A novel solid state controller for parallel operated isolated asynchronous generators in pico hydro systems

Abstract

This paper deals with a novel solid state controller (NSSC) for parallel operated isolated asynchronous generators (IAG) feeding 3-phase 4-wire loads in constant power applications, such as uncontrolled pico hydro turbines. AC capacitor banks are used to meet the reactive power requirement of asynchronous generators. The proposed NSSC is realized using a set of IGBTs (Insulated gate bipolar junction transistors) based current controlled 4-leg voltage source converter (CC-VSC) and a DC chopper at its DC bus, which keeps the generated voltage and frequency constant in spite of changes in consumer loads. The complete system is modeled in MATLAB along with simulink and PSB (power system block set) toolboxes. The simulated results are presented to demonstrate the capability of isolated generating system consisting of NSSC and parallel operated asynchronous generators driven by uncontrolled pico hydro turbines and feeding 3-phase 4-wire loads.