Silicon-carbide based power converter systems with advanced control methods for wind turbines

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With an expected rise of over 15% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020 from 2010 in Canada, it iscrucial to reduce GHG emissions by embracing clean and sustainable energy sources. Various initiativeprograms and generous incentives are offered across Canada such as the WindVision2025 project that seeks toproduce enough clean wind power to meet 20% of Canada's domestic electricity demand by 2025. In a typicalwindfarm, as the output voltage of the wind turbine is too low for effective long-distance power transmission, adedicated low frequency medium voltage (MV) step-up transformer is used for each wind turbine to step up theturbine output voltage to the MV level. However, the step-up transformers are bulky; heavy, and typicallylocated in the immediate vicinity of the wind turbines. Ontario-based manufacturer of electrical transformers,Northern Transformer Corporation has started to look into innovative power solutions to replace the lowfrequency MV transformers with compact and highly efficient power electronic step-up converters for highpower wind turbines. Although various types of medium to high frequency step-up power converters havebeen reported in literature for wind energy application, they either have restricted operating frequency rangedue to the presence of switching power loss or require expensive and complicated magnetic components. Inthis project, a new step-up power electronic converter that employs silicon-carbide switching devices withinnovative converter structure to minimize the overall conduction power losses will be devised. New insulationmaterial will be investigated and used to enable the high frequency transformer in the devised converter tooperate at higher temperatures and hence reducing the cooling requirement of the overall system.