Wind Farm Grid Isolation via Master Controller Demand Values
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wind turbines in a wind farm disconnect from their grid when the main grid experiences disturbances, leading to unstable operation and loss of power supply to internal consumers, and require a significant time to reconnect upon main grid recovery.
Innovation Solution
A digital master grid controller transmits demand values via a digital data link to converter units, allowing wind turbines to remain online and synchronized during main grid disconnection, ensuring continuous power supply and enabling quick reconnection when the main grid recovers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wind turbines disconnect from the wind farm grid when main grid disturbance occurs, then wind turbines protect themselves from unstable operation, but internal consumers in the wind farm grid cannot be supplied and wind turbines require significant time to reconnect
Solution Approach 1:
The master grid controller pre-establishes control demand values (voltage, phase, frequency) and transmits them to converter units before the wind farm grid disconnects from the main grid. This preliminary action allows converter units to immediately maintain synchronized operation upon disconnection, eliminating the traditional minute-long startup delay and enabling rapid reconnection when the main grid recovers.
Solution Approach 2:
The master grid controller acts as an intermediary that provides alternative control demand values to converter units when the main grid is unavailable. This intermediary control mechanism allows wind turbines to maintain stable operation and continue supplying internal consumers during main grid disturbances, bridging the gap between grid disconnection and reconnection.
2Productivity
If wind turbines remain connected to the wind farm grid during main grid disturbance, then internal consumers can be supplied continuously, but wind turbines operate in an uncontrolled and unstable state
Solution Approach 1:
The master grid controller serves as an intermediary control system that provides alternative control demand values when the main grid disturbance occurs. This intermediary control allows converter units to maintain stable and synchronized operation during disconnection, enabling continuous power supply to internal consumers without compromising operational reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the control parameters by switching from grid-based demand values to master grid controller-provided demand values during main grid disturbances. This parameter change enables converter units to operate stably with alternative control references, maintaining both reliability and continuous power supply to internal consumers.
3Reliability
If conventional control method is used during main grid disconnection, then wind turbines disconnect from wind farm grid to avoid instability, but this causes loss of power supply and requires more than a minute to restart
Solution Approach 1:
The master grid controller transmits control demand values to converter units in advance before the wind farm grid disconnects from the main grid. This preliminary action ensures converter units are already configured with appropriate control parameters, enabling them to maintain stable operation and continue power supply during disconnection, thereby eliminating the traditional minute-long shutdown and restart cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous useful action by keeping wind turbines connected to and operating within the wind farm grid during main grid disturbances. Through the master grid controller's alternative demand values, converter units continue converting power and supplying internal consumers without interruption, maintaining productivity while ensuring stability.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a method of controlling wind turbines of a wind farm, each connected to a wind farm grid, in case of a disconnect from a main grid. During the disconnect from the main grid, at least one demand value is transmitted from a digital master grid controller to respective converter units of the wind turbines via a digital data link such that the converter units receive the at least one demand value substantially simultaneously and are operable to keep the wind turbines online and synchronised to the wind farm grid during the disconnect from the main grid.