Fault Tolerant Variable Structure Control of Six-Phase Induction Generator for Wind Turbines.

In this paper, a fault-tolerant control of a symmetrical six-phase induction generator based on a variable structure strategy is experimentally tested and compared with a classical proportional-integral controller. For this, we use a linear feedback sliding mode controller with switched feedback gains in such a way to control the inner current loops of this machine. One main drawback of the classical three-phase induction generator is that it is no longer possible to generate electrical power if only one phase is lost on the stator side. To overcome this issue, we will use a squirrel cage six-phase induction machine that can still operate when at least three phases remain on the stator side. This article proposes to use a variable structure control in order to cope with unbalanced currents and also maintain the generation of power when a loss of the stator's phases occurs. The proposed controller shows its robustness and good regulation performance in healthy and faulty modes. The simulation and experimental tests were carried out with a 24 kW induction machine that represents 1/100 of the electrical power of a real wind turbine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]