Design of Excitation Capacitance for Self-Excited Induction Generator

This paper presents simple and accurate approach to compute the minimum value of capacitance required for initiating the voltage build-up in a three-phase selfexcited induction generator. Based on the steady-state equivalent circuit model different numerical methods for solving frequency are known from previous literature, which are of 6 th order polynomial. In this paper the order of the polynomial is reduced to the 4 th order frequency with a new, simple and direct method is developed to find the capacitance requirement. Critical values of the impedance and speed, below which the machine fails to self excite irrespective of the capacitance used, are found to exist. Closed form solutions for capacitance are derived for no-load and RL loads. Experimental results obtained on a 3.5kW induction machine confirm the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method. Keywords— capacitance requirements, self-excitation, induction generator, steady state analysis, saturation