Author(s)

Ali Abdolkhani, Aiguo Patrick Hu, Nirmal C.-K. Nair

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University Of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

This paper presents a modelling and parameter identification of through-hole type contactless slipring systems for transferring electrical power for wind turbine pitch control. An equivalent circuit model has been developed from the physical structure and dimensions of the contactless slipring using the duality rules, which is very different form traditional transformer. The circuit inductances are determined by the derived expressions from the system reluctances. In particular, the equivalent resistance representing the core loss of the slipring has been determined using phasor diagram of exciting current. FEM (Finite Element Method) models and practical prototypes are developed for testing and verifycations. Both simulation and experimental results have shown that the developed model gives truthful values for numerical calculations in order to obtain the equivalent electric circuit. The effect of fringing flux around the air gap on mutual inductance and the ways of correcting its effects are analysed. The obtained values have shown that the developed models and derived equations are with high accuracy as compared to the FEM simulation and experimental results.

CSS (Contactless Slipring Systems); Transformer Modeling; Contactless Power Transfer; Wind Turbine Pitch Control

A. Abdolkhani, A. Hu and N. Nair, "Modelling and Parameters Identification of Through-Hole Type Wind Turbine Contactless Sliprings," Engineering, Vol. 4 No. 5, 2012, pp. 272-283. doi: 10.4236/eng.2012.45036.