Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

11-2011

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Committee Chair

Foreman, James Christopher, 1968-

Author's Keywords

Maximum Powerpoint; Power electronics; Wind energy conversion; Traditional MPPT; Variable duty cycle; Simulation of WECS

Subject

Wind energy conversion systems; Wind power--Technological innovations; Wind power--Research

Abstract

This thesis proposes a new Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm employed in Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS). One of the major issues discussed in the literature concerning HCS is its inefficiency in detecting the peak power when there is a change in wind •speed. In addition, the HCS produces oscillations in delivered power once this peak is detected. A modified HCS algorithm is proposed in this thesis to overcome these limitations. This algorithm employs a variable duty cycle to reduce the oscillations in delivered power once the peak power is detected. The performance of the proposed algorithm was evaluated using MA TLAB-SIMULINK. Efficiencies of 95.48%, 98.8%, and 92.2% were observed under constant wind speed, abrupt wind speed change from 10m/s to 5m/s, and a continuously varying wind speed between 5m/s and 12m/s respectively. The traditional HCS algorithm was also simulated for comparison with efficiencies reduced to 76.27%, 81.35, and 67.86% under the same conditions. These efficiency improvements and the reduction of oscillations during varying wind speeds demonstrate the major achievements of the proposed algorithm.

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