Enhanced Efficiency Wind Energy Conversion System for Ship Propulsion Applications

Abstract:
This paper examines the potential of adopting environmentally friendly energy sources to power the electric microgrid system of a ship so that decrease of fuel consumption and thus, reduction of CO2 emission can be attained. The research is focused on adopting wind power electrical generation on board by a wind energy conversion system (WECS) and a properly selected battery storage system (BSS). Specifically, an enhanced efficiency WECS with squirrel cage electric generator (SCIG) is proposed that attains minimum power loss of the electrical generator, maximum harvesting of wind energy, and highly accurate yaw control so that the nacelle is correctly aligned to the wind direction. The BSS consists of Li-ion batteries properly controlled by an energy management system so that maximum utilization of the generated electrical energy by the wind is accomplished and also, smooth power and energy performance of the ship’s electric microgrid is ensured by absorbing any potential fluctuations of electric energy generated by the wind turbine and electric loads on board. Selective simulation results are presented to validate the satisfactory performance of the suggested combined scheme of WECS-SCIG and BSS for ship applications.