Modeling and Lyapunov-designed based on adaptive gain sliding mode control for wind turbines

In this paper, modeling and the Lyapunov-designed control approach are studied for the Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS). The objective of this study is to ensure the maximum energy production of a WECS while reducing the mechanical stress on the shafts (turbine and generator). Furthermore, the proposed control strategy aims to optimize the wind energy captured by the wind turbine operating under rating wind speed, using an Adaptive Gain Sliding Mode Control (AG-SMC). The adaptation for the sliding gain and the torque estimation are carried out using the sliding surface as an improved solution that handles the conventional sliding mode control. Furthermore, the resultant WECS control policy is relatively simple, meaning the online computational cost and time are considerably reduced. Time-domain simulation studies are performed to discuss the effectiveness of the proposed control strateg

A New Sliding Mode Control Strategy for Variable-Speed Wind Turbine Power Maximization

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Khalfallah Tahir, Cheikh Belfedal, Tayeb Allaoui, Mouloud Denai, and M’hamed Doumi, ‘A new sliding mode control strategy for variable‐speed wind turbine power maximization’, International Transactions on Electrical Energy Systems, Vol. 28 (4): e2513, April 2018, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/etep.2513. Under embargo until 10 January 2019. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.The paper proposes a new sliding mode power control strategy for a wound-field synchronous generator-based variable speed wind energy conversion systems to maximize the power extracted from the wind turbine. The proposed controller can handle the inherent nonlinearities in wind energy conversion systems and the randomness of the wind speed as well as the uncertainties of the model and external disturbances. To reduce the chattering phenomenon that characterizes conventional sliding mode control, a sigmoid function with a variable boundary layer is proposed. The adaptive switching gains are adjusted on-line by using a fuzzy logic-based technique. Several simulation scenarios were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed control scheme. The results demonstrate that this controller provides excellent response characteristics, is robust against parameter variations, and free from chattering phenomenon as compared with the conventional sliding mode control.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

A Review of Control Techniques for Wind Energy Conversion System

Wind energy is the most efficient and advanced form of renewable energy (RE) in recent decades, and an effective controller is required to regulate the power generated by wind energy. This study provides an overview of state-of-the-art control strategies for wind energy conversion systems (WECS). Studies on the pitch angle controller, the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller, the machine side controller (MSC), and the grid side controller (GSC) are reviewed and discussed. Related works are analyzed, including evolution, software used, input and output parameters, specifications, merits, and limitations of different control techniques. The analysis shows that better performance can be obtained by the adaptive and soft-computing based pitch angle controller and MPPT controller, the field-oriented control for MSC, and the voltage-oriented control for GSC. This study provides an appropriate benchmark for further wind energy research

Hybrid MPPT Control: P&O and Neural Network for Wind Energy Conversion System

In the field of wind turbine performance optimization, many techniques are employed to track the maximum power point (MPPT), one of the most commonly used MPPT algorithms is the perturb and observe technique (PO) because of its ease of implementation. However, the main disadvantage of this method is the lack of accuracy due to fluctuations around the maximum power point. In contrast, MPPT control employing neural networks proved to be an effective solution, in terms of accuracy. The contribution of this work is to propose a hybrid maximum power point tracking control using two types of MPPT control: neural network control (NNC) and the perturbation and observe method (PO), thus the PO method can offer better performance. Furthermore, this study aims to provide a comparison of the hybrid method with each algorithm and NNC. At the resulting duty cycle of the 2 methods, we applied the combination operation. A DC-DC boost converter is subjected to the hybrid MPPT control.  This converter is part of a wind energy conversion system employing a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The chain is modeled using MATLAB/Simulink software. The effectiveness of the controller is tested at varying wind speeds. In terms of the Integral time absolute error (ITAE), using the PO technique, the ITAE is 9.72. But, if we apply the suggested technique, it is smaller at 4.55. The corresponding simulation results show that the proposed hybrid method performs best compared to the PO method. Simulation results ensure the performance of the proposed hybrid MPPT control.

Development of a robust nonlinear pitch angle controller for a redesigned 5MW wind turbine blade tip

Power in wind turbines are traditionally controlled by varying the pitch angle at high wind speeds in region 3 of the wind turbine operation. The pitch angles controllers are normally driven by electrical or hydraulic actuators. The motivation of this research is to design and implement a pitch angle control strategy at the outer section of the blade via a separated pitch control at blade tip (SePCaT). A pneumatic actuator is implemented to drive the pitch angle control mechanism by incorporating pneumatic actuated muscles (PAM) due to its high power/mass ratio, high specific work, and good contraction ratio while maintaining low weight at the tip of the blade. A sliding mode controller (SMC) is modeled and implemented on a redesigned 5MW wind turbine numerically. The hypothesis is that the SePCaT control strategy is effective and satisfactory pitch angle trajectory tracking is achievable. The method is adopted, the system is modeled, and the response was observed by subjecting the model dynamics to desired pitch angle trajectories. Initially comparative controller response with respect to desired trajectory revealed satisfactory pitch angle tracking but further investigation revealed chattering characteristics which was minimized by incorporating a saturation function. SePCaT offers an effective pitch angle control strategy which is smaller, lighter, reliable and efficient

Fault Diagnosis and Fault Tolerant Control of Wind Turbines: An Overview

Wind turbines are playing an increasingly important role in renewable power generation. Their complex and large-scale structure, however, and operation in remote locations with harsh environmental conditions and highly variable stochastic loads make fault occurrence inevitable. Early detection and location of faults are vital for maintaining a high degree of availability and reducing maintenance costs. Hence, the deployment of algorithms capable of continuously monitoring and diagnosing potential faults and mitigating their effects before they evolve into failures is crucial. Fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control designs have been the subject of intensive research in the past decades. Significant progress has been made and several methods and control algorithms have been proposed in the literature. This paper provides an overview of the most recent fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control techniques for wind turbines. Following a brief discussion of the typical faults, the most commonly used model-based, data-driven and signal-based approaches are discussed. Passive and active fault tolerant control approaches are also highlighted and relevant publications are discussed. Future development tendencies in fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control of wind turbines are also briefly stated. The paper is written in a tutorial manner to provide a comprehensive overview of this research topic

Output power levelling for DFIG wind turbine system using intelligent pitch angle control

Blade pitch angle control, as an indispensable part of wind turbine, plays a part in getting the desired power. In this regard, several pitch angle control methods have been proposed in order to limit aerodynamic power gained from the wind turbine system (WTS) in the high-windspeed regions. In this paper, intelligent control methods are applied to control the blade pitch angle of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) WTS. Conventional fuzzy logic and neuro-fuzzyparticle swarm optimization controllers are used to get the appropriate wind power, where fuzzy inference system is based on fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. It reduces the extra repetitive rules in fuzzy structure which in turn would reduce the complexity in neuro-fuzzy network with maximizing efficiently. In comparing the controllers at any given wind speed, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems controller involving both mechanical power and rotor speed revealed better performance to maintain the aerodynamic power and rotor speed at the rated value. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation results for a 9 MW DFIG WTS

An enhanced DC-link voltage response for wind-driven doubly fed induction generator using adaptive fuzzy extended state observer and sliding mode control

This paper presents an enhancement method to improve the performance of the DC-link voltage loop regulation in a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG)- based wind energy converter. An intelligent, combined control approach based on a metaheuristics-tuned Second-Order Sliding Mode (SOSM) controller and an adaptive fuzzy-scheduled Extended State Observer (ESO) is proposed and successfully applied. The proposed fuzzy gains-scheduling mechanism is performed to adaptively tune and update the bandwidth of the ESO while disturbances occur. Besides common time-domain performance indexes, bounded limitations on the effective parameters of the designed Super Twisting (STA)-based SOSM controllers are set thanks to the Lyapunov theory and used as nonlinear constraints for the formulated hard optimization control problem. A set of advanced metaheuristics, such as Thermal Exchange Optimization (TEO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA), Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA), and Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA), is considered to solve the constrained optimization problem. Demonstrative simulation results are carried out to show the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in terms of grid disturbances rejection, closed-loop tracking performance, and robustness against the chattering phenomenon. Several comparisons to our related works, i.e., approaches based on TEO-tuned PI controller, TEO-tuned STA-SOSM controller, and STA-SOSM controller-based linear observer, are presented and discussed

Load frequency controllers considering renewable energy integration in power system

Abstract: Load frequency control or automatic generation control is one of the main operations that take place daily in a modern power system. The objectives of load frequency control are to maintain power balance between interconnected areas and to control the power flow in the tie-lines. Electric power cannot be stored in large quantity that is why its production must be equal to the consumption in each time. This equation constitutes the key for a good management of any power system and introduces the need of more controllers when taking into account the integration of renewable energy sources into the traditional power system. There are many controllers presented in the literature and this work reviews the traditional load frequency controllers and those, which combined the traditional controller and artificial intelligence algorithms for controlling the load frequency

Maximum power point tracking controller using Lyapunov theorem of wind turbine under varying wind conditions

Due to the instantaneous variation in wind speed, it is necessary to identify the optimal rotational speed that ensures maximum energy efficiency and system stability. We proposed a controller based on the Lyapunov theorem to extract the maximum power from wind speed and to ensure the overall stability of the controlled system under random operating conditions imposed by wind speed and parameter variations. The control of the Tip speed ratio is based on the Lyapunov theorem (TSR_LT), which is a controller based on Lyapunov's theory and the definition of a positive, energetic function, to ensure the stability of the system being controlled, the dynamics of this function must be negative. The viability of this work is demonstrated by MATLAB-based mathematical and simulation models and a comparison with the results obtained using proportional integral (PI) controller-based tip speed ratio control (TSR_PI controller). The simulation results demonstrate the controller's effectiveness