Design and development of a new three-phase AC-DC single-stage wind energy conversion system

The prevalent use of the diode bridge rectifier in three phase wind energy conversion systems decreases the efficiency of the power generation. In standalone wind energy generation, bridgeless converters can address this problem by eliminating the front-end diode bridge rectifier. This work presents a novel single-stage three-phase bridgeless AC to DC c̀uk converter for wind energy conversion systems. The proposed converter is designed to work in discontinuous inductor current mode because of its inherent power factor correction and less harmonic distortion. Using body-diodes of the MOSFETs per phase component reduction is also done in this converter. A unique maximum power point tracking technique is developed for this converter using three-phase voltages and currents, instead of the DC link states. A wind energy emulation system using a DC motor and self excited induction generator is used to test the laboratory prototype of the proposed converter.