Design and real time implementation of type-2 fuzzy vector control for DFIG based wind generators

Doubly fed induction generator is very sensitive to voltage variations in the grid, which pose limitation for wind power plants during the grid integrated operation. Handling the uncertainity in wind speed and grid faults is a major challenge to fulfill the modern grid code requirements. This paper proposes a new control strategy for Rotor side converter using Interval type-2 fuzzy sets which can model and handle uncertainties in the system parameters. The presence of third dimension in the membership function, offers an additional degree of freedom in the design of the controller to counter the effects of fluctuations in wind speed and low voltage during severe grid fault conditions. A 2 MW DFIG connected to the grid is modelled in simulation software RSCAD and interfaced with Real time digital simulator (RTDS) to perform the simulations in real-time. The RTDS platform is considered by many research laboratories as real-time testing module for controller prototyping and also for hardware in the loop (HIL) applications. The controller performance is evaluated in HIL configuration, by performing the real-time simulations under various parameter uncertainties. The proposed controller can improve the low voltage ride through capability of DFIG compared to that of PI and type-1 fuzzy controller. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.