Parametric study of SFCL with DFIG wind turbine generators

Abstract

Recently, superconducting fault current limiters (SFCLs) were proposed as an advanced device for fault ride through (FRT) capability of DFIG wind turbines without the need for controller and additional power electronic devices. However, for minimizing the cost of SFCL and maximizing the enhancement of FRT capability, it is needed to investigate the effect of SFCL parameters on FRT capability, which is the main goal of this paper. A detailed model of the resistive type SFCL has been implemented and integrated with a model of DFIG wind turbine using PSCAD/EMTDC software. SFCL model took into consideration the complete dynamic behavior of SFCL, including its three different regimes; superconducting regime, normal conducting regime, and recovery regime. The investigated parameters in this study are the limiting resistance, the critical current and the recovery time. To study the effect of each parameter in limiting the fault and enhancing the FRT capability, three phase fault was considered. The effect of each parameter is investigated considering the voltage profile, the active power generated and the current limitation at the generator terminals. Based on the obtained results, it is found that proper parameters of SFCL will achieve enhanced performance of the whole system during faults with minimizing the cost.