Design and Simulation of Matrix Converter for Wind Mill Applications

The wind energy is considered to be one of the poor quality energies due to the variation of the velocity and direction of the wind. These variations cause fluctuations in the input power and the frequency, thereby affecting the operation of the system. At a given wind velocity, the mechanical power available from a wind turbine is a function of its shaft speed. The shaft speed is varying due to the variations in the wind velocity; thereby a varying frequency and varying voltage is developed at the output of the induction generator. Power electronics converters are used for the purpose of stabilizing the varying parameters and to obtain a constant frequency of 50Hz. Commonly used is back to back converters or ACDC-AC converters which has a lot of disadvantages like costly, bulky. Through matrix converter, the terminal voltage and frequency of the induction generator can be controlled in such a way that the wind turbine is operating at a constant frequency of 50 Hz. PWM technique and Venturini Modulation strategy are used for the switching on and off of the switches in the matrix converter. The wind power system is analysed and simulation results are obtained by MATLAB-Simulink.