Development of a Prime Mover Emulator Using a Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive

This paper presents the development of a surface-mounted permanent-magnet synchronous motor (SPMSM) drive for constructing the prime mover emulators. It draws power from the mains via a single-phase boost type switch mode rectifier (SMR) with good line drawn power quality and well-regulated dc-link voltage. The SPMSM drive control scheme can be arranged to drive the tested generator in a conventional speed control mode or a specific wind turbine torque–speed control mode. For performing the prime mover loading test, an interior permanent-magnet synchronous generator (IPMSG) followed by a three-phase Vienna SMR is established. It receives the mechanical driven power from the prime mover and establishes a 400 V dc-link for a dc microgrid. Various wind turbine torque–speed characteristic curves under different wind speeds can be faithfully emulated by the developed prime mover. And the maximum power point tracking function for the IPMSG followed by Vienna SMR is achieved using the perturb and observation method. The established whole prime mover emulator driven IPMSG system is evaluated experimentally under autonomous and microgrid interconnected operation.