IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO.

12, DECEMBER 2018 9301

Predictive Torque and Rotor Flux Control of a

DFIG-DC System for Torque Ripple
Compensation and Loss Minimization
Sérgio M. A. Cruz , Senior Member, IEEE, Gil D. Marques , Senior Member, IEEE,
Pedro F. C. Gonçalves , Student Member, IEEE, and Matteo F. Iacchetti , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—The severe torque ripple normally occurring NOMENCLATURE

in the doubly fed induction generator dc (DFIG-dc) system
can cause premature failure of mechanical components and General
shorten the life of the drive train. This paper addresses the g Cost function.
torque ripple issue by proposing a predictive direct torque is , ir Stator and rotor current space vectors.
control strategy, which delivers at the same time torque rip-
ple suppression and minimization of losses. The existing
k Time instant k.
control algorithms for torque ripple mitigation are mostly kT Torque gain factor.
based on resonant controllers and repetitive control forcing Ls , Lm , Lr Stator, mutual, rotor inductance.
the compensation signal either through the current chain p Pole pairs.
or directly into the rotor voltage commands. All these tech- Pinv0 Losses in the inverter at rotor rated current.
niques lead to structures with multiple controllers whose
tuning is not straightforward. Furthermore, they are very
R s , Rr Stator and rotor resistances.
sensitive to the operating frequency, making optimized op- S Inverter switching state.
eration with variable frequency highly challenging. Con- S A , SB , SC Switching functions of the three inverter legs.
versely, the proposed algorithm predicts directly the best T Original torque demand.
rotor voltage space vector to minimize torque ripple and Te Electromagnetic torque.
track a prescribed rotor flux amplitude to minimize losses,
with no current control chain. As confirmed by simula- Ts Sampling time.
tions and experiments, the strategy allows large stator fre- udc DC bus voltage.
quency variations as required by the optimal flux command u s , ur Stator and rotor voltage space vectors.
for minimum losses, whilst ensuring effective torque ripple θr Rotor electric position.
compensation. λf Weighting factor.
Index Terms—Doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs), σ Total leakage factor.
induction generators, loss minimization, predictive control, ψs , ψ r Stator and rotor flux linkage space vectors.
torque ripple compensation. ωm Rotor mechanical angular speed.
ωr Rotor electric angular speed.
Subscripts
B Base quantity.
n Rated value.
Manuscript received December 12, 2017; revised February 7, 2018; s, r Stator or rotor quantities.
accepted March 6, 2018. Date of publication March 22, 2018; date of
current version July 30, 2018. This work was supported by national
p.u. Per-unit value.
funds through the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, with refer- Superscripts
ences UID/EEA/50008/2013 and UID/CEC/50021/2013. (Corresponding
author: Sérgio M. A. Cruz.) ∗ Reference value.
S. M. A. Cruz and P. F. C. Gonçalves are with the Department max Maximum admissible value.
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030- opt Optimum value for maximum efficiency.
290 Coimbra, Portugal, and also with the Instituto de Telecomuni-
cações, P-3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal (e-mail: smacruz@ieee.org;
pgoncalves@ieee.org). I. INTRODUCTION
G. D. Marques is with the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e
Computadores - Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Instituto Superior
Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal (e-mail: gil.
marques@tecnico.ulisboa.pt).
M. F. Iacchetti is with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineer-
T HE doubly fed induction generator dc system—otherwise
referred to as DFIG-dc system—is a dc power generation
apparatus, which consists of a wound-rotor induction machine
ing, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. (e-mail: interfaced with a single downsized voltage source inverter (VSI)
matteo.iacchetti@manchester.ac.uk). and a diode rectifier, both sharing the same dc link connected
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. to a dc power system. The VSI provides the required magnetiz-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2018.2818667 ing current and control action—usually on the rotor side—and

0278-0046 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
9302 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2018

the rectifier is in charge of the main power transfer—generally the same authors looked at the problem from a different angle,
through the stator. The concept was originated from the well- by proposing sinusoidal stator-current operation achieved via a
known ac DFIG largely used in wind energy conversion systems bank of RCs to eliminate current harmonics. This scheme can
[1], with the intent of having a relatively cheap power electron- only partially mitigate the torque ripple, because the stator flux
ics interface while allowing high-performance torque control is distorted.
and avoiding machine oversizing when operating with constant The impact of harmonic decoupling terms in the current chain
dc voltage and variable speed. was then investigated in [21]. Effective though periodic control
Most regulation techniques for frequency and torque in the techniques are when running in on-spec conditions, they all
DFIG-dc system rely on field-oriented control. Field orientation require the knowledge of stator frequency, which makes the im-
is achieved by either using the estimated flux angle [2] or driving plementation for variable frequency operation extremely chal-
the control frame directly at a constant frequency [3]—as in ac lenging. As a matter of fact, no results can be found in the
stand-alone DFIGs. When the DFIG-dc system feeds a stand- literature showing the performance of these controls when the
alone dc load rather than a dc grid, the torque set-point comes DFIG-dc system is running with a variable frequency set-point.
from an outer controller in charge of dc-voltage regulation [4]. Predictive delay compensation [22] was proposed with the in-
Direct torque control based on either frame transformations or tent to overcome these limitations, with the idea to correct the
switching tables and avoiding current control chains is explored torque ripple rejection signal in advance so as to compensate for
in [5] and [6], respectively. the delay introduced by the current control chain. The algorithm
Although the stator frequency set-point is free, the majority works effectively even with off-spec reference frequency, but it
of control strategies just keep it constant at the rated value. has not been tested against dynamic changes in the reference
Nonetheless, in order to minimize losses, the stator flux set- frequency set-point. Furthermore, it still needs PI current con-
point should be varied forcing flux weakening at low load levels trollers and related tuning issues, especially for the choice of
[7]: under constant dc voltage, this results in a frequency-wild the advance time.
operation. Ideally, in the DFIG-dc system, any torque ripple compensa-
The torque ripple originated by the flux and current harmonic tion strategy should be highly robust against frequency fluctu-
interaction is the most severe drawback of the DFIG-dc system ations, to effectively integrate flux weakening control aimed at
and is inherently associated with the presence of the uncon- minimizing losses [7]. To the authors’ best knowledge, how-
trolled rectifier. An early study reported in [8] for an ac stand- ever, combining simultaneous torque ripple elimination and
alone DFIG feeding nonlinear loads proposed to compensate flux weakening control has not been attempted yet, being the
for the harmonics by operating the grid-side converter (GSC) frequency-insensitive torque ripple mitigation method the most
as an active filter. As the DFIG-dc system does not include any critical aspect for this integration to succeed.
GSC, the only way to implement an active filter is by adding Such a challenge is taken and addressed in this paper by
an extra converter [9], or replacing the diode bridge with a sec- proposing a new predictive torque and flux control strategy,
ond VSI, which turns the system into a dual-VSI DFIG [10], which regulates the instantaneous rotor flux and torque with
[11]. Twelve-pulse rectifiers are another viable option to tackle very fast dynamics. The method is studied and implemented for
the harmonics at the source [12]. All these solutions need extra a dc grid-connected DFIG-dc system. However, it may be also
hardware and/or a custom-made multiphase DFIG [13], which valid for the stand-alone operation by introducing an additional
makes the case for a DFIG less compelling over PM or induction dc voltage controller setting the reference torque.
generators with a fully rated converter. In recent years, finite control set model predictive control
The last few years have seen several proposals being issued to has been widely reported in the literature for application in
address the torque ripple of the DFIG-dc system at the control electric drive systems [23], where predictive torque (and flux)
level, preserving the cheapest possible power electronics. They control (PTC) is the strategy that provides less torque ripple in
are largely inspired by the strategies devised to improve the per- comparison to predictive current control (PCC) [24]. Regarding
formance of ac DFIGs operating under distorted grid voltage the DFIG connected to a dc microgrid, only a PCC strategy
[14], [15] or with nonlinear loads [16]. In [14], Hu et al. have has been reported so far [25], where the authors have neither
formalized control conditions required for different targets such compensated the algorithm execution delay nor addressed the
as zero torque ripple, zero stator power ripple, sinusoidal stator, torque ripple compensation issue. Furthermore, Abu-Rub and
or rotor currents. In DFIGs operating with distorted stator volt- Ellabban [25] consider constant frequency operation and do not
age like the DFIG-dc system, these targets cannot be achieved tackle the minimization of losses.
simultaneously. Unlike usual stator flux based DTC controls for DFIG-dc
The first attempt to tackle the torque ripple in the DFIG-dc systems, this paper uses the rotor flux as it is more conve-
system was made in [17] using resonant controllers (RCs) in nient for predictive control, as discussed later on. The PTC
the current control chain to improve the tracking of the instanta- algorithm devised in this paper predicts the optimal voltage
neous torque. Nian et al. [18] envisaged the implementation of space vector to minimize a cost function combining predicted
direct RC signal injection in the q-axis rotor voltage command rotor flux and torque errors. The rotor flux set-point is torque-
in order to bypass the current control chain. A further refinement dependent and follows an optimal trend to minimize losses. The
was then made in [19] using repetitive control in such a way as control algorithm includes dead-time and sampling-delay com-
to compensate for all the harmonics in a single shot. In [20], pensation features, and allows the DFIG-dc system to achieve
CRUZ et al.: PREDICTIVE TORQUE AND ROTOR FLUX CONTROL OF A DFIG-DC SYSTEM FOR TORQUE RIPPLE COMPENSATION 9303

torque ripple free and improved efficiency operation at the same

time.
After introducing the machine modeling and control strategy
in Section II, this paper presents simulation and experimental
results in Sections III and IV, proving that the predictive control
achieves effective torque ripple compensation even at synchro-
nism and under variable frequency operation. Finally, Section V
concludes the paper.

II. PREDICTIVE TORQUE AND ROTOR FLUX CONTROL

A. Rationale
The core of the torque mitigation strategy proposed in this
paper is a predictive control algorithm that eliminates the draw-
backs of limited bandwidth of control loops based on PI regu-
lators. With this method, there is no need to implement RCs for
the torque ripple compensating signal. In this work, the control
system relies on a motor model to predict its future behavior
Fig. 1. System configuration and overall control scheme.
and thus select in advance the optimal actuation to obtain the
desired torque and flux behavior.
The predictive torque and flux control strategy here proposed The stator and rotor voltage equations of the DFIG are
allows the instantaneous torque to be accurately regulated, thus
suppressing low-order torque oscillations typical of the DFIG-dc d
u s = Rs is + ψ + jωr ψs (1)
system. In addition to the torque control and from a theoretical dt s
point of view, either the stator or rotor fluxes could be controlled. d
u r = R r i r + ψr (2)
A reason for controlling the rotor flux instead of the stator flux is dt
that the fifth and seventh harmonics are unavoidable in the stator
and the stator and rotor fluxes are given by
currents, as they are introduced by the diode bridge rectifier
that connects the stator windings to the dc bus. Due to the ψs = Ls is + Lm ir (3)
mathematical relationship between stator flux, stator currents
and torque, a constant torque would imply a distorted stator flux ψr = Lr ir + Lm is . (4)
with nonconstant magnitude. This would necessarily increase
The total leakage factor of the machine is defined as
the complexity of predictive control strategies based on torque
and stator flux control, as in this category of control systems, L2m
the amplitude of the flux under control is usually maintained σ =1− . (5)
Ls Lr
constant or slowly changing over time. This problem becomes
irrelevant by controlling the rotor flux and torque. By the manipulation of (3) and (4), the stator and rotor fluxes
can be related by

B. Control Layout Ls
ψs = (ψr − σLr ir ) . (6)
Lm
The DFIG-dc system under study along with a general
overview of the proposed control system is shown in Fig. 1. The method to predict the rotor flux and torque is imple-
The rotor circuits of the DFIG are fed by a VSI that is con- mented in two steps. In the first step, the flux is estimated using
nected to the dc link, while its stator circuits are connected to the actual measurements and the algebraic flux–current relationship
same dc link through a three-phase diode bridge rectifier. The (4). In the second step, predictions are made by combining (1)
VSI in the rotor side is in charge of the control, which adjusts and (2).
the rotor flux (and indirectly the stator frequency) and torque.
The control is implemented in the rotor reference frame, and D. Rotor Flux Estimation
all the stator variables are transformed to that reference frame
using the measured rotor position angle. The rotor flux is estimated using the so-called current model.
It is based on the following equation:

C. DFIG Model ψr (k) = Lr ir (k) + Lm is (k). (7)

The mathematical model of the DFIG is expressed in the rotor This method is sensitive to parameter and rotor position mea-
reference frame with all rotor quantities and parameters referred surement errors. However, it allows the system to operate in the
to the stator windings. entire speed range, including the synchronous speed.
9304 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2018

E. Prediction Model optimal actuation (voltage vector) to be applied at instant k + 1

is obtained by the minimization of the cost function discussed
Combining (1), (2), and (6) gives the following equation for
the rotor current: in the next section.
dir Lm
σLr = u r − Rr ir − (u s − Rs is − jωr ψs ) . (8)
dt Ls F. Cost Function Design
A discrete model of the DFIG based on (2), (4), (6), and The cost function is defined considering two control goals:
(8) can now be obtained using a forward Euler discretization 1) regulate the amplitude of the rotor flux; and 2) impose a
method with sampling time Ts : constant electromagnetic torque. The reference rotor flux ψ ∗r
! " regulates indirectly the stator frequency or, alternatively, allows
Rr Ts Ts
ir (k+1) = 1− −jTs ωr (k) ir (k)+j ωr (k)ψr (k) the DFIG to be operated with minimum Joule losses due to
σLr σLr
the fundamental component of currents. The calculation of the
Ts Lm Ts optimal value of ψ ∗r for a given torque demand is addressed
+ u r (k) − (u s (k) − Rs is (k)) (9)
σLr σLr Ls in Section II-H. On the other hand, the torque reference Te∗
ψr (k + 1) = ψr (k) + (u r (k) − Rr ir (k)) Ts . (10) regulates the active power sent to the dc bus by the DFIG stator.
The cost function g is thus defined as
The rotor voltages in (9) and (10) are calculated using the
measured dc bus voltage udc (k) and the switching state of the ! "2 ! "2
Te∗ − Te (k + 2) ψ ∗r − |ψr (k + 2)|
inverter: g= + λf (14)
Tn ψn
2# $
u r (k) = udc (k) SA (k) + ej 2π / 3 SB (k) + e−j 2π / 3 SC (k)
3
(11) where Tn and ψ n represent the DFIG rated values of torque and
flux. Furthermore, λf is a suited weighting factor that regulates
S(k) = [SA (k) SB (k) SC (k)]T . (12) the importance of flux control over torque control and thus
ensures an optimal control performance as far as torque and
In (12), SA , SB , SC represent the switching functions of the
flux ripples are concerned. In (14), the torque and rotor flux for
three inverter legs, defined as Sx = 1 when upper switch is ON
instant k + 2 are predicted seven times, one for each one of the
and lower switch is OFF, and Sx = 0 otherwise.
seven different voltage vectors the VSI can apply to the rotor
It should be noted that for rotor speeds close to the syn-
windings. The VSI switching state corresponding to the voltage
chronous speed, the voltage applied to the rotor windings is
vector that minimizes the cost function is the one applied at
very small. This fact, associated with the uncertainty in the
instant k + 1:
value of the rotor resistance and with the voltage drop across
the power switches of the inverter, would lead to rotor flux drift
problems if the flux was calculated solely by (10), which is the S(k + 1) = arg min (g) . (15)
{S 1 ,...,S 7 }
discrete version of the voltage model given by (2). The solution
to this problem lies in the use of the current model (7) for the
Fig. 2 summarizes the general flowchart of the calculations
calculation of ψr (k), using (10) only to estimate the rotor flux
involved in the proposed control strategy.
for the next time step. This solution is used over the entire speed
range of the DFIG-dc system.
In order to increase the performance of the control system, G. Current Limitation
particularly when the machine operates close to or at syn-
chronous speed, the inverter dead-time is compensated using PCC algorithms usually include a current limitation to ensure
a similar approach to that adopted in [26]. that under no circumstances the maximum current is exceeded.
Under motoring convention, the electromagnetic torque for Typically, this is achieved by adding to the cost function an
instant k + 1 can now be calculated using extra term, which assumes a very high value for all the voltage
vectors that lead to predicted current values above the current
3 limit. Nevertheless, for PTC algorithms and for this system in
Te (k + 1) = − pψr (k + 1) × ir (k + 1) . (13)
2 particular, this strategy proved to be not effective as the system
To compensate the time delay between the sampling of the tends to exhibit high torque and current ripples whenever the
different quantities and the application of the new switching state current is close to its limit. In some cases, the system was not able
to the inverter, a typical procedure, which is also adopted here, is to limit the current at all, being this last case observed whenever
to predict the quantities for instant k + 2 and select the optimal all voltage vectors led to current values above the established
actuation (rotor voltage vector) for instant k + 1. Following this limit. Following this, in the proposed control system, the rotor
approach, the rotor current, rotor flux, and torque are estimated current is limited indirectly by changing the original torque
for instant k + 1 using the measurements available at instant reference value T ∗ . The strategy consists in applying a low-pass
k. By using the one-sample-forward version of (9), (10), and filter F (z) to the predicted rotor current |ir (k + 1)| followed
(13), the same quantities are then predicted for instant k + 2 for by a saturator and a gain block, thus obtaining a torque value
each possible voltage vector the VSI can apply to the rotor. The to be added (motor convention) to the original torque reference,
CRUZ et al.: PREDICTIVE TORQUE AND ROTOR FLUX CONTROL OF A DFIG-DC SYSTEM FOR TORQUE RIPPLE COMPENSATION 9305

Based on the same theoretical foundations, the optimal stator

flux level can be translated into an optimal rotor flux level ψ opt
r
to be used as a reference value in the predictive control algo-
rithm. The derivation of ψ opt
r starts with the expression of the
generic rotor flux space vector from (3) and (4):
Lm
ψr = ψ + σLr ir . (19)
Ls s
The magnitude ψ r of the rotor flux is obviously frame-
invariant and can be obtained from (19) written in a reference
frame conveniently aligned with ψs :
* *
* Lm *
ψ r = ** ψ s + σLr ir **
Ls
* !+ "*
* Lm *
= ** ψ s + σLr |ir |2 − i2r q + jir q ** . (20)
Ls
When the generic magnitude ψ s in (20) is replaced by ψ opt s
provided by (18), and ir q is expressed in terms of torque and flux
as ir q = 2Ls Te /(3pLm ψ s )—with ψ s = ψ opt s and Te = Te∗ ,
(20) gives the optimal rotor flux level
'
(# $
( L m opt 2
( L s ψs + (σLr |ir |)2
Fig. 2. Simplified flowchart of the proposed predictive control opt (
ψr = ( ,# $2 # ∗ $2 . (21)
algorithm. )
+ 2σLr opt Lm
ψ s |ir | L s − 2T 3p
e

according to
The resulting expression (21) for ψ opt still depends on the
Te∗ = T ∗ + kT × sat (F (|ir (k + 1)|) − im
r
ax
) (16) r
rotor current magnitude |ir |, directly and through (18), and can-
%
0 ⇐ x ≤0 not be manipulated to eliminate |ir | and get a closed-form ex-
sat (x) = . (17) pression for ψ opt as a function of Te∗ only. In the practical
x ⇐ x>0 r
implementation, however, |ir | in (18) and (21) can be directly
In (16), im
r
ax
represents the maximum admissible rotor cur- measured, avoiding algebraic loops.
rent. The torque gain kT can be chosen equal to the rated torque Maximum and minimum rotor flux conditions should also
of the machine. With this procedure, the average current value be included to limit magnetic saturation and maximum stator
is always maintained within the established limits without in- frequency, respectively. This is the purpose of the saturation
creasing the torque or flux ripples when the system operates block in Fig. 1.
close to its current limit.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS
H. Optimum Rotor Flux Level
This section presents some simulation results comparing the
For a given torque demand Te∗ , the reference rotor flux level in
performance of the proposed PTC with that of a direct torque
the DFIG [ψ ∗r in (14)] determines not only the stator frequency
control based on PI controllers [5]. In order to allow cross vali-
but also the losses of the DFIG-dc system. It was demonstrated
dation, simulations use a detailed MATLAB/Simulink model
in [7] that the sum of the DFIG Joule losses due to the funda-
with the same parameters of the 4 kW Lab setup given in
mental component of currents and VSI conduction losses can
Appendix II.
be minimized by a proper choice of the stator flux level. The ex-
pression of the optimal stator flux magnitude for a given torque
demand Te∗ has been derived in [7] using per-unit notation. The A. System Based on DTC With Ordinary-Bandwidth
resulting expression in SI units is Torque and Flux Controllers
' ! The considered benchmark system is quite similar to the direct
(
( # $2 "
& ( Pinv0 +3 Rs + LLms Rr LLms IB |ir | stator flux and torque control [5]: this is not exactly a classic
opt 2Ls ∗ ( 4
) DTC since the control is performed in the stator flux reference
ψs = |T | .
3p e Pinv0 + 3Rr LLms IB |ir | frame similar to vector control. In the benchmark system, the
main difference with respect to [5] is the use of the rotor flux
(18)
instead of the stator one.
The background required for the derivation of (18) is resumed The simulation refers to a step on the reference torque, which
in Appendix I. is changed from –4 to –25 Nm, while the DFIG is operated close
9306 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2018

Fig. 5. Illustration of the optimization algorithm: When ψr equals ψor p t ,

copper and VSI conduction losses are minimized.

Fig. 3. Response to torque step variations using the DTC controller

with ordinary bandwidth.

Fig. 6. Illustration of the optimization algorithm for a varying torque

reference.

Fig. 4. Response to a step in the torque reference (predictive

controller). 2 by trial and error. In this simulation, the optimal rotor flux
command (21) was disabled, and the rated rotor flux was adopted
to synchronism (ωm = 1.03 p.u.). Rotor currents and flux are as a reference value (simulation and experimental results with
referred to the stator. optimal flux command enabled are shown in Figs. 6 and 11).
Fig. 3 shows the clear presence of torque ripples at six times The torque ripple in Fig. 4 has now almost vanished. The
the stator frequency. They are produced by diode commutations stator flux waveform is similar to that in Fig. 3, but the stator
and, according to [5], they are smaller in this scheme than if and rotor current waveforms are now different because they are
field orientation were used. Although the control system concept affected by the torque ripple compensation.
would let think that the torque ripple could be eliminated, this is The joule losses minimization is validated in Fig. 5 by varying
not the case because the bandwidth practically achievable in this the rotor flux set-point manually instead of using (21). The
system is not enough to compensate for the perturbations due to torque reference was maintained constant at a low value (–6 Nm)
diode commutations in the stator. There are also flux oscillations and the rotor flux reference was gradually decreased from 1 to
that are much more evident in the stator than in the rotor: they 0.4 Wb. Fig. 5 shows that when the rotor flux is equal to the
are due to the distorted (quasi six-step) stator voltage, being the optimum value (21), the sum of copper and VSI conduction
stator flux almost equal to the integral of the stator voltage. This losses is minimum.
is one of the reasons why the rotor flux was chosen to be the Finally, Fig. 6 shows the performance with a variable torque
controlled flux. reference at a constant speed of 1550 r/min with the optimal
reference rotor flux (21) enabled. The figure reports stator and
rotor flux magnitudes, electromagnetic torque, and stator and
B. Predictive Control Method With High Bandwidth rotor currents in phase A. At low torque levels, the system
Fig. 4 shows the simulation results with the control method works with automatic flux weakening regulation tracking the
presented in this paper and operating under the same conditions optimal reference flux given by (21), but at high torque levels
considered in Fig. 3. The weighting factor in (14) was set to λf = (21) would exceed the rated flux value of 1 Wb. For this reason,
CRUZ et al.: PREDICTIVE TORQUE AND ROTOR FLUX CONTROL OF A DFIG-DC SYSTEM FOR TORQUE RIPPLE COMPENSATION 9307

Fig. 8. Steady-state operation at 1350 r/min.

Fig. 9. Spectrum of the electromagnetic torque shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 7. Experimental test rig.

either torque or speed control mode (see Appendix II for the
specs).
the reference flux is saturated at the rated flux value. Fig. 6 also The control system was implemented in a dSPACE 1103
shows that at low load the system has to operate with variable digital platform, with a sampling time of 50 µs. This platform
frequency. was also used for sampling all currents/voltages of the system.
A precision power analyzer Yokogawa WT3000 was used
for monitoring purposes, in order to visualize the DFIG cur-
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
rents/voltages and the dc bus quantities. Even if the setup in-
A. Experimental Setup cludes a high-bandwidth torque sensor mounted on the shaft
coupling, all the experimental results in the next sections show
The DFIG-dc system used in the experimental tests, shown
the electromagnetic torque estimated by (13)—rewritten for in-
in Fig. 7, has the parameters listed in Appendix II. Because the
stant k, which is more adequate to detect the torque ripple com-
DFIG stator and rotor rated voltages are different,
√ a step-down ponents. In fact, due to the low-pass filtering introduced by the
autotransformer with a transformation ratio of 3 is connected
rotor inertia, the mechanical torque is not an accurate replica of
between the stator windings and the three-phase diode bridge
the electromagnetic torque and tends to be much smoother.
rectifier, which feeds the 265 V dc bus. This dc voltage was
obtained with the aid of an additional autotransformer, whose
output voltages are rectified with a three-phase diode bridge and B. Obtained Results
filtered using a 3400 µF capacitor. The dc bus was permanently Several experimental results are now shown to validate the
feeding a resistor, which dissipates a power always greater than proposed control system for the DFIG-dc system.
the active power sent by the DFIG to the dc bus, thus allowing 1) Steady-State Operation: Fig. 8 shows the results ob-
the dc voltage to remain constant. tained when the DFIG operates in a steady state, with a torque
A two-level VSI fed by the dc bus supplies the rotor windings level of –12.5 Nm and a rotor speed of 1350 r/min.
of the DFIG. To protect the insulation system of these wind- As can be seen, the magnitude of the rotor flux is maintained
ings, a dv/dt reactor with an inductance of 2.6 mH is connected constant, while the stator flux magnitude contains oscillations
between the inverter and the rotor windings. This inductance at the sixth harmonic of the stator quantities. On the other hand,
is taken into consideration by the control system by adding its the electromagnetic torque is free from those oscillations, track-
inductance value to the rotor leakage inductance of the machine. ing closely the reference value. Fig. 9 shows the spectrum of
The rotor position is measured with an incremental encoder with the electromagnetic torque, proving that the torque is mainly
1024 ppr. constant and has a very low harmonic content. In fact, the ampli-
The prime mover of the DFIG is an auxiliary 7.5 kW vector- tude of the residual sixth harmonic is identical to other residual
controlled induction motor drive with the ability to operate in torque harmonic components, demonstrating that the elimina-
9308 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2018

Fig. 10. Rotor flux level optimization. Rotor speed of 1350 r/min. Fig. 12. Response to a speed ramp variation.

Fig. 11. Torque step response. Rotor speed of 1350 r/min. Fig. 13. Test at synchronous speed run for an extended period of time.

tion of torque harmonics—in particular at 300 and 600 Hz— 4) Rotor Speed Variation: The response of the system
was accomplished. These results were also confirmed by the when the rotor speed is ramped up between 1030 and 1750 r/min,
mechanical torque recorded with the torque sensor mounted on for a constant torque reference of –12.5 Nm, is shown in Fig. 12.
the DFIG shaft. The rotor flux and torque of the machine are well regulated, in-
2) Rotor Flux Level Optimization: The optimization of the dependently of the rotor speed. The rotor frequency initially de-
rotor flux level as a function of the torque reference is illustrated creases until the machine reaches the speed of synchronism, and
in Fig. 10. In order to minimize the losses in the DFIG-dc then increases for higher speeds. The system operates smoothly
system, the flux level is lower for lower torque levels, while it even at the synchronous speed, when the rotor currents are dc
increases up to the rated flux for higher torque values. These quantities.
results demonstrate once again the absence of low-order torque 5) Operation at Synchronous Speed: Fig. 13 shows the
oscillations and the ability of the system to operate correctly at behavior of the system when operating with a torque reference
different load levels. of –12.5 Nm at rated rotor flux and zero rotor frequency during
3) Torque Step Response: The system response to a an extended period of time. The rotor speed (1520 r/min) is
torque step variation is shown in Fig. 11. Even considering slightly different from 1500 r/min due to the tolerance in the
the need to increase the flux level in the machine, a torque step value of the rated flux, making the stator frequency slightly
variation from –2.5 to –12.5 Nm leads to a torque rise time of higher than the rated 50 Hz.
only 2.5 ms without exhibiting any overshoot. This fast torque This figure shows clearly that, due to the characteristics of
response is one of the attracting features of predictive control the flux estimator used, the method proposed here is valid for
algorithms in general, being also confirmed in this system. To synchronous operation.
eliminate small ripples in the rotor flux reference, a first-order All these results combined demonstrate the ability of the
low-pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 30 Hz is used. This system to perform very well both in steady state and under
influence is observable in the flux response as it is slower than transient conditions, allowing the torque ripple to be suppressed
the torque response. even when the system operates with variable frequency.
CRUZ et al.: PREDICTIVE TORQUE AND ROTOR FLUX CONTROL OF A DFIG-DC SYSTEM FOR TORQUE RIPPLE COMPENSATION 9309

inate the torque ripple even under variable frequency operation

and kept the overall Joule losses at the minimum.

Appendix I
According to [7], by neglecting iron losses and using per-unit
notation, the optimal stator flux level for a given torque demand
t∗e is given by
&
opt
- τ + λ|iR |pu
ψ spu = ls |t∗e | × 4 (22)
τ + |iR |pu

with
⎧ # $2
⎨ |iR | = |ir |pu × lm
; rR = rr × ls
pu ls lm
. (23)
⎩τ = pin v 0
; λ= r s +r R
; pinv0 = Pin v 0
Fig. 14. Trend of the sum of copper and inverter conduction losses in 2r R rR 3
2 U B IB
the DFIG during a test with a linearly decreasing reference flux (DFIG
operating with –6 Nm at 1350 r/min). In (22) and (23), small caps are used for quantities ex-
pressed in per-unit, subscript R denotes the rotor current and
6) Verification of Minimum Loss Operation: In order to
resistance referred to the Γ equivalent circuit [7], and sub-
assess the soundness of the minimum-loss optimal rotor flux script B denotes the base quantities—peak stator rated volt-
level given by (21), the simulation results in Fig. 5 were vali- age (phase) UB and current IB . Furthermore, Pinv0 repre-
dated experimentally. The system was run with a variable ref- sents the conduction losses in the inverter when it supplies the
erence rotor flux following a decreasing ramp instead of using DFIG rated rotor current. After replacing the definitions for per
(21). The DFIG Joule winding losses and the VSI conduction unit quantities rx = Rx IB /UB , lx = Lx ωB IB /UB , |ir |pu =
losses were indirectly evaluated from the measured currents, be- |ir |/IB , t∗e = Te∗ /(3pUB IB /2ωB ) in (23) and (22), the expres-
ing presented in Fig. 14 along with the imposed rotor flux level sion of ψ opts (18) is obtained.
and the (constant) optimal value predicted by (21) for the con-
sidered operating conditions. Fig. 14 clearly demonstrates that Appendix II
when the reference flux equals the optimal value given by (21), Induction machine parameters: 4 kW, 4-pole; stator: 400 V,
the aforementioned losses are at the minimum value. This also 9.4 A; rotor: 230 V, 11.5 A; Rs = 1.29 Ω, Rr = 1.31 Ω, Ls =
shows the importance of operating the DFIG with an adaptive Lr = 144.1 mH, Lm = 136.2 mH.
flux level, in order to keep the losses to a minimum value. Prime mover: 400 V, 7.5 kW, 4-pole induction machine, con-
trolled by a WEG CFW11 converter.
V. CONCLUSION VSI and dv/dt filter: Pinv0 = 100 W, Lf = 2.6 mH.
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Sérgio M. A. Cruz (S’96–M’04–SM’16) re-

ceived the Electrical Engineering diploma, and
the M.Sc. and Dr.-Eng. degrees in electrical
engineering from the University of Coimbra,
Coimbra, Portugal, in 1994, 1999, and 2004, Matteo F. Iacchetti (M’10–SM’17) received the
respectively. Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the
He has been with the Department of Electrical Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy, in 2008.
and Computer Engineering, University of Coim- From 2009 to 2014, he was a Postdoctoral Re-
bra, where he is currently an Assistant Professor searcher with the Dipartimento di Energia, Po-
and the Director of the Electric Machines Labo- litecnico di Milano. He is currently a Lecturer with
ratory. He is the author of more than 90 journal the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineer-
and conference papers in his field of research. His teaching and research ing, The University of Manchester, Manchester,
interests include power transformers, rotating electric machines, electric U.K. His main research interests include design,
drives, and power electronic converters, with special emphasis on fault modeling, and control of electrical machines and
diagnosis, fault tolerance, and digital control. electrical drives for power conversion.