Wind Energy Conversion System- Wind Turbine

Modeling
Engr. G. Ofualagba and Dr. E. U Ubeku , Member, IEEE, NIEEE, NSE, ISES, NIM

Abstract-In this paper, a functional structure of a wind energy

conversion system is introduced, before making a comparison II. FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE OF WIND TURBINES
between the two typical wind turbine operating schemes in The functional structure of a typical wind energy conversion
operation, namely constant-speed wind turbine and variable- system is as shown in Figure 1:
speed wind turbine. In addition, the modeling and dynamic
behavior of a variable speed wind turbine with pitch control
capability is explained in detail and the turbine performance
curves are simulated in the MATLAB/simulink.

Keywords-Drives, energy conversion, modeling, power

generation, power systems, simulation, turbines, wind energy,
wind, velocity control.

I. INTRODUCTION

One way of addressing the rising energy demands and

growing environmental concerns, is to harness green sources
of power. Among these, tapping wind energy with wind
turbines appears to be the most promising source of renewable
energy. Wind energy conversion systems are used to capture
Fig. 1. Power Transfer in a Wind Energy Converter.
the energy available in the wind to convert into electrical
energy.
A wind energy conversion system is a complex system in
In this paper, a functional structure of a wind energy
which knowledge from a wide array of fields comprising of
conversion system is introduced, before making a comparison aerodynamics, mechanical, civil and electrical engineering
between the two typical wind turbine operating schemes in come together. The principle components of a modern wind
operation, namely constant-speed wind turbine and variable-
turbine are the tower, the rotor and the nacelle, which
speed wind turbine. In addition, the modeling and dynamic
accommodates the transmission mechanisms and the
behavior of a variable speed wind turbine with pitch control
generator. The wind turbine captures the wind’s kinetic energy
capability is explained in detail.
in the rotor consisting of two or more blades mechanically
The average commercial turbine size of the wind
coupled to an electrical generator. The main component of the
installations was 300kW until the mid ninety’s [1]. Newer
mechanical assembly is the gearbox, which transforms the
machines of larger capacity (up to 5MW) have been developed
slower rotational speeds of the wind turbine to higher
and are being installed. Wind, when available, is an infinite rotational speeds on the electrical generator side. The rotation
source of energy. Other environmental impacts of wind power
of the electrical generator’s shaft driven by the wind turbine
are limited as well.
generates electricity, whose output is maintained as per
A schematic diagram of a wind energy conversion system
specifications, , by employing suitable control and supervising
is presented in the next section along with a detailed
techniques. Besides monitoring the output, these control
description of wind turbine and its modeling. The functionality
systems also include protection systems to protect the overall
of other system components is also discussed briefly. In the
system.
last section, simulation results, obtained for the variable speed
Two distinctly different design configurations are available
wind turbine, are presented to give a better understanding of for a wind turbine, the horizontal axis configuration and the
the wind turbine dynamics. vertical axis configuration. The vertical axis machine has the
shape of an egg beater, and is often called the Darrieus rotor
Author Affiliations: after its inventor. However, most modern turbines use
G. Ofualagba is with Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe, Oghara, Delta State, horizontal axis design [1]. In this paper the dynamic model of
Nigeria (e-mail: swillas_solar@yahoo.com)
E.U Ubeku is with University of Benin, Benin-City, Edo State, Nigeria
a horizontal axis turbine is developed and simulated in the
(e-mail: ubiomo.ubeku@uniben.edu MATLAB/Simulink, based on the turbine performance curves.

©2008 IEEE.
 ( )
III. WIND TURBINE MODELING 1
. (Mass flow rate per second). V − Vo
2 2
P= (III)
As noted above, a wind energy conversion system is a 2
complex system converting wind energy to rotational energy
and then to electrical energy. The output power or torque of a Where:
wind turbine is determined by several factors like wind
velocity, size and shape of the turbine, etc. A dynamic model P is the Mechanical Power extracted by the rotor in watts.
of the wind turbine, involving these parameters, is needed to
understand the behavior of a wind turbine over its region of V is the upstream wind velocity at the entrance of the rotor
operation. By studying its modeling, it is possible to control a blades in m/s
wind turbine’s performance to meet a desired operational
characteristic. In the following pages we will look at different V o is the downstream wind velocity at the exit of the rotor
performance characteristics and variables that play an blades in m/s
important role in wind power generation, by deriving the
speed and power relations. The control principles of the wind 3
Let ρ be the air density in (kg/ m ) and A is the area swept
turbine are also discussed in this section. 2
by the rotor blades in (m ); then, the mass flow rate of air
A. Inputs and Outputs of a Wind Turbine through the rotating blades is given by multiplying the air
density with the average velocity.
The inputs and output variables of wind turbine can be
broken into the following: Mass flow rate = ρ ⋅ Α ⋅ V + V0 (IV)
1. The independent input quantity wind speed, 2
determines the energy input to the wind turbine.
From [3] and [4], the mechanical power extracted
2. Machine-specific input quantities, arising particularly by the rotor is given by:
from rotor geometry and arrangement (i.e., different
configurations like horizontal axis or vertical axis
⎛ V + Vo ⎞⎤
turbines, area of the blades, etc.). P=
1⎡
⎢ ρ ⋅ Α⎜
2⎣ 2
⎟⎥ V − Vo
2 2
( ) (V)
⎝ ⎠⎦
3. Turbine speed, rotor blade tilt, and rotor blade pitch
angle, arising from the transmission system of the After algebraic rearrangement of the terms we have:
wind energy conversion system.
1
4. Turbine output quantities, namely Power or Drive P= ρ ⋅ Α ⋅V 3 ⋅ C p (VI)
torque, which may be controlled by varying the 2
above three input quantities.
Where:
B. Power Extraction from the Air Stream
2
With the identification of the wind turbine’s input and ⎛ V0 ⎞⎛⎜ ⎛ Vο ⎞ ⎞⎟
output variables, now it is possible to derive an expression ⎜1 + ⎟ 1− ⎜ ⎟
relating these two values. The relation between the power and ⎝ V ⎠⎜⎝ ⎝ V ⎠ ⎟⎠
wind speed is derived as follows [1]:
Cp = is the fraction of the upstream
2
wind power, which is captured by the rotor blades and has a
The kinetic energy in air of mass m moving with speed V is theoretical maximum value of 0.59. It is also referred as the
given by the following: power coefficient of the rotor or the rotor efficiency. In
2
practical designs, the maximum achievable Cp is between 0.4
Kinetic energy =½·m.V Joules (I) and 0.5 for high-speed, two-blade turbines and between 0.2
and 0.4 for slow-speed turbines with more blades [1].
The power in moving air flow is the flow rate of kinetic
From “(iii)”, we see that the power absorption and operating
energy per second.
conditions of a turbine are determined by the effective area of
2 the rotor blades, wind speed, and wind flow conditions at the
Power =½ · (mass flow rate per second).V (II) rotor. Thus, the output power of the turbine can be varied by
effective area and by changing the flow conditions at the rotor
The actual power extracted by the rotor blades is the system, which forms the basis of control of wind energy
difference between the upstream and the down stream wind conversion system.
powers. Therefore, equations (ii) results in;
C. Tip Speed Ratio typically use generator torque control for optimization of
power output. They use pitch control to control the output
The tip speed ratio λ, defined as the ratio of the linear speed power, only above their rated wind speed. With variable
at the tip of the blade to the free stream wind speed and is speed, there will be 20-30% increase in the energy capture
given by the following expression [1]-[4]: compared to the fixed-speed operation.
Typical curves for a constant speed and variable speed wind
turbine are as shown in the Figure 2.
ωR
TSR = λ = (VII)
V
Where:
R is the rotor blade radius in meters

ω Is the rotor angular speed in rad/sec.

TSR is related to the wind turbine operating point for
extracting maximum power. The maximum rotor efficiency
Cp is achieved at a particular tip speed ratio TSR, which is
specific to the aerodynamic design of a given turbine. The
rotor must turn at high-speed at high wind, and at low-speed at
low wind, to keep tip speed ratio TSR constant at the optimum
level at all times. The larger the tip speed ratio TSR, the faster
is the rotation of the wind turbine rotor at a given wind speed.
High (rotational) speed turbines are preferred for efficient Fig. 2. Typical curves for a constant speed, stall controlled (dotted) and
electricity generation. From [7], for a particular value of wind variable speed pitch controlled (solid) wind turbine.
speed V, turbines with large blade radius R result in low
rotational speed ω , and vice versa. For operation over a wide In a constant speed, stall-controlled wind turbine the turbine
range of wind speeds, wind turbines with high tip speed ratios output power peaks somewhat higher than the rated limit, then
are preferred [3]. decreases until the cut-out speed is reached. This feature
provides an element of passive power output regulation,
D. Typical Wind Turbine Operating Systems ensuring that the generator is not overloaded as the wind speed
reaches above nominal values. With variable speed operation
There are mainly two kinds of wind energy conversion although the energy capture is more, the cost of variable speed
systems in operation; fixed-speed or constant speed wind control is added to the overall system cost. This tradeoff
turbines which operate at a nearly constant speed, between the energy increase and cost increase has to be
predetermined by the generator design and gearbox ratio, and optimized in the system design. The advantages and
variable speed wind turbines. disadvantages of the variable and fixed-speed operations can
The overall operating strategy determines how the various be summarized in the following table.
components are controlled. For example, as part of the overall
control strategy, the rotor torque can be controlled to TABLE 1. COMPARISON OF FIXED AND VARIABLE SPEED WIND
TURBINE SYSTEMS.
maximize energy capture, or pitch angle control can help
control the power output at high wind speeds. Fixed-speed
stall-regulated turbines have no options for control input. In
these turbines the turbine blades are designed with fixed pitch
to operate near the optimal tip speed ratio TSR at a specific
wind speed. As wind speed increases, so, too does the angle of
attack, and an increasingly large part of the blade, starting at
the blade root, enters the stall region resulting in the reduced
rotor efficiency and limitation of the power output. A variation
of the stall regulated concept involves operating the wind
turbine at two distinct, constant operating speeds, by either
changing the number of poles of the electrical generator or
changing the gear ratio. The principal advantage of stall
control is its simplicity, but there are significant
disadvantages; for instance, the stall regulated wind turbine
will not be able to capture wind energy in an efficient manner
at wind speeds other than that it is designed for. Fixed-speed
pitch-regulated turbines typically use pitch regulation for start-
up and, and after start-up only to control the power above the
rated wind speed of the turbine. Variable speed wind turbines
 A typical variable speed pitch-regulated wind turbine is as
shown in Figure 3. Many parameters that characterize a
variable-speed wind turbine are linked. For example:

1. The turbine power coefficient curve, the nominal rotor

speed, and the rotor diameter determine the nominal wind
speed for a wind turbine of a given nominal power.

2. The allowable amount of rotor over speeding and the rated

power determines the parameters of the pitch controller.

3. The rotor inertia determines the turbine cut-in wind speed.

Fig. 4.Variable Speed Pitch Controlled wind turbine operation

As mentioned in the previous subsection, pitch controller

controls the wind flow around the wind turbine blade, thereby
controlling the toque exerted on the turbine shaft. If the wind
speed is less than the rated wind speed of the wind turbine, the
pitch angle is kept constant at its optimum value. It should be
noted that the pitch angle can change at a finite rate, which
may be quite low due to the size of the rotor blades. The
maximum rate of change of the pitch angle is in the order of 3
to 10 degrees/second. In this controller a slight over-speeding
of the rotor above its nominal value can be allowed without
causing problems for the wind turbine structure [6], [8].

Fig. 3. Typical pitch-regulated variable-speed wind turbine. The pitch angle controller used in this paper, employs a PI
controller as shown below [7], [9]-[11]:
Variable speed pitch-regulated wind turbines have two
methods for affecting the turbine operation, namely speed
changes and blade pitch changes. In other terms, the control
strategies employed in the operation of variable speed wind
turbine system are:

1. Power optimization strategy, employed when the speed is

below the rated wind speed, to optimize the energy capture by
maintaining the optimum tip speed ratio. This can be achieved
by maintaining a constant speed corresponding to the optimum
tip speed ratio. If the speed is changed by controlling the
electrical load, the generator will be overloaded for wind
speeds above nominal value. To avoid such scenario, methods
like generator torque control are used to control the speed. Fig. 5. Pitch Angle controller

2. Power limitation strategy, used above the rated wind speed As long as the wind turbine output power is lower than the
of the turbine to limit the output power to the rated power by rated power of the wind turbine, the error signal is negative
changing the blade pitch to reduce the aerodynamic efficiency, and pitch angle is kept at its optimum value. But once the
thereby reducing the wind turbine power to acceptable levels. wind turbine output power exceeds the rated power Pref, the
error signal is positive and the pitch angle changes to a new
The regions of the above mentioned control strategies of a value, at a finite rate, thereby reducing the effective area of the
variable speed wind turbine system are as shown in the Figure blade resulting in the reduced power output. Inputs to the PI
4: controller are in per-unit and the parameters for the controller
are obtained from reference [11].

E. Performance Curves

The performance of variable speed pitch-regulated wind

turbines is determined by the characteristic curves relating the
power coefficient Cp, tip speed ratio TSR and pitch angle θ.
Groups of Cp − λ curves obtained by measurement or by
computation can also be approximated in closed form by non
linear functions, which can be shown as:

(
C p = C 1 C 2 − C 3θ − C 4θ x − C 5 e − C 6 (λi ))
Where:
1
θ Is the pitch angle and λ is the tip speed ratio
2

The values chosen for C 1 to C 5 and λi in this paper are:

1 1 0.035
= − 3
λ λ + 0.08θ θ + 1
116
C1 = 0.5 C2 = C3 = 0.4
λi
21
C4 = 0 C5 = 5 C6 =
λi
Fig. 6. Simulated model of the variable speed pitch-reguleted wind turbine.
According to the characteristics chosen, the coefficients C1
to C 5 should be modified to obtain a close simulation of the The inputs for the wind turbine model are, wind speed, air
density, radius of the wind turbine, mechanical speed of the
machine in consideration. The differences between the curves rotor referred to the wind turbine side and power reference for
of various wind turbines are small and can be neglected in the pitch angle controller. The output is the drive torque T
dynamic simulations [3]. In [6], a comparison was made
drive which drives the electrical generator. The wind turbine
between the power curves of two commercial wind turbines calculates the tip speed ratio from the input values and
using the general numerical approximation similar to “(VIII)”. estimates the value of power coefficient from the performance
curves. The pitch angle controller maintains the value of the
F. Simulation Results blade pitch at optimum value until the power output of the
wind turbine exceeds the reference power input.
In this section, the simulations results of a variable speed
pitch controlled wind turbine model are presented. All the The performance curves used in this paper (from [8]) are as
simulations were carried out using MATLAB/Simulink. The shown below:
dynamics of the wind turbine model can be represented with
the help of a flow chart, as shown in Figure 6 followed by a
brief description of the simulated model:
 Fig. 8. Output power of the wind turbine for different wind veocity

For the following simulation results, the wind turbine starts

with an initial wind velocity of 11m/s at no-load, and load was
applied on the machine at t=10 seconds. At t=15 seconds there
was a step input change in the wind velocity reaching a final
value of 14 m/s. In both cases the power reference remained
the same (370 kW). The simulation results obtained for the
above mentioned conditions are as follows:

Fig. 7. Cp − λ characteristics (blade pitch angle θ as the parameter)

From the above set of curves (Figure 7), we can observe

that when pitch angle is equal to 2 degrees, the tip speed ratio
has a wide range and a maximum Cp value of 0.35, suitable for
wind turbines designed to operate over a wide range of wind
speeds. With an increase in the pitch angle, the range of tip
speed ratio TSR and the maximum value of power coefficient
decrease considerably.

The parameters used for the simulation are as follows:

Rated power of the wind turbine = 370 kW. Fig. 9. Wind turbine rotor speed variations with wind.

Radius of the wind turbine blade = 20 m.

Gearbox turns ratio = 1:20.

3
Air density = 1 kg/ m

Figure 8 shows the wind turbine output power of the

simulated model for different wind velocities. It can be
observed that the output power is kept constant at higher wind
velocities, even though the wind turbine has the potential to
produce more power; this power limit is used and to prevent
the over speeding of the rotor and to protect the electrical
system.

Fig. 10. Tip speed ratio of the wind turbine.

From Figures 9 and 10 we can see the changes in the tip

speed ratio corresponding to the changes in the rotor speed for
different wind and load conditions. During no-load operation,
the wind turbine is not connected to the load and therefore
rotates freely under the influence of wind attaining high
angular velocities. From [7], which gives the relation between
the tip speed ratio and angular velocity of the wind turbine, it
can be concluded that higher angular velocities result in higher
tip speed ratios. In this case as tip speed ratio TSR reaches a
value greater than 18, the value of the power coefficient
obtained from the set of performance curves is almost zero. As
the rotor power coefficient value is zero, the energy captured
by the rotor blades is also zero. Therefore, the torque exerted
on the generator shaft also equals to zero.
As load is applied on the wind energy conversion system,
the speed of the electrical generator (to be discussed in the
next chapter) drops which reduces the speed of the wind
turbine (as they are coupled through a gear box, Figure 9).
This drop in angular speed of the wind turbine reduces the
value of tip speed ratio TSR resulting in a higher value of the
power coefficient as can be observed from the power
coefficient curves (Figure 7). Since rotor power coefficient is Fig. 12. Pitch angle controlled response to the wind speed change
now a positive, non-zero, the rotor blades extract energy form
the wind resulting in some output power. Observe that the pitch angle is kept constant by the pitch
Figure 11 shows the changes in the power coefficient with controller at an optimal value of 2 degrees (Figure 12) until the
changes in the tip speed ratio. From Figure 7 it can be seen wind turbine reaches above the nominal wind speed (13.5
that, on the right hand side (after reaching the peak value) of m/s), where it has the capability to produce more power than
the Cp Vs λ curves, with increase in the value of tip speed the rated power of the system. In this region pitch control
ratio TSR the value of Cp decreases. alters the pitch of the blade, at a finite rate, thereby changing
Figure 11 shows that lower wind velocities (higher tip speed the airflow around the blades resulting in the reduced
ratio TSR, see [7]) result in high power coefficient, and higher efficiency of wind turbine rotor. Also, from Figure 7 we see
wind velocities (lower tip speed ratio TSR) result in lower that with increase in the pitch angle the range of tip speed
power coefficient values, so that the wind turbine output does ratio TSR which produces a positive value for rotor power
not exceed its rated power. coefficient reduces sharply.

Fig. 11. Variation of power coefficient with wind.

Fig. 13. Wind turbine output power variation with change in wind speed.

From Figures 12 and 13 we see that the output of the wind

turbine is about 220kW at 11 m/s and has the ability to supply
more than rated power of 370 kW at 14 m/s. As explained
above, the wind turbine output power is limited to the rated
power by the pitch controller.
 [6] J. G. Slootweg, S.W.H. de Haan, H. Polinder and W.L. Kling,
“General model for representing variable speed wind turbines in
power system dynamics simulations,” IEEE Transactions on
Power Systems, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 144-151 , Feb. 2003.

[7] Anca D.Hansen, Florin Iov, Poul Sorensen, and Frede Blaabjerg,
“Overall control strategy of variable speed doubly-fed induction
generator wind turbine,” in 2004 Nordic Wind Power Conference,
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

[8] Eduard Muljadi and C. P. Butterfield., “Pitch-controlled variable-

speed wind turbine generation,” IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications , vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 240-246, Jan/Feb 2001

[9] P.M.Anderson and Anjan Bose., “ Stability simulation of wind

turbine systems,”IEEE Trans. on Power and Apparatus and
Systems, vol. PAS-102, no. 12, pp. 3791-3795, Dec. 1983.

[10] O. Wasynczuk, D.T. Man and J. P. Sullivan, “Dynamic Behavior

Fig. 14. Wind turbine torque variation with wind of a class of wind turbine generators during random wind
fluctuations,” IEEE Transactions on Power and Apparatus and
Systems, vol. PAS-100, no. 6, pp. 2837-2845, June 1981.
The driving torque produced by the wind turbine as
observed in Figure 14, varies based on the input (wind) and [11] MATLAB/Simulink Documentation. Available:
load conditions. When the system is not loaded the driving http://www.mathworks.com
torque produced the wind turbine is zero, since the energy
captured by the rotor is zero. When load is applied at t=10
seconds, we can see a rise in the value of the torque produced VI. BIOGRAPHY
by the wind turbine. With a step increase in wind velocity (to
14 m/s), the torque increases from its previous value, and
delivers a higher toque to the electrical generator. Torque seen
here is obtained by dividing the power extracted from the wind
by the angular velocity of the rotor and then referring it on to
the generator side.

IV. CONCLUSION.
Engr. Ofualagba Godswill hails from Iyede, Isoko
In this paper a variable speed wind energy conversion North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria and was born on
system has been presented. Emphasis has been laid on the January 5, 1975. He graduated from Enugu State University of Science and
wind turbine part of the total system. A comparison was made Technology, Enugu State, Nigeria in 1999 and his masters degree in Power
between the two typical existing wind turbine systems after a Systems Engineering from the same university in 2002. Presently he has
almost completed his honorable degree (PhD) at the University of Benin,
brief introduction of each system. A variable speed wind Nigeria.
turbine model was simulated based on the power coefficient His employment experience included having lectured at University of
curves. The response of the simulated model was observed Ngeria, Nsukka, Naval Engineering College, Sapele and presently he is a
with dynamic load and changing wind conditions. It was lecturer at Delta State Poytechnic, Otefe, Oghara, Nigeria. He is also the
CEO/MD of Swillas Engineering Limited, a Renewable Energy Company in
observed with the help of the simulation results, that the power Nigeria. He is a member of IEEE Power Engineering Society, IEEE Power
limitation strategy can be successfully enforced by using a Electronics Society, Nigerian Institute of Electrical Electronics Society
pitch controller. (NIEEE) and International Solar Energy Society (ISES).

V. REFERENCES

[1] Mukund. R. Patel, Wind Power Systems, CRC Press, 1999, ch. 4-6.

[2] J.G. Slootweg, “Wind power: modeling and impact on power

system dynamics,” PhD dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Delft
University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 2003.

[3] Siegfried Heier, Grid Integration of Wind energy Conversion

Systems, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, ch. 1-2.

[4] J.F. Manwell, J.G. McGowan and A.L. Rogers, Wind energy
Explained – Theory, Design and Application, John Wiley& Sons,
2002, ch. 7.

[5] Tony Burton, David sharpe, Nick Jenkins and Ervin Bossanyi,
Wind Energy Handbook, John Wiley& Sons, 2001, ch. 4.