General Electric Company

General Electric Renovables Espana, S.l.

Sidney Allen Barker

Anthony Michael Klodowski

Einar Vaughn Larsen

Robert Gregory Wagoner

Allen Michael Ritter

Harold Robert Schnetzka

Wei Ren

David Grey Smith

Jignesh Govindlal Gandhi

Edward Wayne Hardwicke, Jr

Mark Edward Cardinal

Hartmut Andreas Scholte-Wassink

John D D'Atre

Till Hoffmann

Eddy Ying Yin Ho

Minesh Ashok Shah

Werner Gerhard Barton

Cornelius Edward Holliday, Iii

Steven Wade Sutherland

Christoph Schulten

Ramy Michael Souri

Gert Torbohm

Thomas Ernst Dinjus

Goran Drobnjak

Scott Charles Frame

Bruce Allen Gerritsen

Reinhard Bruegger

Achchugatla Vikramaditya

Raju Singamsetti

James Thomas Bailey

Edward Wayne Hardwicke

David Smith

John Douglas D'Atre

Jignesh Govindial Gandhi

Scott C Frame

The present subject matter is directed to a system and method for operating an electrical power circuit connected to a power grid. The power circuit includes a power converter electrically coupled to a generator. The method includes monitoring at least one speed condition of the generator during operation of the power circuit. Another step includes determining one or more voltage conditions of the power circuit. The method also includes calculating a maximum reactive current for the generator as a function of at least one of the speed condition or the one or more voltage conditions. Thus, the method also includes operating the generator based on the maximum reactive current so as to prevent an actual modulation index of the power converter from exceeding a predetermined threshold.

System and method for minimizing reactive current to limit rotor modulation index on a power converter

The present subject matter is directed to an electrical power circuit connected to a power grid and method of operating same. The electrical power circuit has a power converter electrically coupled to a generator, such as a doubly-fed induction generator, having a rotor and a stator. Thus, the method includes operating rotor connections of the rotor of the generator in a wye configuration during a first rotor speed operating range. Further, the method includes monitoring a rotor speed of the rotor of the generator. Thus, the method also includes transitioning the rotor connections of the rotor from the wye configuration to a delta configuration if the rotor speed changes to a second rotor speed operating range.

Electrical power circuit and method of operating same

Systems and methods for controlling reactive current output of a line converter in a power system are provided. In one example embodiment, a method includes receiving a margin signal determined based at least in part on a stator current margin or a rotor current margin. The method includes determining a spillover margin based at least in part on the margin signal. The method includes determining an adjusted spillover margin using a spillover gain. The method includes determining a reactive current command for a line converter based at least in part on the adjusted spillover margin. The method includes controlling the output of the reactive current by the line converter based at least in part on the reactive current command. The spillover gain is variable based at least in part on a maximum line converter current.

Spillover of reactive current to line side converter

The present subject matter is directed to a method for managing and/or categorizing trip faults of an electrical component, such as power converter, of a wind turbine. The method includes receiving, via a local controller of the wind turbine, an indication of at least one trip fault in the electrical component of the wind turbine. The method also includes determining, via the local controller, a unique identifier for the trip fault. More specifically, the unique identifier contains information regarding a type of the trip fault and at least one of an origin or a cause, of the trip fault. Further, the method includes sending, via the local controller, the unique identifier to a supervisory controller of the wind turbine. Thus, the method also includes implementing, via the supervisory controller, a control action based on the unique identifier.

System and method for categorizing trip faults of a wind turbine power converter

Systems and methods for controlling operation of one or more auxiliary circuits in a wind turbine system are provided. For instance, a grid event associated with the wind turbine system can be detected. In response to the grid event, a control signal can be provided to an auxiliary circuit breaker of the wind turbine system. The auxiliary circuit breaker can be associated with one or more auxiliary circuits that are not directly in a power production path of the wind turbine system. The auxiliary circuit breaker can disconnect the one or more auxiliary circuits from the grid based at least in part on the control signal.

Wind turbine auxiliary circuit control

The present subject matter is directed to a system and method for operating an electrical power circuit connected to a power grid. The electrical power circuit has a power converter electrically coupled to a generator. The method includes monitoring a rotor speed of the generator during operation of the electrical power circuit. The method also includes increasing an operating range of the rotor speed of the generator. Further, the method includes determining at least one of a line-side voltage of a line-side converter of the power converter or a rotor-side voltage of a rotor-side converter of the power converter during operation of the electrical power circuit. Another step include controlling, via a converter controller, a DC link voltage of a DC link of the power converter as a function of one or more of the line-side voltage, the rotor-side voltage, and/or the rotor speed.

System and method for controlling DC link voltage of a power converter

A method for controlling a wind turbine system may generally include controlling a wind turbine to operate at a speed and torque setting within a permissible operating region defined between maximum and minimum operating curves, receiving a speed de-rate request and/or a torque de-rate request to de-rate the wind turbine based on a limiting constraint of the wind turbine system, determining an adjusted speed setting and/or an adjusted torque setting for the wind turbine based on the speed de-rate request and/or the torque de-rate request, determining whether an adjustment of the wind turbine operation to the adjusted speed setting and/or the adjusted torque setting would place the turbine outside the permissible operating region and, if the adjustment would place the operation outside the permissible operating region, adjusting the speed setting and/or the torque setting to a new speed and/or torque setting defined along the maximum or minimum operating curve.

System and method for controlling a wind turbine system

In one aspect, a method for controlling a power generation system may generally include determining a phase angle error associated with the power generation system, determining a scaling factor based on the phase angle error, generating a current command for controlling the operation of a power convertor of the power generation system and applying the scaling factor to the current command such that the current command is reduced when the phase angle error exceeds a predetermined error threshold.

System and method for controlling a power generation system based on PLL errors

The present subject matter is directed to a system and method for operating a wind turbine. The method includes measuring, via one or more temperature sensors, a local temperature of a component of the wind turbine for a predetermined time period. The method also includes determining a power capability of the wind turbine as a function of the local temperature. Another step includes measuring, via one or more sensors, a power output of the wind turbine for the predetermined time period. A further step includes determining a power margin of the wind turbine as a function of the power capability and the measured power output and controlling the power output of the wind turbine based, at least in part, on the power margin.

System and method for de-rating power of a wind turbine as a function of temperature

The present subject matter is directed to a system and method for operating a wind turbine connected to a power grid. The method includes receiving, via a controller, one or more current feedback signals from one or more electric current sensors of the wind turbine. Another step includes determining, via the controller, if a ground fault is occurring in the wind turbine based on the current feedback signals. In response to detecting a ground fault, the method includes tripping one or more electrical components of the wind turbine and electrically de-coupling the wind turbine from the power grid.

System and method for isolating ground faults in a wind turbine

In one aspect, a method for controlling the operation of a power generation system configured to supply power to an electrical grid may generally include monitoring a rotor speed of a generator of the power generation system and determining a gain scaling factor based on the rotor speed, wherein the gain scaling factor increases with decreases in the rotor speed across a range of rotor speeds. In addition, the method may include adjusting a regulator gain to be applied within a current regulator of the power generation system based on the gain scaling factor and applying the adjusted regulator gain within the current regulator in order to generate a voltage command signal for controlling a power converter of the power generation system.

System and method for adjusting current regulator gains applied within a power generation system

In one aspect, a method for controlling the operation of a power generation system configured to supply power to an electrical grid may generally include detecting an occurrence of an islanding event associated with the power generation system and adjusting a regulator gain applied within a regulator of the power generation system to an islanding gain value in response to the detection of the islanding event, wherein the islanding gain value exceeds a maximum gain value defined for the regulator in the event of an occurrence of any ride-through transient event. In addition, the method may include controlling a power converter of the power generation system based on a control signal generated by the regulator as the power generation system is being isolated from the electrical grid and shutting down the power generation system upon isolation of the power generation system from the electrical grid.

System and method for controlling a power generation system based on a detected islanding event

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for improving reactive current response time in a renewable energy power system connected to a power grid. The method includes providing, via a controller of the power system, a permissive logic relating to the power grid. Another step includes determining, via a controller of the renewable energy power system, a reactive current reference command for the renewable energy power system in response to the permissive logic being satisfied. The method also includes generating, via the controller, a reactive current pulse command for the renewable energy power system. Thus, the controller is configured to determine a total reactive current command by combining the reactive current reference command and the reactive current pulse command. Further, the method includes operating the renewable energy power system based on the total reactive current command so as to improve the current response time.

System and method for improving reactive current response time in a wind turbine

In one aspect, a method for controlling a dual-fed induction generator (DFIG) during a high-voltage grid event is provided. The method includes setting, by a controller, an output of a closed-loop portion of a rotor current regulator to a fixed value such that a predictive feed-forward path sets an internal voltage for the DFIG; and detecting, by the controller, a condition of high dc voltage on a dc link or a condition predictive of high dc voltage on the dc link, and in response reduce a rotor torque producing current command to approximately zero, wherein the dc link connects a line-side converter connected to a system bus and a rotor-side converter connected to a rotor of the DFIG.

System and method for controlling a dual-fed induction generator in response to high-voltage grid events

A voltage control system for a wind turbine generator may include a reactive power regulator configured to control reactive power production by the wind turbine generator by adjusting a voltage setpoint for the generator. The reactive power regulator may have a first time constant and the voltage setpoint may be defined between an upper limit and a lower limit. The system may also include a voltage limit regulator configured to adjust at least one of the upper limit or the lower limit for the voltage setpoint based on a voltage-related parameter. In addition, the system may include a voltage regulator coupled to the reactive power regulator. The voltage regulator may be configured to control real power production by the wind turbine generator based on the voltage setpoint. The voltage regulator may have a second time constant, wherein the first time constant is numerically greater than the second time constant.

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Troutville, VA, United States of America

Sidney Allen Barker