGs, due to the spatial
equations of a DFIG [11] are as follows: allocation of DFIGs and the dynamics of wind field, the wind
⎧ √ speeds driving each wind turbine at the same moment are very
⎪
⎪ 2Us0 Lm (ΔUs )  
different. That means all DFIGs have different initial states at
⎪ i
⎨ rd (t) = + 1 − cos (ω1 t) e−t/Ts
ω1 Lm M ω1 the same moment [15].
⎪ √ A wind power vector is defined as P = [P1 , P2 , . . . , Pn ],
⎪
⎪ 2 (Lsl + Lm ) Ps0 Lm |ΔUs |
⎩irq (t) = + sin (ω1 t) e−t/Ts where Pj (j = 1, 2, . . . , n) is the active power of the j-th
3Lm Us0 M ω1
(1) DFIG. Rearranging the power sequence of P1 , P2 , . . . , Pn in
descending order, a monotonic decreasing sequence can be ob-
where Ts = (Lsl + Lrl Lm )/[Rs (Lrl + Lm )], M = (Lsl + tained like P1order , P2order , . . . , Pnorder , denoted as an ordered
Lm )(Lrl + Lm ) − (Lm )2 , Ps0 is the initial active power of the wind power vector P order = [P1order , P2order , . . . , Pnorder ].
DFIG, Us0 is the initial stator voltage of the DFIG, ΔUs is a Obviously, P1order is the maximum and Pnorder is the minimum.
voltage disturbance applied at the stator windings, and u, i, R, Generally, P1order could be more than 3 times of Pnorder (see
L and ω1 represent voltages, currents, resistances, inductances Appendix Table AI). That means the spatial dispersion of wind
and the synchronous angular speed, respectively. speeds is evident and cannot be ignored.
All coefficients and variables in (1) are reduced to the A. How Voltage Disturbances Cause DFIGs GTO for Passive
stator winding basis. The subscripts s and r represent stator Crowbar
variables and rotor variables, respectively. The subscripts d
and q represent d-axis components and q-axis components, For simplification, we assume that all voltage drops in wind
respectively. The subscripts l and m represent leakage induc- farm collecting system can be ignored.
tance and mutual inductance, respectively. A suddenly voltage dip in grid will stimulate an increase of
rotor currents of each DFIG in the wind farm, and the initial
The rotor motion equation of a DFIG [14] is
value of rotor currents can be estimated based on (1).
dΩr ω1 ∗  2  2
= (T − Te∗ ) (2) 1 Lsl + Lm
order 2
dt Tj m i2rk (0) = 2 2
Us0 +2 Pk (3)
ω1 Lm 3Lm Us0
where the superscript * represents the per unit value. Ωr , Tm , According to (3), it is obvious that, a heavily loaded DFIG is
Te and Tj represent the rotor angular speed, the mechanical with bigger initial rotor current. Therefore, for the same type of
torque, the electromagnetic torque and the inertia time constant DFIGs with a unique icbset , corresponding to the descending
of the DFIG, respectively. ordered wind power vector P order , a vector of rotor current
margin Δir (0) = [icbset − ir1 (0), icbset − ir2 (0), . . . , icbset −
C. Rotor Currents are Related to Voltage Disturbance and irn (0)] can be derived with the same rank of P order . It is easy
Operating Conditions to know that icbset − ir1 (0), icbset − ir2 (0), . . . , icbset − irn (0)
is an ascending ordered sequence and the maximum of Δir (0)
Eq. (1) indicates that under a voltage disturbance, the rotor must be the final (n-th) element [icbset − irn (0)].
currents are not only related to the magnitude of voltage In this case, there is a critical voltage disturbance ΔUkcritical
disturbance but also related to the initial loaded condition of under which the rotor current just reaches icbset . With the same
the DFIG. rank of P order , the voltage disturbance vector ΔU critical =
If the magnitude of rotor currents reaches icbset , crowbar [ΔU1critical , ΔU2critical , . . . , ΔUncritical ] can be derived. Simi-
circuit will be started up to short-circuit the terminals of 3- lar to Δir (0), ΔU1critical , ΔU2critical , . . . , ΔUncritical is also an
phase rotor windings via a resistor Rcb . From that moment, ascending ordered sequence.
the DFIG operates as an inductive machine until the stator Fundamentally, ΔUkcritical reflects the margin of rotor cur-
windings are tripped off (for passive crowbar) or the rotor- rent and loaded level of DFIG Pkorder .
side VSC is restarted (for active crowbar). The structure of the For analyzing the effect of voltage disturbances, a suddenly
DFIG operating as an inductive machine is shown in Fig. 4. voltage dip ΔUgrid at the high voltage side of main trans-
former is considered. There are three possibilities as follows:
UH
Contactor Relay Grid 1) ΔUgrid ≥ ΔUncritical .
Gearbox DFIG
Box Main Transmission
Rotor currents of all DFIGs will go out of icbset under
Rotor-side Grid-side transformer transformer Line the disturbance. Consequently, crowbars of all DFIGs will be
VSC VSC Reactor
started up and lead all DFIGs in the wind farm to be tripped
off from the grid simultaneously.
2) ΔUkcritical < ΔUgrid < ΔUk+1 critical
.
order
Fig. 4. The structure of a DFIG operating as an inductive machine after DFIGs corresponding to P1 , P2order , . . . , Pkorder will be
action of crowbar circuit. tripped off from grid under the voltage disturbance. So, at
106
least, partial DFIGs in the wind farm will be tripped off from
the grid simultaneously.
DFIGs GTO from grid in situations (a) or (b) are denoted
as DFIGs simultaneously grouping tripped off (SGTO).
3) ΔUgrid < ΔU1critical .
Because ΔU1critical is the minimum of ΔU critical , any
rotor current will be less than icbset under the disturbance.
Therefore, no DFIG will be tripped off from power grid.
B. DFIGs with Passive Crowbar GTO Are Related to Oper-
ating Condition
Generally, a crowbar circuit can be started up within 4ms
after appearing of a disturbance to short circuit terminals
CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2018
However, for a DFIG equipped with an active crowbar
circuit, after the action of crowbar, the DFIG will not be
tripped off from powe grid simultaneously, but wait for some
conditions to reboot rotor-side VSC to turn the inductive
machine state back to the VSCF mode. In this case, because
of imbalanced mechanical torques on rotor and long transient
time span, the electromechanical transient has to be considered
especially in the near fully loaded initial condition of DFIGs.
As a braking torque, the electromagnetic torque Te of a
DFIG after the action of the crowbar circuit [14] is derived as
follows:
Rr +Rcb
3U12 ×
of rotor windings. But stator windings of the DFIG will be
tripped off from power grid via a more than 30ms delay due
to the use of mechanical circuit breaker. Before stator windings
are tripped off from power grid, the DFIG is still connected
to grid and operates as an inductive machine [5].
If a wind farm meets strong wind, the generating wind
powers of most DFIGs approach rated power, although some
generating power of DFIGs could be low due to the dispersion
of wind speeds [15]. In this case, the wind farm is denoted as
operating at the near fully loaded state.
For the near fully loaded state of a wind farm, the first
few elements of the ordered wind power vector P order should
approach or equal to the rating power and correspond to a
small values of rotor current margin Δir (0) and critical voltage
disturbance ΔU critical .
We consider a small sudden voltage dip ΔUgrid caused by
a slight fault in grid. And the post-disturbance voltage is not
obvious low (e.g. ΔUgrid < 0.1 p.u.).
Therefore, if ΔUkcritical < ΔUgrid < ΔUk+1 critical
, the crow-
order
bar circuits of DFIGs corresponding to P1 , P2order , . . . ,
Pkorder will be started up as the first round. Then DFIGs
corresponding to P1order , P2order , . . . , Pkorder enter inductive
machine state until their stator windings are tripped off from
grid.
During the period of inductive machine state, the first k
DFIGs will absorb large amount of reactive power because of
the heavily loaded operating state and the loss of the excitation
from rotor-side VSC. The further voltage drop will emerge and
 critical 
increase ΔUgrid to ΔUgrid , then if ΔUk+m < ΔUgrid
critical
ΔUk+m+1 is satisfied, the DFIGs corresponding to Pk+1
order order
Pk+2 , . . . , Pk+m will be tripped off from power grid as the
second round. The cascading process may go further to the
next round or stop in this stage.
This is the kernel mechanism of DFIGs cascading grouping
tripped, denoted as DFIGs (CGTO) with no low voltage.
IV. DFIG S WITH ACTIVE C ROWBAR GTO A RE R ELATED
TO E LECTROMECHANICAL T RANSIENT
After a crowbar circuit is started up, the DFIG with a passive
crowbar will be tipped off from grid via a short delay of stator
circuit breaker.
In previous studies on DFIGs GTO, due to the fast action
of a crowbar circuit, only an electromagnetic transient is
considered, while the electromechanical transient of DFIG is
usually ignored [16], [17].
Te =  s
2 (4)
Rr +Rcb 2
ω1 Rs + + (Xs + Xr )
s
where U1 is the stator voltage, Xs is the leakage reactance
of stator windings and Xr is the leakage reactance of rotor
windings.
From (4), it is obvious that Te is sensitively related to the
stator voltage U1 .
During the electromechanical transient process mentioned
above, Tm , as a driven torque, can be assumed to be the same
as the pre-disturbance value [14]. Te is different from the pre-
disturbance value and can be determined by (4). Generally, the
change of Te will break the equilibrium between Tm and Te ,
and lead to sustained increase of Ωr .
To prevent mechanical damages of the wind turbine, Ωr
is limited within a rotor speed limitation Ωrlim by an over-
speeding protection. If Ωr reaches the setting value Ωrlim of
over-speeding protection, the over-speeding protection will be
activated to brake the wind turbine and trip the DFIG off
(OGTO) from power grid. If many DFIGs are tripped by their
over-speeding protection, this is the case of DFIGs over-speed
grouping tripped off from grid, denoted as DFIGs (OGTO).
For a DFIG in near fully loaded condition (or over-
synchronous state), Ωr will be high. Therefore, those DFIGs
with an active crowbar and near fully loaded condition face
with high risk of being tripped off from power grid by over-
speeding protection under voltage disturbance.
< A. Classification of DFIGs GTO
order
, In summary, DFIGs GTO are related to voltage disturbances
in grid, loaded conditions of DFIGs, the schemes of crowbar
protection, and transient processes after action of a crowbar
protection circuit. Comprehensively considering these factors,
the types of DFIGs GTO can be classified as:
1) DFIGs GTO due to electromagnetic transient.
For DFIGs equipped with passive crowbar, under a serious
enough voltage disturbance (no whether the loaded condition
of DFIGs), all DFIGs in a wind farm instantaneously reach the
conditions to be tripped off from grid, simply called DFIGs
SGTO.
Under heavily loaded conditions of DFIGs and a small
voltage disturbance in grid, partial DFIGs in a wind farm may
reach the conditions of DFIGs to be tripped off from grid.
The tripped DFIGs could lead to worsening of voltage profile,
which could make other DFIGs be tripped off from power
MU et al.: THE MECHANISM OF DFIGS GROUPING TRIPPED OFF FROM POWER GRID
grid. The process, simply called DFIGs CGTO, is cascading.
During the process, the voltage is not obvious low.
2) DFIGs GTO due to electromechanical transient.
For DFIGs equipped with active crowbar, during the tran-
sient process after action of a crowbar circuit, the equilibrium
between mechanical torque and electromechanical torque is
broken, which lead to sustained increase of rotor speed. Finally
Ωr will reach rotating limitation and make DFIGs be tripped
off from grid, simply called DFIGs OGTO.
The classifications of DFIGs GTO are shown in Fig. 5.
SGTO
(Simultaneously GTO)
Electromagnetic
Transient Related
CGTO
(Cascading GTO)
DFIGs GTO
Electromechanical OGTO
Transient Related (Over Speed GTO)
Fig. 5. The classification of DFIGs GTOs from grid.
Most of previous studies focused on DFIGs SGTO and
ignored DFIGs CGTO from grid and DFIGs OGTO.
V. C ALCULATION M ETHODS FOR DFIG SGTO
A. Calculation Method for DFIGs SGTO
For a loaded condition of a wind farm consisted of n DFIGs,
according to P order of the wind farm and a given voltage
disturbance ΔU , the steps to calculate DFIGs SGTO are as
follows:
1) According to (1), we can get
√    power flow calculation.
2Us0 Lm ΔUkcritical   −t/Ts
 2
+ 1 − cos (ω1 t) e + According to 1), for a small suddenly voltage change
ω1 Lm M ω1
√   2
2 (Lsl + Lm ) Pkorder Lm ΔUkcritical 
−t/Ts
+ sin (ω1 t) e
3Lm Us0 M ω1
= i2rk (k = 1, 2, . . . , n)
ΔUkcritical is the minimum of the values which make the
curves of irk (t) intersect the line irk (t) = icbset . According
to (5), for every ΔUkcritical (0 < ΔUkcritical < 1), we can plot
the curve of the corresponding irk (t) and determine whether
irk (t) intersects the line irk (t) = icbset . So, the approximation
of ΔUkcritical can be obtained by method of bisection.
2) If ΔU ≥ ΔUncritical , rotor currents of all DFIGs go out of
icbset under the disturbance ΔU , then crowbars of all DFIGs
will be started up and all DFIGs will be tripped off from grid
simultaneously. So DFIGs SGTO will happen.
3) If ΔUkcritical < ΔU < ΔUk+1 critical
, partial rotor currents
of DFIGs corresponding to P1 order
, . . . , Pkorder go out of icbset
under the disturbance, then these DFIGs will be tripped off,
so k DFIGs corresponding to P1order , . . . , Pkorder will SGTO.
4) If ΔU < ΔU1critical , rotor currents of all DFIGs are less
than icbset under the disturbance, therefore no DFIG will be
tripped off from grid.
For a given loaded state of wind farm, all powers of DFIGs,
and voltage disturbance ΔU , DFIGs SGTO can be calculated.
107
B. Calculation Method for DFIGs CGTO
For a wind farm which runs at near fully loaded state, during
the period of inductive machine state after passive crowbar
started up, those DFIGs will absorb large amount of reactive
power because of the heavily loaded state and the loss of the
excitation from rotor-side VSC.
If the time sequences of the absorbed reactive power by a
single DFIG are known, DFIGs CGTO can be calculated.
Based on the system of a single DFIG connected to grid,
the steps to calculate DFIGs CGTO are as follows:
1) Reveal the relationships between starting up of crowbar
protection and ΔUkcritical which makes the rotor current just
reach icbset for a single DFIG at near full loaded state, and
get the action time Tc of crowbar.
These can be achieved through electromagnetic transient
simulations of a single DFIG connected to grid on softwares,
e.g. PSCAD/EMTDC.
For different operating conditions of DFIGs, the time from
appearances of voltage dips to the rotor current reaching icbset
is Tc and the minimum simulation result of voltage dips which
makes the rotor current reach icbset is ΔUkcritical .
2) Get the maximum absorbed reactive power Qmax of
stator windings for a single DFIG connected to grid and the
appearing time of Qmax at near full loaded state.
This can also be achieved through electromagnetic transient
simulations of a single DFIG connected to grid on softwares.
3) Based on 1) and 2), in a near full loaded state of a wind
farm, according to wind speed distribution in a wind farm,
analyze the switching conditions of DFIGs CGTO through
ΔUgrid , if ΔUkcritical < ΔUgrid < ΔUk+1 critical
, the crowbars of
order order
, . . . , Pkorder will be
the DFIGs corresponding to P1 , P2
activated as the first round. Then those DFIGs enter inductive
machine state until their stator windings are tripped off from
(5) grid.
According to 2), during the period of inductive machine
state, the absorbed reactive power Qtotal of the first k DFIGs
can be got. Therefore, the further voltage drop can be obtained
by power flow calculation.
If the additional reactive power makes ΔUgrid increase to
 critical  critical
ΔUgrid and ΔUk+m < ΔUgrid < ΔUk+m+1 be satisfied,
order order order
the DFIGs corresponding to Pk+1 , Pk+2 , . . . , Pk+m will
be tripped off as the second round. The above-mentioned
cascading process may go further to the next round or stop
in this stage.
Based on the proposed method, the process of DFIGs CGTO
can be calculated.
Taking the wind farm Tao located in Northeast China
as an example, the parameters of wind farm Tao can be
found in [10]. By simulation analyses based on the proposed
calculation methods for DFIGs SGTO and CGTO from grid,
the relationship among DFIGs SGTO, DFIGs CGTO, voltage
disturbances and loaded conditions of DFIGs is shown in
Fig. 6.
108 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2018

P /p.u. Voltage of the connecting

point of wind farm UH
1.0
Legond 14 DFIGs in the first round
CGTO
Grid
43 DFIGs in thesecondround
SGTO 1 DFIG in the third round

No GTO
G49 G50 G51 G52 G53 G54 G55 G56 G57 G58
0.5
G46 G47

G40 G41 G42 G43 G44 G45 G48

0 0.1 Voltage dip /p.u.

G30 G31 G32 G33 G34 G35 G36 G37 G38 G39
Fig. 6. Regions of different types of DFIGs GTO.

C. Calculation Method for DFIGs OGTO G21 G22 G23 G24 G25 G26 G27 G28 G29
During an electromechanical transient process induced by G17 G18
a voltage disturbance, if Tm > Te after action of an active
crowbar, then according to (2) rotor speed will increase G19 G20
G13 G14 G15 G16
continually.
Given Ωrlim and initial rotor speed Ωri,0 of the i-th DFIG, G07 G08 G09 G10 G11 G12
there is a corresponding critical acceleration time Tcr , which
is the time span for rotor speed Ωri,0 of the i-th DFIG just
reaching to Ωrlim . G01 G02 G03 G04 G05 G06
According to (2), Tcri of the i-th DFIG can be deduced as
Fig. 7. The rounds of the 58 DFIGs tripped off from the grid.
Tj (Ωrlim − Ωri,0 )
Tcri = ∗ − T∗) (6)
ω1 (Tmi ei

According to (6), Tcr is related to operating conditions 194.5 kW. The group of 33 DFIGs are in the over-synchronous
of DFIGs. Different operating conditions of DFIGs lead to state, and the other 25 DFIGs are in the sub-synchronous state.
order
different Tcr . Substituting P58 = 194.5 kW into (5), the approximation
critical critical
For a given loaded state of a wind farm, how to calculate of ΔU58 is ΔU58 = 0.47 p.u..
DFIGs OGTO are as follows: So, if ΔUgrid at the connecting point of the wind farm is
According to the dispersion of wind speeds on wind tur- bigger than ΔU58 critical
= 0.47 p.u. (UH = 1 − ΔU58 critical
=
∗
bines, calculate Tmi and Tei∗ . Obtain corresponding Tcr,i for 0.53 p.u.), the crowbar protection of all 58 DFIGs can be
each DFIG according to (6). started up, causing all of them to be disconnected from
For a unique acceleration time T , all DFIGs with Tcr,i ≤ T the grid. The DFIGs SGTO occur due to low grid voltage
will be tripped off from grid by over-speeding protection. disturbance.
Therefore, according to Tcr,i , DFIGs OGTO can be calcu-
lated. B. Simulation and Case studies of DFIGs CGTO with No Low
Voltage
VI. S IMULATION AND C ASE S TUDIES 1) Simulation study of a single DFIG connected to grid in
the near fully loaded conditions.
A. Case study of DFIGs SGTO Caused by Low Voltage
Taking a single DFIG connected to grid as an example,
Taking the wind farm Tao located in Northeast China as the simulation model of a single DFIG connected to grid
an example, we investigate the DFIGs SGTO with low grid at PSCAD/EMTDC is developed to investigate the absorbed
voltage. reactive power of the stator windings after action of crowbar.
The installed capacity of wind farm Tao is 49.3 MW, The diagram of the simulation is shown in Fig. 8.
consisting of 58 DFIGs, each of which is of rating power
850 kW. Gamesa G58-850 kW
Contactor Relay f 0.69 kV 10.5 kV 10.5 kV 66 kV
(3)
The electrical diagram of wind farm Tao is shown in Fig. 7, Gear DFIG
box
and the parameters of DFIGs can be found in [10]. Reactor 0.9 MVA Collcetor 31.5 MVA Grid
Grounding line
At the initial state, before the grid voltage dips, the recorded resistance
Rcb
wind power of wind farm Tao is 22.5 MW, 45.6% of the Crowbar Back to back
installed capacity. The wind powers of DFIGs are listed in protection converter
Appendix Table AI. The maximum and minimum of the wind
powers of DFIGs were P1order = 608.9 kW and P58 order
= Fig. 8. The diagram of the simulation of a single DFIG connected to grid.
MU et al.: THE MECHANISM OF DFIGS GROUPING TRIPPED OFF FROM POWER GRID 109

Gamesa G58-850 kW 0.69 kV 35 kV 35 kV

When wind speed is 16 m/s, the fault of f (3) is applied at 20 km
Gear DFIG1 Contactor Relay 220 kV
the stator windings, as shown in Fig. 8, which starts at t0 = box 100
Reactor Collcetor MVA
1.0 s and lasts for 60 ms. The voltage dip caused by the fault 0.9 MVA line
Grid
of f (3) is ΔU critical = 0.059 p.u.. Rcb Grounding
f (3)
100
100 km

The circuit breaker operation sequence, the parameters of Crowbar Back to back resistance MVA Line
protection converter
the DFIG and icbset = 500 A can be found in [10].
The simulation result is shown in Fig. 9. Gamesa G58-850 kW 0.69 kV 35 kV
Gear DFIG2 Contactor Relay 10 km
box
Collcetor
Reactor 0.9 MVA line
stator volt- Grid volt-
age (p.u.) age (p.u.)
3-phase

1 35 kV
0 Rcb
−1 Crowbar Back to back
protection converter
3-phase

1
0 Fig. 10. The diagram for the simulation of 2 DFIGs connected to grid.
−1
Bus voltage of 220 kV (p.u.)
rotor cur-
rent (kA)
3-phase

1 1
0 0.5
−1
Terminal voltage of DFIG1 (p.u.)
1
0.5
absorbed by signal of
DFIG (MVar) crowbar

1
Reactive power Action

0
0.5
Rotor current of DFIG1 (kA)
0 1
0
−1
0.2
0 Terminal voltage of DFIG2 (p.u.)
−0.2 1
−0.4 0.8
0.99 1 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 0.6
t (s) Rotor current of DFIG2 (kA)
0.5
0
Fig. 9. The waveforms with ΔU critical = 0.059 p.u. when wind speed is −0.5
16 m/s. Reactive power absorbed by DFIG1 (MVar)
0
−0.2
−0.4
The stator voltage drops from 1.0 p.u. to 0.941 p.u. and the Reactive power absorbed by DFIG2 (MVar)
crowbar is triggered at t0 + 0.5 ms. Since then, rotor windings 0
−0.2
are short circuited. The DFIG operates as an inductive machine −0.4
and absorbs reactive power from grid. At t0 + 0.5 ms + 22 ms, Action signal of crowbar1 Action signal of crowbar2
1
the absorbed reactive power reaches its maximum 0.36 MVar. 0.5
0
2) Simulation study of 2 DFIGs connected to grid in the 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85
t (s)
near fully loaded conditions.
Two DFIGs connected to grid is the simplest system of Fig. 11. The simulation waveforms of 2 DFIGs connected to grid system.
DFIGs group. Taking 2 DFIGs connected to grid as an
example, how the first tripped DFIG causing the other DFIG t = 0.6155 s, 35 kV bus voltage drops from 0.97 p.u. to
to be tripped should be quantitatively studied. 0.96 p.u. and the crowbar of DFIG1 is triggered.
t = 0.6795 s, about 64 ms after the crowbar triggered of
The simulation model of 2 DFIGs connected to grid at
DFIG1, reactive power absorbed by DFIG1 reaches 0.32 MVar.
PSCAD/EMTDC is developed. The diagram of the simulation
The terminal voltage of DFIG2 U2 drops from 0.97 p.u. to
is shown in Fig. 10.
0.8 p.u. and the crowbar of DFIG2 is triggered.
The parameters of DFIG and icbset = 500 A can be found So, 2 DFIGs are cascading tripped off from power grid.
in [10]. The fault of f (3) is applied at the 35 kV bus, as shown 3) Case studies of DFIGs CGTO.
in Fig. 10, which starts at t = 0.615 s and lasts for 90 ms. The case of DFIGs CGTO with no low grid voltage has
Other simulation parameters are shown in Table I. occurred in wind farm Tao in 2009. This case is analyzed by
the proposed method.
TABLE I According to the recorded fault process data:
S IMULATION PARAMETERS
a) Before grid voltage was disturbed, the total wind power of
The Output The duration of inductive wind farm Tao was 46.76 MW, 94.9% of the installed capacity.
Wind speeds (m/s)
Power (kW) machine state (ms) The wind powers of DFIGs are given in [10]. The maximum
VDFIG1 = 16 PDFIG1 = 850 80
VDFIG2 = 13 PDFIG2 = 845.8
and minimum of the wind powers of the DFIGs were 862 kW
and 837.8 kW. All of the 58 DFIGs were in the near fully
loaded conditions.
The simulation result is shown in Fig. 11. b) A grid voltage disturbance led the voltage of the con-
110 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 4, NO. 1, MARCH 2018

necting point UH to drop from 1.0 p.u. to 0.916 p.u. (still 12 DFIGs are greater than synchronous speed, and they were
within the normal range). From the moment of disturbance to tripped off from the grid due to over-speeding protection. Two
all DFIGs being tripped off, the recorded time is about 80 ms. DFIGs were tripped off from the grid due to the converter fault.
Using our methods, the process of the 58 DFIGs CGTO The statistics of DFIGs tripped off from grid divided by fault
include three rounds which are shown Fig. 7 [10]: messages are listed in Table II.
a) In the first round, the crowbars of 14 DFIGs, each of
TABLE II
which was of active power 850 kW, were started up due to T HE S TATISTICS OF T HE DFIG S D IVIDED BY T HE FAULT M ESSAGES
the decline of UH , which would make these 14 DFIGs be
disconnected from grid. Number of units Unit Number Reasons for Tripping off
b) In the second round, all 14 DFIGs entered inductive 2, 5, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22,
12 Due to overspeed
24, 26, 27, 31 and 33
machine state and totally reactive power absorbed reached 2 16 and 23 Due to converter fault
5.04 MVar because their stator windings were still connected
in grid. The voltage profile of the wind farm was worsened. 3) The acceleration time of 33 DFIGs is 430 ms.
This effect caused the other 43 DFIGs, each of which was of Using our method, the critical acceleration time Tcr of 31
the minimal wind power 840 kW, to be tripped off from grid. DFIGs (the 16-th DFIG and the 23-th DFIG are not included)
c) In the third round, all 43 DFIGs totally absorbed reactive are calculated by (4) and (6) and listed in Table III.
power reached 7.92 MVar, and the voltage profile of the wind
farm was further worsened. This caused the 5-th DFIG, with TABLE III
T HE C ALCULATED R ESULTS OF T HE C RITICAL ACCELERATION T IME OF
wind power of 837.8 kW, to be tripped off from grid. T HE DFIG S
The duration of 58 DFIGs CGTO obtained by the simulation
is 78 ms, which is closed to the recorded time 80 ms. No. of DFIG Tcr (ms) No. of DFIG Tcr (ms)
2* 345.6 24 * 384.9
C. Case study of DFIGs OGTO Caused by Over-speeding 20 * 345.7 5* 396.8
33 * 346 7 438.7
In 2012, in wind farm Bei located in Northeast China, after 3 348.1 6 438.8
32 348.2 1 498.7
the fault of f (2) in the grid, a case of DFIGs OGTO occurred. 15 * 348.3 29 566.1
The installed capacity of wind farm Bei is also 49.5 MW, 12 350.6 28 584.1
consisting 33 DFIGs, each of which is of rating power 27 * 350.7 19 609.2
17 * 350.7 25 635.9
1.5 MW. The single line diagram of wind farm Bei is shown 26 * 350.7 8 642.9
in Fig. 12, and the parameters of the DFIGs are given in [14]. 22 * 353.2 18 654.1
31 * 353.2 10 672.2
4 358.1 11 684.6
Legend
13 362.9 14 691.5
The DFIGs Tripped off due MainTransformer
to converter fault 30 363 9 691.6
50 MVA U Line f (2) Grid 21 * 365.3
The DFIGs Tripped off due H
to overspeed 35 kV 220 kV 32.27 km 220 kV Annotation: The colored area is the DFIGs whose critical acceleration time
Tcr are less than 430 ms and the number with * are the DFIGs tripped off
from grid listed in Table II.
G18 G16
G29
G11 G10 G9 G17 G25 Based on our method for DFIGs OGTO, 12 DFIGs listed
G24
G19 G15 in Table II, which were tripped off from the grid due to over-
speeding protection, are recognized. The simulation results
completely agree with the recorded datas.
G8 G7 G6 G5 G4 G3 G14 G22 G23 G27 G28

G13 G21 VII. C ONCLUSION

G2 G1 G12 G20 G26 G30 G31 G32 G33
Fig. 12. The electrical diagram of wind farm Bei.
According to the original recorded data of wind farm Bei:
1) Before the disturbance, the wind power of wind farm
Bei was 44.16 MW, 89.2% of the installed capacity. The
maximum and minimum of the rotor speeds of all DFIGs were
1755 r/min and 1590 r/min. So all DFIGs operated in the over-
synchronous state. The recorded initial rotor speeds and wind
powers of DFIGs are given in [14].
2) The fault of f (2) caused grid voltage, as shown in Fig. 12,
to change from 1.05 p.u. to 0.85 p.u. The crowbar protection
of all 33 DFIGs were started up, which made all DFIGs go
into inductive machine state. Among them, rotor speeds of
Many faults of DFIGs GTO have occurred in huge wind
power bases. It is necessary to reveal the mechanism and
classify the types of such faults.
The faults of DFIGs GTO are mainly related to voltage
disturbances in grid, crowbar protection schemes and initial
loaded conditions of DFIGs.
Three types of DFIGs GTO, such as DFIGs SGTO (si-
multaneously grouping tripped off), DFIGs CGTO (cascading
grouping tripped off) and DFIGs OGTO (over-speed grouping
tripped off) have been defined and the occurring conditions
have been established via a comprehensive analysis of the
related factors.
The newly revealed types of GTO (CGTO and OGTO)
are strongly related to the initial loaded condition of DFIGs,
and are weakly related to the degree of voltage disturbance
MU et al.: THE MECHANISM OF DFIGS GROUPING TRIPPED OFF FROM POWER GRID 111

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23 394.5 37 257.1 Gang Mu (M’07) received his Ph.D. in Electri-
32 391.2 51 244.6 cal Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing
40 389.8 49 236.6 China, in 1991. He is currently a professor with the
1 388.3 56 194.5 School of Electrical Engineering, Northeast Electric
Annotation: The boldfaced figures are data recorded for the DFIGs in the Power University, Jilin, China. His research interests
near fully loaded conditions. are power system stability analysis and renewable
power generation.

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