Control Of Doubly-Fed Reluctance Machines Without A Shaft Position Or Speed Sensor

A viable, sensorless, field-oriented, angular velocity and reactive power control algorithm for a prospective doubly-excited reluctance generator technology has been proposed, implemented and validated by laboratory tests. This medium-speed machine has been regarded as a potential cost-effective brushless option to address the reliability and maintenance issues with the brush gear and the troublesome high-speed gearbox of classical doubly-fed induction generators in wind power applications. The experimental results presented have demonstrated the effectiveness of the scheme and robust performance of the observer based controller for the operating speed ranges and variable loading conditions of typical horizontal axis wind turbines.