Observer based active fault tolerant control of descriptor systems

The active fault tolerant control (AFTC) uses the information provided by fault detection and fault diagnosis (FDD) or fault estimation (FE) systems offering an opportunity to improve the safety, reliability and survivability for complex modern systems. However, in the majority of the literature the roles of FDD/FE and reconfigurable control are described as separate design issues often using a standard state space (i.e. non-descriptor) system model approach. These separate FDD/FE and reconfigurable control designs may not achieve desired stability and robustness performance when combined within a closed-loop system.This work describes a new approach to the integration of FE and fault compensation as a form of AFTC within the context of a descriptor system rather than standard state space system. The proposed descriptor system approach has an integrated controller and observer design strategy offering better design flexibility compared with the equivalent approach using a standard state space system. An extended state observer (ESO) is developed to achieve state and fault estimation based on a joint linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach to pole-placement and H∞ optimization to minimize the effects of bounded exogenous disturbance and modelling uncertainty. A novel proportional derivative (PD)-ESO is introduced to achieve enhanced estimation performance, making use of the additional derivative gain. The proposed approaches are evaluated using a common numerical example adapted from the recent literature and the simulation results demonstrate clearly the feasibility and power of the integrated estimation and control AFTC strategy. The proposed AFTC design strategy is extended to an LPV descriptor system framework as a way of dealing with the robustness and stability of the system with bounded parameter variations arising from the non-linear system, where a numerical example demonstrates the feasibility of the use of the PD-ESO for FE and compensation integrated within the AFTC system.A non-linear offshore wind turbine benchmark system is studied as an application of the proposed design strategy. The proposed AFTC scheme uses the existing industry standard wind turbine generator angular speed reference control system as a “baseline” control within the AFTC scheme. The simulation results demonstrate the added value of the new AFTC system in terms of good fault tolerance properties, compared with the existing baseline system

Fault estimation and active fault tolerant control for linear parameter varying descriptor systems

Starting with the baseline controller design, this paper proposes an integrated approach of active fault tolerant control based on proportional derivative extended state observer (PDESO) for linear parameter varying descriptor systems. The PDESO can simultaneously provide the estimates of the system states, sensor faults, and actuator faults. The L₂ robust performance of the closed-loop system to bounded exogenous disturbance and bounded uncertainty is achieved by a two-step design procedure adapted from the traditional observer-based controller design. Furthermore, an LMI pole-placement region and the L₂ robustness performance are combined into a multiobjective formulation by suitably combing the appropriate LMI descriptions. A parameter-varying system example is given to illustrate the design procedure and the validity of the proposed integrated design approach

A review of convex approaches for control, observation and safety of linear parameter varying and Takagi-Sugeno systems

This paper provides a review about the concept of convex systems based on Takagi-Sugeno, linear parameter varying (LPV) and quasi-LPV modeling. These paradigms are capable of hiding the nonlinearities by means of an equivalent description which uses a set of linear models interpolated by appropriately defined weighing functions. Convex systems have become very popular since they allow applying extended linear techniques based on linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) to complex nonlinear systems. This survey aims at providing the reader with a significant overview of the existing LMI-based techniques for convex systems in the fields of control, observation and safety. Firstly, a detailed review of stability, feedback, tracking and model predictive control (MPC) convex controllers is considered. Secondly, the problem of state estimation is addressed through the design of proportional, proportional-integral, unknown input and descriptor observers. Finally, safety of convex systems is discussed by describing popular techniques for fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control (FTC).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Predictive control approaches to fault tolerant control of wind turbines

This thesis focuses on active fault tolerant control (AFTC) of wind turbine systems. Faults in wind turbine systems can be in the form of sensor faults, actuator faults, or component faults. These faults can occur in different locations, such as the wind speed sensor, the generator system, drive train system or pitch system. In this thesis, some AFTC schemes are proposed for wind turbine faults in the above locations. Model predictive control (MPC) is used in these schemes to design the wind turbine controller such that system constraints and dual control goals of the wind turbine are considered. In order to deal with the nonlinearity in the turbine model, MPC is combined with Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy modelling. Different fault diagnosis methods are also proposed in different AFTC schemes to isolate or estimate wind turbine faults.The main contributions of the thesis are summarized as follows:A new effective wind speed (EWS) estimation method via least-squares support vector machines (LSSVM) is proposed. Measurements from the wind turbine rotor speed sensor and the generator speed sensor are utilized by LSSVM to estimate the EWS. Following the EWS estimation, a wind speed sensor fault isolation scheme via LSSVM is proposed.A robust predictive controller is designed to consider the EWS estimation error. This predictive controller serves as the baseline controller for the wind turbine system operating in the region below rated wind speed.T-S fuzzy MPC combining MPC and T-S fuzzy modelling is proposed to design the wind turbine controller. MPC can deal with wind turbine system constraints externally. On the other hand, T-S fuzzy modelling can approximate the nonlinear wind turbine system with a linear time varying (LTV) model such that controller design can be based on this LTV model. Therefore, the advantages of MPC and T-S fuzzy modelling are both preserved in the proposed T-S fuzzy MPC.A T-S fuzzy observer, based on online eigenvalue assignment, is proposed as the sensor fault isolation scheme for the wind turbine system. In this approach, the fuzzy observer is proposed to deal with the nonlinearity in the wind turbine system and estimate system states. Furthermore, the residual signal generated from this fuzzy observer is used to isolate the faulty sensor.A sensor fault diagnosis strategy utilizing both analytical and hardware redundancies is proposed for wind turbine systems. This approach is proposed due to the fact that in the real application scenario, both analytical and hardware redundancies of wind turbines are available for designing AFTC systems.An actuator fault estimation method based on moving horizon estimation (MHE) is proposed for wind turbine systems. The estimated fault by MHE is then compensated by a T-S fuzzy predictive controller. The fault estimation unit and the T-S fuzzy predictive controller are combined to form an AFTC scheme for wind turbine actuator faults

Unknown input observer approaches to robust fault diagnosis

This thesis focuses on the development of the model-based fault detection and isolation /fault detection and diagnosis (FDI/FDD) techniques using the unknown input observer (UIO) methodology. Using the UI de-coupling philosophy to tackle the robustness issue, a set of novel fault estimation (FE)-oriented UIO approaches are developed based on the classical residual generation-oriented UIO approach considering the time derivative characteristics of various faults. The main developments proposed are:- Implement the residual-based UIO design on a high fidelity commercial aircraft benchmark model to detect and isolate the elevator sensor runaway fault. The FDI design performance is validated using a functional engineering simulation (FES) system environment provided through the activity of an EU FP7 project Advanced Fault Diagnosis for Safer Flight Guidance and Control (ADDSAFE).- Propose a linear time-invariant (LTI) model-based robust fast adaptive fault estimator (RFAFE) with UI de-coupling to estimate the aircraft elevator oscillatory faults considered as actuator faults.- Propose a UI-proportional integral observer (UI-PIO) to estimate actuator multiplicative faults based on an LTI model with UI de-coupling and with added H∞ optimisation to reduce the effects of the sensor noise. This is applied to an example on a hydraulic leakage fault (multiplicative fault) in a wind turbine pitch actuator system, assuming that thefirst derivative of the fault is zero. - Develop an UI–proportional multiple integral observer (UI-PMIO) to estimate the system states and faults simultaneously with the UI acting on the system states. The UI-PMIO leads to a relaxed condition of requiring that the first time derivative of the fault is zero instead of requiring that the finite time fault derivative is zero or bounded. - Propose a novel actuator fault and state estimation methodology, the UI–proportional multiple integral and derivative observer (UI-PMIDO), inspired by both of the RFAFE and UI-PMIO designs. This leads to an observer with the comprehensive feature of estimating faults with bounded finite time derivatives and ensuring fast FE tracking response.- Extend the UI-PMIDO theory based on LTI modelling to a linear parameter varying (LPV) model approach for FE design. A nonlinear two-link manipulator example is used to illustrate the power of this method

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

Multiobjective performance-based designs in fault estimation and isolation for discrete-time systems and its application to wind turbines

In this work, we develop a performance-based design of model-based observes and statistical-based decision mechanisms for achieving fault estimation and fault isolation in systems affected by unknown inputs and stochastic noises. First, through semidefinite programming, we design the observers considering different estimation performance indices as the covariance of the estimation errors, the fault tracking delays and the degree of decoupling from unknown inputs and from faults in other channels. Second, we perform a co-design of the observers and decision mechanisms for satisfying certain trade-off between different isolation performance indices: the false isolation rates, the isolation times and the minimum size of the isolable faults. Finally, we extend these results to a scheme based on a bank of observers for the case where multiple faults affect the system and isolability conditions are not verified. To show the effectiveness of the results, we apply these design strategies to a well-known benchmark of wind turbines which considers multiple faults and has explicit requirements over isolation times and false isolation rates

Robust control examples applied to a wind turbine simulated model

Wind turbine plants are complex dynamic and uncertain processes driven by stochastic inputs and disturbances, as well as different loads represented by gyroscopic, centrifugal and gravitational forces. Moreover, as their aerodynamic models are nonlinear, both modeling and control become challenging problems. On the one hand, high-fidelity simulators should contain different parameters and variables in order to accurately describe the main dynamic system behavior. Therefore, the development of modeling and control for wind turbine systems should consider these complexity aspects. On the other hand, these control solutions have to include the main wind turbine dynamic characteristics without becoming too complicated. The main point of this paper is thus to provide two practical examples of the development of robust control strategies when applied to a simulated wind turbine plant. Extended simulations with the wind turbine benchmark model and the Monte Carlo tool represent the instruments for assessing the robustness and reliability aspects of the developed control methodologies when the model-reality mismatch and measurement errors are also considered. Advantages and drawbacks of these regulation methods are also highlighted with respect to different control strategies via proper performance metrics.Wind turbine plants are complex dynamic and uncertain processes driven by stochastic inputs and disturbances, as well as different loads represented by gyroscopic, centrifugal and gravitational forces. Moreover, as their aerodynamic models are nonlinear, both modeling and control become challenging problems. On the one hand, high-fidelity simulators should contain different parameters and variables in order to accurately describe the main dynamic system behavior. Therefore, the development of modeling and control for wind turbine systems should consider these complexity aspects. On the other hand, these control solutions have to include the main wind turbine dynamic characteristics without becoming too complicated. The main point of this paper is thus to provide two practical examples of the development of robust control strategies when applied to a simulated wind turbine plant. Extended simulations with the wind turbine benchmark model and the Monte Carlo tool represent the instruments for assessing the robustness and reliability aspects of the developed control methodologies when the model-reality mismatch and measurement errors are also considered. Advantages and drawbacks of these regulation methods are also highlighted with respect to different control strategies via proper performance metrics