Power Electronics
Another key element of Northern’s innovative direct drive wind turbine design is the power converter used to connect the PM generator output to the local power system. Northern designs and manufactures the power converters for its wind turbines in-house, with complete hardware, control design, and software capabilities.
In 2006, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) awarded its annual Technical Achievement Award to Northern's Chief Engineer, Jeff Petter. It recognized his expertise and leadership in the development of Northern's FlexPhase power converter for MW scale wind turbine applications. The FlexPhase™ power converter combines a unique, patent pending circuit design with a high bandwidth control system to provide unique generator management, power quality, and grid support features. The FlexPhase converter platform offers a modular approach with a very small footprint and 20 year design life.
The Northwind 100 power converter uses the same advanced control system platform found in the FlexPhase platform, providing reliable and high efficiency operation even on the weak grid systems found in remote village applications.