IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO.
4, DECEMBER 2012
A Wavelet/PSO Based Voltage Regulation
Scheme and Suitability Analysis of Copper- and
Aluminum-Rotor Induction Machines for Distributed
Wind Power Generation
Xiaomin Lu, Student Member, IEEE, K. Lakshmi Varaha Iyer, Student Member, IEEE,
Kaushik Mukherjee, Member, IEEE, and Narayan C. Kar, Senior Member, IEEE
AbstractCentralized generation is being supplemented or
replaced fast by distributed generation, a new way of thinking
about electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
Understanding the significance and prospects of self-excited in-
duction generators (SEIGs) in distributed wind power generation
(DWPG), this paper firstly presents a comprehensive suitability
analysis of commercially available niche copper-rotor induction
motor (CRIM) and conventional aluminum-rotor induction motor
(ARIM) to be used as induction generators in the above appli-
cation, through experimental investigations performed on two
industrial 7.5 hp CRIM and ARIM. The results of the performance
analyses on the two machines provide data for development of
a novel control scheme comprising of wavelet transforms and
particle swarm optimization technique, proposed next, to alleviate
the problem of voltage regulation (VR) associated with the SEIGs.
The developed controller for VR is implemented on a low cost
embedded system, hence making it economical and flexible for
patenting. The developed embedded system is validated initially
through an actuator performing mechanical switching of requisite
capacitances and finally by integrating it with another actuator,
namely, the static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), for ef-
ficient voltage regulation. Finally, the tested results are presented.
Index TermsAluminum-rotor machine, copper-rotor ma-
chine, discrete wavelet transform, particle swarm optimization,
static synchronous compensator, voltage regulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
T OO MUCH dependence on large, polluting and expen-
sive generation is no longer an option that Canadians
would endorse. Distributed generation is the answer for the
above issue. Distributed energy technologies are playing an
increasingly important role in the nations energy portfolio.
They can be used to meet peaking power, backup power, remote
power, power quality, as well as cooling and heating needs.
Distributed energy also has the potential to mitigate congestion
in transmission lines, reduce the impact of electricity price
Manuscript received July 31, 2011; revised November 02, 2011; accepted
April 24, 2012. Date of publication May 25, 2012; date of current version De-
cember 28, 2012. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engi-
neering Research Council of Canada. Paper no. TSG-00308-2011.
The authors of this paper are with the Centre for Hybrid Automo-
tive Research and Green Energy, University of Windsor, ON, Canada
(e-mail: lu117@uwindsor.ca; iyerl@uwindsor.ca; kmukh@uwindsor.ca;
nkar@uwindsor.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TSG.2012.2197643
1949-3053/$31.00 2012 IEEE
1923
fluctuations, and strengthen energy security. Distributed wind
power generators are small compared to typical central-station
power plants and provide unique benefits that are not available
from centralized electricity generation. Many of these benefits
stem from the fact that these generating units are inherently
modular, which makes distributed power highly flexible. It can
provide power where it is needed, when it is needed. And be-
cause they typically rely on wind energy, the generators can be
quieter and less polluting than large power plants, which make
them suitable for on-site installation in some locations [1]. A
self-excited induction generator (SEIG) is an ideally suited
electricity generating system for the above application as it
becomes tedious and highly expensive to lay transmission lines
over or under water, through mountainous areas and across
long distances. An SEIG driven by wind turbine is capable of
supplying power to domestic, industrial and agricultural loads,
particularly in the remote and hilly areas where conventional
grid supply is not available. Installation of SEIG reduces the
high maintenance and installation costs as large amounts of
metal and raw material use can be minimized, infrastructure
and transmission losses which occur when regular power grids
or transmission lines are installed [2].
A commercially available induction motor to the general
consumer can be used as a SEIG, as small rating generators are not
mass produced like the later and would be expensive to purchase
a special generator designed for this particular application. The
nameplate efficiency of a practical, in-service, 15 hp, 1,800
rpm conventional aluminum-rotor induction machine today
is about 89.5%, which is below the 1997 Energy Policy Act
standard of 91%. As demonstrated by many other researchers,
the adoption of copper rotors should bring efficiencies to the
94 to 96% range exceeding the requirements of todays NEMA
premium efficiency motor, nominally 93% [3]. In addition,
analyses by motor manufacturers have shown that copper
rotors can be employed to reduce overall manufacturing costs
at a given efficiency or to reduce motor weight, depending on
a particular attribute the designer chooses to emphasize. The
potential energy savings achievable through the use of copper
rotors is substantial. In Canada alone, 1% increase in the
motor electrical energy efficiency would save roughly $200
million and as a result, 0.5 million barrels of oil annually.
As Canada and the world move rapidly towards increased
dependence on wind power generation, copper bars can play
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an important role in the rotor construction of SEIG [4]. Hence,
the niche copper-rotor induction machine is also considered
here in the investigations.
However, the performance of these aluminum- and copper-
rotor motors as SEIGs can be only judged based on their voltage
regulation, frequency regulation and VAR requirement charac-
teristics at different operating conditions. Recently, due to the
growing cost and complexity of voltage regulating schemes the
need has been felt to develop an economical and flexible regu-
lating scheme and/or also minimally modify the induction motor
to improve its generating characteristics and reduce its depen-
dence on regulating schemes. Also, by developing a flexible
voltage regulating scheme through a low cost embedded system,
one would have an option to choose any existing voltage regu-
lating actuator to be interfaced with this developed controller,
depending on ones budget. Research performed in this paper
concentrates on both the above issues and provides an econom-
ical solution.
As stated above, conventional induction motors can used as
SEIGs if they are either redesigned for the same application or
by choosing the best out of the available induction machines
through suitability analysis. Section II of this paper exclusively
studies the suitability two different machines, relatively newer
copper-rotor induction motor (CRIM) and the conventional alu-
minum-rotor induction motor (ARIM) for use as a SEIG in dis-
tributed wind power generation (DWPG). Experimental inves-
tigations were performed on two 7.5 hp CRIM and ARIM and
the measured results are corroborated by discussions.
The study performed in Section II, establishes the need for
voltage regulation (VR) in the SEIG and provides experimental
data for effective design and validation of the proposed con-
troller. VR schemes, in general, can be historically classified
into shunt compensation and series compensation schemes.
References [5] and [6] propose VR schemes employing
switched controlled inductor and switched shunt capacitors
respectively. Research performed in [7] uses the static VAR
compensator for VR. Converter based shunt compensation VR
schemes like static synchronous compensator (STATCOMs)
based on voltage source converters (VSCs) and current source
converter based shunt compensation are presented in [8].
Static synchronous series compensator and load governors
have been used in [9] and [10], respectively. It is thus ap-
parent that an effective VAR controller has become central
to the success of SEIG system for standalone applications.
Reactive power may be provided by mechanically switched
capacitors, static VAR compensator (SVC), and STATCOM.
A switched-capacitor scheme is cheaper, but it regulates the
terminal voltage in discrete steps. Electromechanical switches
are found to have lesser life and sometimes cause switching
overvoltage problems, whereas, solid state switching needs
correct synchronization. Static VAR compensator uses either
thyristor-switched capacitor (TSCs) or a thyristor-controlled re-
actor (TCR) with fixed capacitor. The static VAR compensator
reported in [11] is understood to be a popular VR scheme as it
requires lesser number of sensors but it pulls down its merits
primarily due to its injection of harmonics into the system.
As stated in [12] an electronic load controller is used as a VR
scheme in micro hydro application, however, this method is not
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2012
economically viable for other applications involving inductive
loads and needing voltage regulation.
All these schemes are based on sensing load as well as
generator current. Also, the schemes involve rotor speed/po-
sition measurement which requires complicated electronic
circuits. Hence, understanding the complexity, economics of
the above schemes and the need for VR in SEIG, a highly effi-
cient, responsive and cost-effective discrete wavelet transform
(DWT)/particle swarm optimization (PSO) based VR scheme
is proposed which needs only stator current monitoring and
can be interfaced with any of the existing voltage regulator
hardware mentioned above. This provides flexibility for the
remote area consumer to choose any actuator based on ones
budget.
When a load is applied to the system, two actions, namely,
detection of the changed load and adjustment of the reactive
power, must be initiated, so that the system can maintain
a constant terminal voltage. DWT and PSO are exclusively
chosen to implement these two steps respectively based on their
characteristics. A Wavelet, which has energy concentrated in
time, is well-suited to analyze the transient and non-stationary
or time-varying phenomena. Unlike the Fourier transform,
wavelet transform does not need a single set of basis func-
tion [13]. Instead, wavelet transforms have an infinite set
of possible basis functions. Thus, wavelet analysis provides
immediate access to information that can be obscured by
other time frequency methods such as the Fourier analysis.
The proposed logic detects the transients at high speed with
relatively good accuracy which fits the purpose. The wavelet
does not depend on in-depth history like artificial intelligence
techniques or expert knowledge which require large amount
of system data history for neural-network training or fuzzy
rule base formulation. The primary reason of choosing DWT
is its transient tracking ability. DWT has been proved to be
successful in tracking transients in such power system appli-
cations [14], [15]. The dynamics due to application of load is
detected within 1 millisecond, so that the command for reactive
power compensation is activated almost simultaneously with
the applied load. In a DG, the central controller regulates
various power generating devices simultaneously, therefore, it
involves multiple task management and complex calculations.
The developed wavelet/PSO based unit is capable of detecting
load application independently, which significantly decreases
the complexity of the controller.
Once the transient is detected, PSO is used to evaluate the
situation and estimate the reactive power requirement to restore
the terminal voltage of the SEIG. Low computation cost, sim-
plicity of implementation, and quick convergence ability make
PSO popular in many other applications [16][18], but have not
been explored for this application. Given the complexity and
the requirement of the system, the original PSO is employed
to solve this problem. PSO is based on the simulation of an-
imal social behaviors such as fish schooling, bird flocking, and
swarm theory. Since, PSO is population based and self-adap-
tive, it has gained an increasing popularity as an efficient alter-
native to the genetic algorithm (Gas) in solving computational
problems. Compared with the GA, PSO has memorial ability to
let the knowledge of good solutions be retained by all particles,
LU et al.: WAVELET/PSO BASED VOLTAGE REGULATION SCHEME AND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS 1925

whereas the previous knowledge need not be considered after

each evolution, as is required in GA. Moreover, it is shown to
be effective in optimizing difficult multidimensional discontin-
uous problems in a variety of fields [19]. Also, PSO does not
require off-line training like as is required in ANN based ap-
proach which is usually rather time-consuming. In addition, the
PSO method does not require inference rules which are essen-
tial for fuzzy approaches [20].
The wavelet/PSO scheme is then used to actuate any power
switch to provide VAR compensation. Additionally, the authors Fig. 1. Experimental setup of the DC motor coupled ARSEIG and CRSEIG
would like to reiterate that any voltage regulator previously systems used in the investigations.
discussed in this section can be implemented using the same
wavelet/PSO control scheme, thus making it more reliable
TABLE I
and flexible. However, the static synchronous compensator MACHINE RATINGS AND PARAMETERS.
(STATCOM) has been finally used to validate the proposed
control scheme. STATCOM-based system [21] was initially
proposed for reactive power compensation and power factor
correction in utility systems [22]. Larsen et al. [23] have
described the benefits of STATCOM over the SVC system.
They have shown that the steady state, as well as transient
performance, can be improved with STATCOM.
All electronic loads with conventional front-end ac-dc con-
verters draw harmonic current. This current would cause har-
monics in generated voltage and excessive heating in the SEIG.
Additionally, single-phase loads (such as lighting, heating, etc.)
are quite common loads on these remote wind farms. Normally,
these single-phase loads reflect as unbalanced loads in three-
phase systems. The negative sequence component, due to unbal-
anced and harmonic load, may cause severe instability problems standard no-load, dc and blocked rotor tests, and important
in the generator. The negative sequence super-synchronous cur- machine ratings are presented in Table I. The measurements
rents produce super-synchronous torque on the rotor shaft. This were taken using a Tektronix 2024 digital storage oscilloscope,
causes oscillations in the rotor shaft at super-synchronous fre- a Fluke 434 power quality analyzer. The experimental setup is
quency. If any natural mode frequency of the rotor shaft is close as presented in Fig. 1.
to this super-synchronous frequency, serious resonant oscilla- Experiments were performed to maintain constant rated
tions in the rotor shaft may lead to catastrophic damage [24]. To voltage of the machines at a constant rotor speed of 1 pu as it is
avoid this, harmonic current and unbalance in the generator cur- desired that the generator provides a constant terminal voltage
rent must be minimized. In low-power, low-cost, energy-gener- under varying loads in the practical field applications. The PSO
ation systems, it is not feasible to use separate load equalizers algorithm, implemented on the low cost embedded system
and filters. A STATCOM can mitigate harmonics problem along prototype, has enabled us to decide the amount of capacitance
with reactive power compensation and thereby save the SEIG required by the machine to maintain the terminal voltage under
from the above mentioned problems. varying loads. Stepped capacitor switching has been actuated
Section III presents the mathematical modeling of the devel- accordingly and the terminal voltage has been found to remain
oped control scheme along with the steps involved in designing almost constant. Also, the rated stator current of these machines
the module and results captured at every step of the design. is taken to be the constraint for maximum power delivery as
A comprehensive investigation of the developed algorithm has the temperature rise in the stator windings have to be taken into
been performed through a developed computer program and an account and kept under permissible limits when determining
experimental set-up consisting of a low-end embedded system the maximum permissible loading of the machines. It is also
and its effect is finally validated through a STATCOM based seen from the investigations shown in Fig. 2 that the magnitude
voltage regulator. of the rotor current is less than that of the stator current, hence
taking the stator current of the machines to be a constraint
II. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF CRIM AND ARIM is wise as the rotor is competent than the stator to withstand
FOR SUITABILITY ANALYSIS AND SUBSEQUENT CONTROLLER thermal overloads, if any.
DEVELOPMENT The output power of both the machines have been measured
Experimental investigations were performed on two commer- keeping a constant rated voltage of the respective machines at
cially available 7.5 hp copper- and aluminum-rotor induction the machine terminals by mechanically switching the capacitor
motors used as SEIGs (hereafter to be referred as copper-rotor banks, in coarse and fine resolutions, available at the laboratory.
SEIG/CRSEIG and aluminum-rotor SEIG/ARSEIG, respec- In general, commercially available induction motor operating as
tively). The equivalent circuit parameters determined from the a SEIG will have poorer efficiency due to higher losses in the
1926
Fig. 2. Measured stator and rotor currents delivered as a function of output
power at rated stator voltage and speed for both (a) CRSEIG and (b) ARSEIG.
rotor which is actually designed to obtain good starting perfor-
mance in the motor. However, an induction motor with lower
winding resistance and leakage reactance should have a better
performance in terms of efficiency and power factor when op-
erated as a SEIG.
Fig. 2(a) and (b) shows the maximum output power that can
be delivered by both CRSEIG and ARSEIG without exceeding
their rated current. The CRSEIG could be loaded more than the
ARSEIG because of its lower losses, better power factor and
hence, has been found to yield higher efficiency. The CRSEIG
operates at a slip of 1.05% and the ARSEIG operates at a slip
of 1.82% at their maximum loading conditions, which is lower
than the rated slip of the respective machines. In order to com-
pare the performance of the generators, a factor may be de-
fined as the ratio of maximum power that can be extracted from
the generator keeping the stator current limit, to the rated power
of the motor.
(1)
where is the rated power of the motor.
The for CRSEIG and ARSEIG is found to be 1.204 pu
and 1.126 pu, respectively. Previous research performed did not
consider the capacitor excitation currents while calculating the
additional power delivering capacity of the machines.
Fig. 3(a) and (b) shows the variation in VAR requirement and
the capacitive reactance for both the machines to keep a rated
terminal voltage across the stator terminals at rated speed of the
machines under varying loads. This has been found to be same
as that predicted by the PSO algorithm. It has been observed
that the no-load excitation requirement of the CRSEIG is a bit
more than the ARSEIG. As the machines were loaded the VAR
and the capacitance required by the ARSEIG was more than
that of the CRSEIG. The range of capacitance requirement for
CRSEIG varied from F to F, whereas the same for
ARSEIG varied from F to F, for no-load to maximum
loading condition. It is also seen that the compensating capaci-
tance requirement of the CRSEIG is reduced due to the design
of the machine with higher value of flux density. Otherwise, the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2012
Fig. 3. Measured reactive power (VAR) requirement and capacitive reactance
at rated stator voltage and speed for both (a) CRSEIG and (b) ARSEIG
during incremental loading of the machines.
Fig. 4. Measured saturation characteristics of aluminum- and copper-rotor ma-
chines at their rated frequency.
less capacitance requirement for the CRSEIG can be attributed
to the steeper saturation characteristics of the machine.
Fig. 4 shows the measured saturation characteristics of both
the machines at rated frequency. An economical SEIG system
would be the one which uses a less range of capacitance to
reach the maximum power. Considering the above statement,
the CRSEIG needs a lower range of capacitance for higher
power output than the ARSEIG.
Fig. 5 shows the variation in terminal voltage with output
power for capacitance values of F and F for CRSEIG
and ARSEIG respectively, measured across the stator termi-
nals, while run at their respective rated speed. These capaci-
tance values are corresponding to rated voltage at rated speed
and no-load for the machines. It is apparent from these figures
that the voltage drop increases as the loading increases. This is
due to the fact that with more loading, the operating slip has
to be more negative and therefore, at the same rotor speed, the
stator frequency becomes less. Consequently, the magnetizing
characteristic shifts downwards but the capacitive reactance in-
creases. Finally, therefore, the operating point of intersection of
the capacitor characteristic and the new magnetization
characteristic corresponds to a less terminal voltage at a higher
loading at steady state.
Voltage regulation for the aluminum-rotor machine has been
found to be better than that of the copper-rotor machine. As
a load is applied, the VAR supplied by the capacitance of the
parallel combination of the excitation capacitance and the con-
nected load must match the VAR demanded by the machine as
LU et al.: WAVELET/PSO BASED VOLTAGE REGULATION SCHEME AND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS
Fig. 5. Measured variation in terminal voltages of CRSEIG and ARSEIG at
rated speed and capacitance of F and F, respectively.
dictated by the magnetizing curve. In other words, the VAR re-
quired by the machine to maintain self-excitation as well as the
load must be provided solely by the excitation capacitor. Conse-
quently, as the load is increased, there is a decrease in the mag-
nitude of the terminal voltage and frequency.
As the load becomes more inductive, the VAR that can be sup-
plied by the capacitors is distributed between the machine and
the load. Consequently, the VAR available to the machine is less
than the open-circuit conditions. Hence, the voltage decreases
further. This is the reason why the self-excited induction gener-
ator has the ability to protect itself from excessive overloading
and even short circuit. The value of the magnetizing reactance
plays an important role for safe operation of the SEIG. Since,
the magnetizing curve of the copper-rotor SEIG is steeper than
the aluminum-rotor machine studied in these investigations, for
each unit decrease in the magnetizing current, the decrease in
voltage is more in the case of copper-rotor SEIG in comparison
to the aluminum-rotor SEIG.
Fig. 6(a) and (b) shows the variation of terminal voltage with
respect to the output power for different values of mechani-
cally-switched capacitor used in these investigations. From the
figures, it can be observed that the for about 6% variation in
terminal voltage from the rated value, the CRSEIG, because
of its poor voltage regulation, required almost seven steps of
capacitor switching to generate the maximum power. Whereas,
the ARSEIG required only about four capacitor switching
steps to reach its maximum power. Hence, the voltage regu-
lating scheme is expected to be a lot cheaper for the ARSEIG
compared to that of the CRSEIG. From the above, it can be
concluded that since the SEIG is desired to operate near its
rated power almost all the time, the ARSEIG used in this
investigation may not require any voltage regulation if a 6%
variation in terminal voltage is permitted. Also, the ARSEIG
will require less range of capacitance to reach its maximum
loading condition keeping in view the stipulated voltage
regulation limit. The numerical results of Fig. 6 have been
instrumental in formulating the threshold of the PSO/wavelet
based control system, presented in the subsequent section.
The terminal frequency of both the machines under incre-
mental loading condition has also been measured. Primarily,
it should be noted that the change in frequency is found to be
roughly proportional to the change in terminal voltage of the
machine at load, i.e., there is a similarity in the trend of
change in terminal voltage and frequency. It is also observed
that the change in frequency for the copper-rotor machine is
less than that of the aluminum-rotor machine. Stator frequency
of the CRSEIG and ARSEIG drop to 0.989 pu and 0.982 pu
under full load condition, respectively. Furthermore, it is seen
1927
Fig. 6. Measured terminal voltage characteristics at rated speed for both
CRSEIG and ARSEIG. (a) CRSEIG. Capacitance: (I) F, (II) F,
(III) F, (IV) F, (V) F, (VI) F (VII) F. (b) ARSEIG.
Capacitance: (I) F, (II) F, (III) F, (IV) F.
that the copper-rotor machine takes less time to regain a stable
frequency during resistive loads and more time than the alu-
minum-rotor machine at inductive loads.
III. VOLTAGE REGULATION SCHEME USING WAVELET/PSO
BASED EMBEDDED SYSTEM INTERFACED WITH A STATCOM
A. Wavelet Decomposition Unit
1) Introduction to Discrete Wavelet Analysis and Daubechies
Wavelet: Discrete Wavelet Transforms map data from the time
domain (the original or input data vector) to the wavelet do-
main. DWT is used in a variety of signal processing applica-
tions because wavelets not only dissect signals into their com-
ponent frequencies but also vary the scale at which the compo-
nent frequencies are analyzed. Fourier transform needs an infi-
nite amount of terms to represent a single quick change with a
sum of sinusoid. Instead, wavelet transform have an infinite set
of possible basis functions, and thus can represent a short-term
signal with only a few terms. In other words, DWT provides
immediate access to information that can be obscured by other
time-frequency methods such as the FFT [25].
By imposing an appealing set of regularity conditions,
Daubechies came up with a useful class of wavelet filters, all of
which yield a DWT in accordance with the notion of difference
of adjacent averages. Daubechies wavelet (Db) is deemed
most used mother wavelet in power system studies due to its
orthogonal property, which is potent for localization and clas-
sification of disturbances. In comparison to other orthogonal
wavelets like Haar and Symlet, Db gives higher yield in terms
of computation complexity and filter response [15].
Choosing the best Daubechies wavelet is of paramount im-
portance to overcome constraints like computation time, local-
ization efficiency and classification [26]. The differences in fil-
ters are mainly due to the length of the filters that defines the
wavelet and scaling functions. Comparison of Db2 to Db10
wavelet showed that a wavelet becomes smoother with increase
in coefficient numbers. Db6 showed proportionate response at
1928
Fig. 7. Stator current and load current profiles obtained through 1000:1 turns
ratio current sensor without capacitor compensation.
Fig. 8. Second-order multiple feedback bandpass filter.
Fig. 9. Measured high frequency waveforms obtained as output voltages of the
bandpass filter stage during load application.
Fig. 10. Finite impulse response filter for wavelet decomposition.
TABLE II
HIGH-PASS FINITE IMPULSE RESPONSE COEFFICIENTS.
the beginning and end of the event. Thus, for the purpose of
all-round performance Db6 was selected for this study [27],
[28].
2) Transient Detection Using Wavelet Transforms: Current
sensors connected to the three-phase power line are used to ac-
quire instantaneous stator current amplitude which is later fed
to the wavelet transient detection unit as a voltage signal. Fig. 7
illustrates the waveforms captured through a Tektronix digital
oscilloscope during load application. Extensive studies on the
current-pattern of the system show that transients at the range of
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2012
410 kHz are dominant during load perturbation and stator cur-
rent variation. This range of frequency contains a lot of informa-
tion required to capture the transients [28], [29]. A second order
multiple feedback (MFB) bandpass filter as shown in Fig. 8 is
designed remove unnecessary information from the signal and
retain the high frequency information.
The MFB bandpass circuit in Fig. 8 has the following transfer
function:
(2)
Therefore, the mid-frequency is
(3)
gain at
(4)
and the bandwidth is:
(5)
According to the characteristics of this filter and the require-
ment for retaining the frequency at 410 kHz, the authors chose
F, , and . Dis-
crete wavelet transform can be implemented using a tree struc-
tured filter-bank.Fig. 9 shows the sampled data obtained out of
the MFB filter as high frequency waveforms during load appli-
cation. As seen from Fig. 9, the blue spike shows the measured
high frequency transient waveform during load application. It
can also be observed that the changes in the load and stator cur-
rent are indecipherable due to the high sampling rate used in the
measurement.
Discrete wavelet transform can be implemented using a tree
structured filter-bank. A filter-bank is an array of finite impulse
filters (FIRs) that separate the input signal into several compo-
nents, each one carrying a single frequency sub-band of the orig-
inal signal. It also is desirable to design the filter bank in such
a way that sub-bands can be recombined to recover the original
signal. Because the requirement of this application, only decom-
position is applied in the original signal to obtain the high fre-
quency detail.
Fig. 10 demonstrates a discrete-time FIR of order 11 with
sub-sampling rates at 2, as the wavelet decomposition unit, co-
efficients of which is shown in Table II. is the input signal,
is the output high frequency detail, are the filter coeffi-
cients, therefore is decomposed as:
(6)
According to [27], the window of usable data is limited to 3
ms due to the current transformer saturation during sub-transient
and transients. This difference in the input and output of this
LU et al.: WAVELET/PSO BASED VOLTAGE REGULATION SCHEME AND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS
Fig. 11. Experimental setup and results for voltage regulation. (a) Second-
order MFB bandpass filter output during load application. (b) Wavelet decom-
position output corresponding to (a). (c) Bread-board prototype of the developed
wavelet/PSO based low cost embedded system.
Fig. 12. Calculated results for voltage regulation. (a) Second order MFB band-
pass filter output for load application. (b) Corresponding wavelet decomposition
output.
block is illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12 through measured and
calculated results.
The high frequency details of all three phases collected
during VR, namely , , and , obtained after
wavelet decomposition are continuously checked for signals
above threshold values for each phase. In order to
find the minimum among all the high frequency responses for
all possible load application conditions, a computer program
was developed considering the dynamic model of the SEIG,
bandpass filter and the FIR filter. The program contains three
1929
loops which are namely the outer loop, inner loop and inner
most loop. An outer loop with load application instants varying
from 10 seconds to 10.017 seconds (0.017 is the time period of
the system) with a step of 1 ms, inner loop with resistive load
varied from 30 to 300 Ohms with a step of 1 Ohm and the inner
most loop with load reactance varied from 30 to 300 ohms with
a step of 1 Ohm. The high frequency details at the instants of
load application were captured for all situations, and the values
were found to be within a small range. Therefore, the minimum
was found and theoretically the threshold was expected to be
slightly smaller than this minimum.
In order to tune and verify the calculated threshold value, ex-
periments were performed at different loading conditions, ex-
citation capacitances and rotor speeds. It was found that the
errors between the calculated values and the measured values
were within acceptable limits keeping in mind the coarse reso-
lution of loads and excitation capacitances applied as available
in the laboratory. The threshold for hardware implementation
was thus selected by tuning the theoretical value on basis of the
trend in errors obtained. Hereafter, this block would activate the
successive PSO based VAR estimator through a control signal to
compute the amount of capacitance required for proper voltage
regulation.
3) Implementation of the Wavelet Based Transient Detector
on a Low Cost Embedded System: The transient detection
using wavelet analysis is tested in this section using a low-end
embedded system. This system consists of three 16-bit digital
signal controllers from dsPIC33F family, with 40 MIPS ca-
pability and up to 80 MHz speed with a Phase-Locked Loop
(PLL). These chips have their own digital signal processor
engines capable of conducting single cycle multiplication and
accumulation. In order to ensure a stable system, the transient
detection unit traces 250 consecutive samples. Fig. 11(a)
shows the experimental output data of the bandpass filter
which is sampled and stored in the digital signal controllers.
Corresponding high frequency details obtained from real-time
implementation are shown in Fig. 11(b). Also, Fig. 11(c) shows
bread-board prototype of the developed wavelet/PSO based
low cost embedded system used in the investigations. The
entire voltage regulation test process explained above was
also simulated using a developed computer program for the
copper-rotor SEIG and the corresponding calculated results are
shown in Fig. 12. The transient or the high frequency spike at
0.03 seconds is remarkably distinguishable which enables to
choose a specific threshold for voltage regulation.
B. VAR Requirement Estimator Using Particle Swarm
Optimization
The two-axis model of SEIG, as shown in the Appendix A, is
developed using machine equations based on the synchronously
rotating dq reference frame theory in order to bring out the per-
formance of the SEIGs under various loading conditions such
as and loads.
The axes stator and rotor voltage-current equations at
no-load conditions and excitation capacitor bank can be ex-
pressed as shown in (A1) and (A2). The voltage and current
equations of the machine under and loads incorpo-
rate (A3). Saturation characteristics of both aluminum- and
1930
Fig. 13. Flowchart of the step by step process involved in calculating the ca-
pacitance using the SEIG-PSO algorithm.
copper-rotor machines are incorporated in the above modelling
using an arctangent continuous function as developed in [30],
to obtain improved accuracy in the investigations.
1) Capacitance Estimation Using Model of SEIG and
PSO: The PSO based VAR estimator is activated once a load
changing transient is detected by the wavelet transient detector.
This unit uses the developed mathematical models of the
SEIG and the PSO to estimate the VAR precisely. Hence, the
capacitance value required to provide the necessary VAR at the
machine terminals will be calculated. The steps that involved
in estimating the best capacitance value using SEIG and PSO
are described as follows:
Step 1: Generation of initial conditions: Initialize popula-
tion size , maximum iteration number
weighting coefficient initial weight and
final weight as in (9) and calculate weighting
function [31]. Randomly generate the initial trial
particles ( , where is the pop-
ulation size) which indicate the possible solutions
of capacitance value, i.e., is random value be-
tween minimum and maximum loading capacitance
requirement.
Step 2: Computation of objective function: Capacitance
values are fed into the developed two-axis model
of the SEIG to calculate the output voltage of the
generator. The error of each particle can be at-
tained with , which is defined
as the chosen objective function, where is the
calculated terminal phase voltage of the developed
two-axis model of SEIG, is the rated phase
voltage of the SEIG which equals to 265 V for the
copper- rotor machine under consideration. The
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2012
Fig. 14. Searching points and terminal phase voltage of particle 1 obtained
from numerical investigations under a load of and .
Fig. 15. PSO performance (estimated error) as a function of number of itera-
tions for varying loading conditions.
objective for particle swarm is to minimize the
which indicates the error.
Step 3: Evaluation of searching point: If e(i), error gener-
ated by particle (capacitance value ) is smaller
than , error generated by the current
(best previous value of this particle) of this par-
ticle, the value is replaced by this capaci-
tance value , otherwise, stays the same. If
the smallest error generated among all the particles
is smaller than that generated by current gbest (best
previous position among all the particles), gbest is
replaced by the best value, otherwise gbest stays the
same.
Step 4: Modification of the searching point: The current ca-
pacitance value of each agent is changed using the
, following equations [31].
(7)
(8)
(9)
is a random number between 0 and 1.
Step 5: Examination of the exit condition: When the current
iteration number reaches the predetermined max-
imum iteration number or if the error is less than
0.1, then gbest is determined. Otherwise, the process
goes back to Step 2.
2) Offline Testing of the PSO Algorithm: Fig. 13 shows the
flowchart of the proposed PSO based capacitance estimation
method. The proposed estimator is tested under loading
condition. The population size of the swarm and iteration
LU et al.: WAVELET/PSO BASED VOLTAGE REGULATION SCHEME AND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS
Fig. 16. Overall block diagram of the developed wavelet/PSO based embedded system integrated with the SEIG and the STATCOM for validation.
time are 20 and 40, respectively. Fig. 14 shows the
searching points of particle 1 which keeps on flying and ex-
ploring to converge to the most suitable value. Varied loads
were applied to further verify the convergence of the developed
optimization method. From Fig. 15, it is evident that the PSO
performance is satisfactory after 30 iterations for all the tested
loading conditions.
The value of compensation capacitor can be further explained
with current as
(10)
where is the estimated reactance requirement of SEIG
after load application. is the reactance of shunt capacitor
connected in the system to establish the required SEIG terminal
voltage.
C. Validation of the Proposed Control Scheme Through
STATCOM
1) Front-End Portion of the Control Module of STATCOM:
To compensate the lack of reactive power occurring due to
incremental loading of the machines, a STATCOM and its
periphery circuit is designed, interfaced and controlled by
the Wavelet/PSO based embedded system whose design was
explained above in previous subsections. This serves as the ul-
timate validation of the proposed PSO/wavelet based algorithm
and the controller. The complete block diagram showing the
integrated system for validation is presented in Fig. 16.
A set of three instantaneous phase variables , , ( voltage
may be current, voltage etc.) can be uniquely represented in the
- stationary reference frame through the transfor-
mation shown in (A4). Then the co-ordinate ex-
pressions can be obtained by using synchronously rotating ref-
erence frame transformations as in (A5). Therefore,
assuming a balanced power system, the STATCOM system can
be represented as a combination of two equations as in (A6). The
above transformations successfully separate the variables in to
direct- and quadrature-axis components for enabling a decou-
pled control of STATCOM. The ultimate decoupling has been
1931
Fig. 17. Block diagram of the power control module for STATCOM imple-
mented using a PI controller.
obtained by the feedforward technique as evident from Fig. 16
[32].
The power control module for the STATCOM implemented
using a PI controller for both active and reactive current con-
trol loop is presented in Fig. 17. Active power flowing into
STATCOM will regulate DC capacitor voltages of the inverter.
is the reference value of the voltage of DC link capacitor,
which should set to be higher than the peak of line voltage to en-
sure effective functioning of the STATCOM. The error between
and , (DC link instantaneous voltage measurement)
is fed into a PI controller to generate the active reference cur-
rent to regulate the DC link voltage. The reactive current
reference, , is equivalent to which is given by devel-
oped PSO/wavelet based controller. The reference three phase
, is therefore, calculated using (A6).
2) Rear-End Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation Based Con-
trol for STATCOM: The implementation of a sinusoidal pulse
width modulation (SPWM) involves generation of three refer-
ence signals for being compared with a single triangular wave
carrier signal to generate the switching pulses for the IGBTs em-
ployed in the three-phase voltage source converter [21]. In this
application, the 3 phase reference signals are generated from
the power control module of the STATCOM. The frequency of
the triangular wave, , is chosen to be 10 kHz (considering
IGBTs).
1932 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2012

Fig. 18. Steady state voltage waveforms obtained from the sinusoidal pulse width operation of the STATCOM. (a) A particular phase reference voltage. (b) Tri-
angular wave carrier signal. (c) Switching pulse to a particular IGBT of the corresponding phase. (d) Line voltage output.

This high switching frequency has been enough to keep the

total harmonic distortion (THD) in the STATCOM currents to
less than 5% as per IEEE 519 standard. A sample set of SPWM-
controlled switch signal as well as carrier signal and reference
(control) voltages are shown in Fig. 18 to illustrate the SPWM
operation of the STATCOM at a steady state. The controller
compares the amplitude of reference voltage , Fig. 18(a), and
carrier signal , Fig. 18(b), to determine the switching pulses,
Fig. 18(c), for the IGBTs. Fig. 18(d) is the line voltage output at
the STATCOM AC terminals which regulates the reactive power
required by the Cu-rotor induction generator. Fig. 19. DC Link voltage and phase currents of STATCOM during
3) Performance of the STATCOM After Interfacing it With boost-charging period.
the Developed Wavelet/PSO Based Controller: The charging of
the DC capacitor is performed in two steps to limit the inrush
current. First, it is pre-charged to almost peak line voltage of current (Ch4). It shows that the phase peak voltage drops
the system (660 V) using a diode rectifier, as shown in Fig. 16 from 370 V to 340 V and the load current increase from 0
and is finally boost-charged by initiating the STATCOM. Fig. 19 to 4 Amperes once the load is applied. It can also be seen in
shows the startup performance of the STATCOM. It presents the Ch2 that a transient occurs in the stator current, which would
instantaneous DC link voltage, which boosts from 660 V and the be captured by wavelet based transient detector. As soon as
stator phase currents of the STATCOM, when it is charged by the VAR is estimated, compensation current is injected to the
the three phase voltage at the SEIG terminals. It is shown that generator as shown in Ch3, which effectively restore the stator
the voltage increases to 800 V within about 10 ms and mean- voltage almost to the previous level of 370 V phase to neutral.
while the STATCOM AC current peaks do not attain abnormally
high proportions (remains less than 40 A). After the STATCOM
IV. CONCLUSION
DC link voltage becomes steady, it becomes ready for compen-
sation. The effectiveness of the developed PSO/wavelet based This research manuscript firstly studies the suitability of
controller is now checked by causing a change in the load using commercially available copper- and aluminum-rotor
connected to the CRIM terminals. The digital oscilloscope func- induction motors to be operated as self-excited induction
tions at trigger mode to capture the instantaneous value of the generators in distributed wind power generation application.
CRIM terminal voltage and currents when the load is applied It also elucidates the voltage regulation issue in SEIG and
and reactive power is compensated. provides necessary data for subsequent controller development.
Fig. 20 is the captured waveform of terminal voltage (Ch1), Secondly, an exclusive wavelet/PSO based control algorithm is
stator current (Ch2), compensation current (Ch3) and load developed and built on a low cost embedded system to provide
LU et al.: WAVELET/PSO BASED VOLTAGE REGULATION SCHEME AND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS
where
impedance.
Fig. 20. Measured waveform of terminal voltage (Ch1), stator current (Ch2),
compensation current (Ch3) and load current (Ch4).
a novel and flexible controller for VR. The control algorithm
has been tested offline and finally in real-time, first on a me-
chanical switching based actuator for changing the capacitors
(reactive VARS) in discrete steps and then on a STATCOM,
which causes smooth VAR control, to restore the terminal
voltage of the SEIG. The tested results prove the satisfactory
performance of the developed controller.
APPENDIX
The two-axis model of the SEIG is as given below:
(A1)
(A2)
(A3)
(A4)
(A5)
where ( is the initial position determined by the
definition of the dq co-ordinate frame and has been controlled
to remain at zero).
(A6)
1933
and is the resistance and inductance of interface
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Xiaomin Lu (S11) received the Bachelor in Engi-
neering degree from Sun-Yet Sen University, China,
in 2010. She is currently working towards the Ph.D.
degree in electrical and computer engineering at the
University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Her research areas include modeling and analysis
of electric machine drives and condition monitoring
for electric vehicle drive-train system and power
system applications.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID, VOL. 3, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2012
K. Lakshmi Varaha Iyer (M11) received the
B.Tech. degree in electronics and communication
engineering from SASTRA University, India, in
2009 and the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and
computer engineering from University of Windsor,
Ontario, Canada, in 2011. He is currently pursuing
the Ph.D. degree at the University of Windsor.
His research presently focuses on design and con-
trol of electric machines, condition monitoring and
grid integration of renewable energy applications.
Kaushik Mukherjee (M03) was born in 1970.
He received the B.E. degree from the Department
of Electrical Engineering, Jadavpur University,
Calcutta, India, in 1993, the M.E. degree from
the Department of Electrical Engineering, Bengal
Engineering College, Howrah, India, in 1998, and
the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Elec-
trical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur, India, in 2003.
Since 1993, he has spent almost two and a half
years in the industry. In 2002, he joined the De-
partment of Electrical Engineering, Jadavpur University, India, as a Lecturer.
Since 2006, he has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Howrah, India. Dr.
Mukherjee is presently a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Hybrid Automo-
tive Research and Green Energy, University of Windsor, Canada. His research
interests include electrical machine drives and power electronics applications
in general.
Narayan C. Kar (SM07) received the B.Sc. degree
in electrical engineering from Bangladesh University
of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
in 1992 and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from Kitami Institute of Technology,
Hokkaido, Japan, in 1997 and 2000, respectively.
He is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department at the University
of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, where he holds the
Canada Research Chair position in hybrid drivetrain
systems. His research presently focuses on the
analysis, design and control of permanent magnet synchronous, induction
and switched reluctance machines for hybrid electric vehicle and wind power
applications, testing and performance analysis of batteries and development of
optimization techniques for hybrid energy management system.