Comparison of power electronics lifetime between vertical‐ and horizontal‐axis wind turbines. Issue 5 (1st May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Parker, Max Alexander; Soraghan, Conaill; Giles, Alex
• Is Part Of: IET renewable power generation. Volume 10:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 679
• Page End: 686
• Publication Date: 2016-05-01
• Subjects: wind turbines -- power convertors -- failure analysis -- wind power plants -- offshore installations -- reliability -- cost reduction; power electronic lifetime -- horizontal‐axis wind turbines -- vertical‐axis wind turbines -- power electronic converter -- variable‐speed wind turbine -- turbine failure source -- converter reliability -- HAWTs -- VAWTs -- offshore turbines -- energy cost reduction -- thermal cycling -- pulsating loss -- IGBTs -- diodes -- converter losses -- two‐bladed turbine -- cyclic torque variation -- cyclic temperature variation -- wind speed variation -- rotor torque -- rotor position; Renewable energy sources -- Periodicals; 333.79405
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2015.0352
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1752-1416

Abstract

Abstract : A comparison has been made of the power electronics lifetime for 5MW horizontal‐ and vertical‐axis wind turbines, based on dynamic models supplied with generated wind speed time series. Both two‐ and three‐bladed stall‐regulated H‐rotor vertical‐axis turbines were modelled, with several different control parameters. Vertical‐axis turbines are likely to lead to a shorter power electronics lifetime as the aerodynamic torque varies with rotor azimuth, leading to a cyclic generator torque, and increased thermal cycling in the power electronics. An electro‐thermal model of a low‐voltage converter was created, and used to calculate the switching device temperatures based on the generator torque and speed time series from the turbine model. An empirical lifetime model and rainflow‐counting algorithm were used to calculate the lifetime, and this was repeated at different average wind speeds to determine the overall lifetime. The vertical‐axis turbine was found to have a lower power electronics lifetime than the horizontal‐axis, or require a larger number of parallel switching devices to achieve the same lifetime, although this was lessened by running the turbine with a more relaxed speed control, allowing the rotor inertia to partially absorb the aerodynamic torque ripple.