INDUCTION GENERATOR:

The construction of induction generator is same as of induction motor. In case of induction

generator the rotor speed is advanced with respect to stator magnetic field rotation. The rotor is
being driven at a speed more than synchronously rotating magnetic field for prime mover speed
above synchronous speed. Rotating flux cut the rotor conductors in a direction opposite to that
during motoring mode. So rotor generated emf, rotor current and hence its stator components
change their signs. When the speed during induction generator operation is not synchronous
then it is called an asynchronous generator.
Classification of Induction Generators:
For hydro and wind power plants, the induction machine has great advantages because of its
easy operation as either a motor or generator. It has different application in different areas.
Induction generators can be classified on the basis of excitement process as
1. Grid connected induction generator
2. Self-excited induction generator

Grid Connected Induction generator:

For excitement process the grid connected induction generator takes its reactive power from
the grid supply where generator is driven by a prime mover above its synchronous speed and
hence in case of grid connected induction generator the slip is negative

Grid connected Induction generator

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 1

(2160913)
Self-excited induction generator
Self-excited Induction Generator: Self-excited induction generator (SEIG) means cage rotor
induction machines with shunt capacitors connected at their terminals for self-excitation. The
shunt capacitors may be constant or may be varied through power electronics. A capacitor bank
supply the reactive power to the induction generator for self excitement process and as well as
to the load.

Self-excited induction generator

In self excited induction generator, a capacitor bank either in star or delta is connected in
parallel with the induction generators terminals. When the rotor speed exceeds the synchronous
speed, the residual magnetic field in the rotor initiates a voltage across the induction generator
terminals which is further augmented by the capacitor current to continuous rise in voltage as
these external capacitors reinforce the magnetic field and system builds up an increasing
excitation. With the increase in speed, the capacitor impedance decreases and excitation
increases which results in increase in terminal voltage of the induction generator. This rise in
voltage is limited due to the saturation of magnetic circuit of the machine. Therefore, to built up
the voltage; there must be some residual magnetism present in the rotor of induction generator.
In the absence of residual magnetism, the voltage will not build up in induction generator.
Capacitors in self excited induction generators serve the purpose of providing leading reactive
power to supply the magnetizing current.The maximum power output from the isolated SEIG
depends upon its terminal capacitance and the speed of the generator

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 2

(2160913)
SELF-EXCITED INDUCTION GENERATOR for Hydro Power plants and wind turbines
Self excited induction generators are most suitable for small hydro power plants located in
remote areas to feed an isolated load or to be connected with a small grid. The main
requirement for the operation of induction generator is the requirement of reactive power
which must be fed externally to establish the required magnetic field to convert rotor shaft
mechanical power to electrical power. Therefore, the external reactive power must remain
permanently connected to the stator terminals for output voltage control as shown in Fig

In the case of interconnected applications, reactive power is supplied by the grid, but in the case
of stand alone or isolated mode applications, reactive power must be supplied by the load itself
or can be supplied by the externally connected capacitors or by electronic controlled inverters.
In self excited induction generator, a capacitor bank either in star or delta is connected in
parallel with the induction generators terminals. When the rotor speed exceeds the synchronous
speed, the residual magnetic field in the rotor initiates a voltage across the induction generator
terminals which is further augmented by the capacitor current to continuous rise in voltage as
these external capacitors reinforce the magnetic field and system builds up an increasing
excitation. With the increase in speed, the capacitor impedance decreases and excitation
increases which results in increase in terminal voltage of the induction generator. This rise in
Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 3
(2160913)
voltage is limited due to the saturation of magnetic circuit of the machine. Therefore, to built up
the voltage; there must be some residual magnetism present in the rotor of induction generator.
In the absence of residual magnetism, the voltage will not build up in induction generator.
Capacitors in self excited induction generators serve the purpose of providing leading reactive
power to supply the magnetizing current. The exact requirement of the capacitance depends
upon the value of kVAr required. The use of static capacitors for providing leading reactive
power for SEIG is mostly adopted, and the exact requirement of these capacitors in SEIG is
calculated in number of ways.The minimum capacitance Cmin,. Is inversely proportional to the
square of speed and also inversely proportional to the maximum saturated magnetizing
reactance and the terminal capacitance required under the loaded condition of the induction
generator. It is significantly higher than the corresponding no load value as it is affected by load
impedance, power factor and speed of induction machine. The maximum power output from
the isolated SEIG depends upon its terminal capacitance and the speed of the generator. There
must be a threshold speed below which no excitation is possible, whatever the capacitor value
may be. This speed is called the cut off speed. Due to the high cost of the capacitors and their
maintenance needs, SEIGs are economically suitable for small power plants feeding isolated
loads. In case of grid connected generators, the reactive power is drawn from the grid and also
the voltage and frequency of grid connected induction generators are fixed which results in
easier analysis.
The analysis of SEIG connected in isolated mode is little bit difficult as the voltage and
frequency of SEIG is not fixed, but depend upon factors such as speed, magnetization
characteristics, excitation capacitance and load. Excitation requirements for a three-phase self-
excited induction generator supplying a single phase load will be different as only two
capacitors are used for excitation in the circuit. For low power applications using wind-turbine
driven stand-alone induction generator, the excitation requirement setup consists of fixed
capacitor bank and fixed frequency PWM inverter setup with battery backup which adapts to
rotor speed or load variation and maintains the voltage and frequency constant.

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 4

(2160913)
The voltage build up process in an induction motor has been explained.

Fig. voltage build up in a 3ф induction generator.

When the rotor of induction machine is run at the required speed, residual magnetism present
in the rotor iron generates a small terminal voltage o-a across stator terminals. This voltage
produces a capacitor current o-b. This current creates a flux which aids the residual flux, thus
producing more flux and therefore more generated voltage across stator terminals represented
by b-c. This voltage sends a current o-d in the capacitor bank which eventually generates voltage
d-e. This cumulative process of voltage build up continues till the saturation curve of induction
generator intersects the capacitor load line as shown by point f, thus giving a no-load generated
emf. The voltage build up depends upon the value of capacitor. Higher the value of capacitance,
greater is the voltage build up. The connection of a set of three static condensers across the
terminals of a 3- phase induction motor results in the addition of a constant leading component
to the current taken.
Voltage Regulation
Voltage regulation is “the ratio of voltage drop from no load to the full load to the no load
voltage”.
There are two ways to express the voltage regulation. One is voltage regulation up and another
is voltage regulation down.
Consider general formula for voltage regulation up as

Here Vnl is the no load voltage and Vfl is the full load voltage.
The voltage regulation up is normally used in case of transformers.
Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 5
(2160913)
Consider general formula for voltage regulation down as

The voltage regulation is normally used in case of alternators and power system calculations.
The ideal voltage regulation is 0%. It should be as low as possible for proper operation of the
electrical devices.
VOLTAGE REGULATION TECHNIQUES
Series Capacitor Scheme
In series capacitor scheme, a capacitor of suitable value is connected in series with the load such
that capacitor VAR increases with the load.

Fig series capacitor scheme

The schematic is shown in fig . The main drawback of this method is that, as the load increases,
the voltage dip also increases. This method suffers from sub-synchronous resonance which is
supplying the power to the inductive & dynamic load. In practice, series capacitors are used for
the variation of reactive current. Hence, to compensate the reactive component of the power,
capacitors are connected in series with the load.
Switched Capacitor Controller

Switched capacitor controller

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(2160913)
In switched capacitor controller, a fixed capacitor bank sufficient to excite the induction
generator at rated speed and no load condition is permanently connected across the machine
terminals. As shown in fig , it also uses another capacitor bank so as to excite the induction
generator with various capacitor values under varying load conditions. Variable lagging VAR’s
are generated by switching ON the additional capacitors in discrete steps. The capacitors are
binary weighted (1μF, 2μF, 4μF …) to minimize the number of switches required to produce a
given range of capacitance. As each capacitor is switched on for an integral numbers of cycles
only, the harmonic distortion production is eliminated.
But this scheme produced harmonics at lower frequencies to the fundamental. The above two
methods find limited applications because it regulates the terminal voltage in discrete steps.
Inductively Loaded AC/DC Converter
This scheme uses a capacitors & inductors with thyristor switches. The fixed capacitor bank
corresponds to full load and the current in the inductors l is varied by a solid state control
scheme. Naturally commutated converters are able to draw only lagging VAR (i.e. Supply only
leading VAR) in this case lagging VAR, as required by an induction
generates are obtained by adding fixed capacitors across the converter terminals. The net
lagging VAR may be controlled by continuous adjustment of the fixing angle of the controllers.
This method is one of the simplest static arrangements for drawing controllers lagging reactive
current. This method faces the problems of weight losses in inductors and also introduce
considerable amount of harmonic distortion into the ac system.
Thyristor controlled inductors with fixed capacitor bank

Fig :Thyristor controlled inductors with fixed capacitor

This scheme consists of fixed a capacitor in parallel with inductor. The inductor is fed through
an anti parallel thyristor pair as shown in fig . The variation in fixing angle results in drawing
the lagging current. This confined with fixed capacitors provides variable leading VAR which
Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 7
(2160913)
can be controlled by controlling the firing angle of the thyristors. The control range of static
voltage controller was found to be limited.
Voltage control using STATCOM

Fig: Voltage control using STATCOM

In this scheme, fixed excitation capacitors are selected to generate the rated voltage of SEIG at
no load. STATCOM can be connected to the SEIG for meeting reactive current demand with
change in load. The STATCOM consists of a VSI (voltage source inverter), DC bus capacitor and
AC inductors. The AC output of the inverter is connected through the AC filtering inductor to
the SEIG terminals. The DC bus capacitor is used as energy storage device and provides self
supporting DC bus.
Voltage source converter can be connected to ac mains to provide reactive power. It can be built
using either thyristor or self-commutation device like IGBT. For purely reactive power flow, the
inverter voltages should be in phase with system terminal voltages of SEIG. By increasing the
amplitude of the inverter voltage above system voltage, leading currents can be drawn from the
ac system. Whereas by decreasing the inverter voltage below the ac system voltage, lagging
current can be drawn from the mains. Thus by controlling the amplitude of the inverter voltage,
the reactive power can be controlled from fully leading to full lagging. The inverter can be
supplied from a separated dc source or an appropriately dimensioned capacitor bank with
inverter voltage slightly lagging with respect to the ac system voltage

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 8

(2160913)
Electronic Load Cell Controller

Fig:8 Electronic load cell controller

The efficiency of any machine is found to be at maximum at a single non differentiable point
which is obtained from a typical load versus efficiency curve. This scheme uses this feature of
induction generator. The output power of SEIG is maintained constant independent of
consumer (actual) load. It uses a dump load (or a proxy load) to facilitate the scheme. Here, as
the consumer switches ON his load, the corresponding dump load is switched OFF by changing
the firing angle and the total load on the induction generator is maintained constant.

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 9

(2160913)
DOUBLY FED INDUCTION GENERATOR
Most induction generators in the world are cage-type machines. Special classes of induction
generators with a three-phase wound rotor, called doubly fed induction generators (DFIG), have
become very popular for use as wind generators as shown in Figure. These machines usually
have a three phase inverter connected to the rotor windings, which allows direct control of the
rotor currents. Control of the rotor currents allows for variable speed and reactive power
control.

Doubly fed induction generator

Doubly Fed Induction Generator (For Grid Connected Wind Turbine)

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(2160913) 0
Doubly fed induction generator with converters Where Vr is the rotor voltage and Vgc is grid
side voltage. The AC/DC/AC converter is basically a PWM converter which uses sinusoidal
PWM technique to reduce the harmonics present in the wind turbine driven DFIG system. Here
Crotor is rotor side converter and Cgrid is grid side converter. (Fig.) shows a WECS system with
doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG), which is a standard, wound rotor induction machine
with its stator windings directly connected to the grid and its rotor windings connected to the
grid through an AC/DC/AC frequency converter (Fig.). This kind of machine has to be fed from
both the rotor and stator sides . The frequency converter is built by two self commutated PWM
converters, a rotor-side converter and a grid-side converter, with an intermediate DC voltage
link. By controlling the converters on both sides, the DFIG characteristics can be adjusted so as
to achieve maximum of effective power conversion or capturing capability for a wind turbine
and to control its power generation with less voltage/power fluctuation.
The rotor-side converter controls the ac tive and reactive power of the DFIG independently, and
the grid-side converter controls DC link capacitor voltage in a set value and maintains the
converter operation with a desired power factor.
Operating Principle Of DFIG
The stator is directly connected to the AC mains, whilst the rotor is fed from the Power
Electronics Converter via slip rings to allow DIFG to operate at a variety of speeds in response
to changing wind speed.Indeed, the basic concept is to interpose a frequency converter between
the variable frequency induction generator and fixed frequency grid. The DC capacitor linking
stator- and rotor-side converters allows the storage of power from induction generator for
further generation. To achieve full control of grid current, the DC-link voltage must be boosted
to a level higher than the amplitude of grid line-to-line voltage. The slip power can flow in both
directions, i.e. to the rotor from the supply and from supply to the rotor and hence the speed of
the machine can be controlled from either rotor- or stator-side converter in both super and
subsynchronous speed ranges. As a result, the machine can be controlled as a generator or a
motor in both super and sub-synchronous operating modes realizing four operating modes.
Below the synchronous speed in the motoring mode and above the synchronous speed in the
generating mode, rotor-side converter operates as a rectifier and stator-side converter as an
inverter, where slip power is returned to the stator. Below the synchronous speed in the
generating mode and above the synchronous speed in the motoring mode, rotor-side converter
operates as an inverter and stator side converter as a rectifier, where slip power is supplied to
the rotor. At the synchronous speed, slip power is taken from supply to excite the rotor windings
and in this case machine behaves as a synchronous machine.

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 1

(2160913) 1
 Pr = -SPs ,Where S = Ws – Wr / Ws
Generally the absolute value of slip is much lower than 1 and, consequently, Pr is only a fraction
of Ps. Since Tm is positive for power generation and since ωs is positive and constant for a
constant frequency grid voltage, the sign of Pr is a function of the slip sign. Pr is positive for
negative slip (speed greater than synchronous speed) and it is negative for positive slip (speed
lower than synchronous speed). For supersynchronous speed operation, Pr is transmitted to DC
bus capacitor and tends to rise the DC voltage. For sub-synchronous speed operation, Pr is
taken out of DC bus capacitor and tends to decrease the DC voltage.
Cgrid is used to generate or absorb the power Pgc in order to keep the DC voltage constant. In
steady-state for a lossless AC/DC/AC converter Pgc is equal to Pr and the speed of the wind
turbine is determined by the power Pr absorbed or generated by Crotor. The phase sequence
of the AC voltage generated by Crotor is positive for sub-synchronous speed and negative for
supersynchronous speed. The frequency of this voltage is equal to the product of the grid
frequency and the absolute value of the slip. Crotor and Cgrid have the capability for generating
or absorbing reactive power and could be used to control the reactive power or the voltage at the
grid terminals.

Prof.L.V.Bagale, EEP Department Special Purpose Machine, TE (EEP) 1

(2160913) 2