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 estimation and diagnosis of wind turbine pitch misalignments at a wind farm level

Wind turbine pitch misalignments provoke aerodynamic asymmetries which cause severe damage to the turbine. Hence, it is of interest to develop fault tolerant strategies to cope with pitch misalignments. Fault tolerant strategies require the information regarding the diagnosis and the estimation of the faults. However, most existing works focus only on open-loop misalignment diagnosis and do not provide robust fault estimates. In this work, we present a novel strategy to both estimate and diagnose pitch misalignments. The proposed strategy is developed at a wind farm level and it exploits altogether the information provided by the temporal and spatial relations of the turbines in the farm. Fault estimation is first addressed with a closed-loop switched observer. This observer is robust against disturbances and it adapts to the varying conditions along the wind turbine operation range. Fault diagnosis is then achieved via statistical-based decision mechanisms with adaptive thresholds. Both the observer and the decision mechanisms are designed to guarantee the desired performance. Introducing some restrictions over the number of simultaneous faulty turbines in the farm, the proposed approach is ameliorated via a bank of the aforementioned observers and decision mechanisms. Finally, the strategies are tested using a well-known wind farm benchmark

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 detection and fault tolerant control in wind turbines

Renewable energy is an important sustainable energy in the world. Up to now, as an essential part of low emissions energy in a lot of countries, renewable energy has been important to the national energy security, and played a significant role in reducing carbon emissions. It comes from natural resources, such as wind, solar, rain, tides, biomass, and geothermal heat. Among them, wind energy is rapidly emerging as a low carbon, resource efficient, cost effective sustainable technology in the world. Due to the demand of higher power production installations with less environmental impacts, the continuous increase in size of wind turbines and the recently developed offshore (floating) technologies have led to new challenges in the wind turbine systems.Wind turbines (WTs) are complex systems with large flexible structures that work under very turbulent and unpredictable environmental conditions for a variable electrical grid. The maximization of wind energy conversion systems, load reduction strategies, mechanical fatigue minimization problems, costs per kilowatt hour reduction strategies, reliability matters, stability problems, and availability (sustainability) aspects demand the use of advanced (multivariable and multiobjective) cooperative control systems to regulate variables such as pitch, torque, power, rotor speed, power factors of every wind turbine, etc. Meanwhile, with increasing demands for efficiency and product quality and progressing integration of automatic control systems in high-cost and safety-critical processes, the fields of fault detection and isolation (FDI) and fault tolerant control (FTC) play an important role. This thesis covers the theoretical development and also the implementation of different FDI and FTC techniques in WTs. The purpose of wind turbine FDI systems is to detect and locate degradations and failures in the operation of WT components as early as possible, so that maintenance operations can be performed in due time (e.g., during time periods with low wind speed). Therefore, the number of costly corrective maintenance actions can be reduced and consequently the loss of wind power production due to maintenance operations is minimized. The objective of FTC is to design appropriate controllers such that the resulting closed-loop system can tolerate abnormal operations of specific control components and retain overall system stability with acceptable system performance. Different FDI and FTC contributions are presented in this thesis and published in different JCR-indexed journals and international conference proceedings. These contributions embrace a wide range of realistic WTs faults as well as different WTs types (onshore, fixed offshore, and floating). In the first main contribution, the normalized gradient method is used to estimate the pitch actuator parameters to be able to detect faults in it. In this case, an onshore WT is used for the simulations. Second contribution involves not only to detect faults but also to isolate them in the pitch actuator system. To achieve this, a discrete-time domain disturbance compensator with a controller to detect and isolate pitch actuator faults is designed. Third main contribution designs a super-twisting controller by using feedback of the fore-aft and side-to-side acceleration signals of the WT tower to provide fault tolerance capabilities to the WT and improve the overall performance of the system. In this instance, a fixed-jacket offshore WT is used. Throughout the aforementioned research, it was observed that some faults induce to saturation of the control signal leading to system instability. To preclude that problem, the fourth contribution of this thesis designs a dynamic reference trajectory based on hysteresis. Finally, the fifth and last contribution is related to floating-barge WTs and the challenges that this WTs face. The performance of the proposed contributions are tested in simulations with the aero-elastic code FAST.La energía renovable es una energía sustentable importante en el mundo. Hasta ahora, como parte esencial de la energía de bajas emisiones en muchos países, la energía renovable ha sido importante para la seguridad energética nacional, y jugó un papel importante en la reducción de las emisiones de carbono. Proviene de recursos naturales, como el viento, la energía solar, la lluvia, las mareas, la biomasa y el calor geotérmico. Entre ellos, la energía eólica está emergiendo rápidamente como una tecnología sostenible de bajo carbono, eficiente en el uso de los recursos y rentable en el mundo. Debido a la demanda de instalaciones de producción de mayor potencia con menos impactos ambientales, el aumento continuo en el tamaño de las turbinas eólicas y las tecnologías offshore (flotantes) recientemente desarrolladas han llevado a nuevos desafíos en los sistemas de turbinas eólicas. Las turbinas eólicas son sistemas complejos con grandes estructuras flexibles que funcionan en condiciones ambientales muy turbulentas e impredecibles para una red eléctrica variable. La maximización de los sistemas de conversión de energía eólica, los problemas de minimización de la fatiga mecánica, los costos por kilovatios-hora de estrategias de reducción, cuestiones de confiabilidad, problemas de estabilidad y disponibilidad (sostenibilidad) exigen el uso de sistemas avanzados de control cooperativo (multivariable y multiobjetivo) para regular variables tales como paso, par, potencia, velocidad del rotor, factores de potencia de cada aerogenerador, etc. Mientras tanto, con las crecientes demandas de eficiencia y calidad del producto y la progresiva integración de los sistemas de control automático en los procesos de alto costo y de seguridad crítica, los campos de detección y aislamiento de fallos (FDI) y control tolerante a fallos (FTC) juegan un papel importante. Esta tesis cubre el desarrollo teórico y también la implementación de diferentes técnicas de FDI y FTC en turbinas eólicas. El propósito de los sistemas FDI es detectar y ubicar las degradaciones y fallos en la operación de los componentes tan pronto como sea posible, de modo que las operaciones de mantenimiento puedan realizarse a su debido tiempo (por ejemplo, durante periodos con baja velocidad del viento). Por lo tanto, se puede reducir el número de costosas acciones de mantenimiento correctivo y, en consecuencia, se reduce al mínimo la pérdida de producción de energía eólica debido a las operaciones de mantenimiento. El objetivo de la FTC es diseñar controladores apropiados de modo que el sistema de bucle cerrado resultante pueda tolerar operaciones anormales de componentes de control específicos y retener la estabilidad general del sistema con un rendimiento aceptable del sistema. Diferentes contribuciones de FDI y FTC se presentan en esta tesis y se publican en diferentes revistas indexadas a JCR y en congresos internacionales. Estas contribuciones abarcan una amplia gama de fallos WTs realistas, así como diferentes tipos de turbinas (en tierra, en alta mar ancladas al fondo del mar y flotantes). El rendimiento de las contribuciones propuestas se prueba en simulaciones con el código aeroelástico FAST.Postprint (published version

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 211)

A continuing bibliography (NASA SP-7037) lists 519 reports, journal articles and other documents originally announced in February 1987 in Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) or in the International Aerospace Abstracts (IAA). The coverage includes documents on the engineering and theoretical aspect of design, construction, evaluation, testing, operation, and performance of aircraft (including aircraft engines) and associated components, equipment, and systems. It also includes research and development in aerodynamics, aeronautics, and ground support equipment for aeronautical vehicles. Each entry in the bibliography consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied in most cases by an abstract. The listing of the entries is arranged by the first nine STAR specific categories and the remaining STAR major categories. The arrangement offers the user the most advantageous breakdown for individual objectives. The citations include the original accession numbers from the respective announcement journals. The IAA items will precede the STAR items within each category. Seven indexes entitled subject, personal author, corporate source, foreign technology, contract number, report number, and accession number are included

Prognostic-based Life Extension Methodology with Application to Power Generation Systems

Practicable life extension of engineering systems would be a remarkable application of prognostics. This research proposes a framework for prognostic-base life extension. This research investigates the use of prognostic data to mobilize the potential residual life. The obstacles in performing life extension include: lack of knowledge, lack of tools, lack of data, and lack of time. This research primarily considers using the acoustic emission (AE) technology for quick-response diagnostic. To be specific, an important feature of AE data was statistically modeled to provide quick, robust and intuitive diagnostic capability. The proposed model was successful to detect the out of control situation when the data of faulty bearing was applied. This research also highlights the importance of self-healing materials. One main component of the proposed life extension framework is the trend analysis module. This module analyzes the pattern of the time-ordered degradation measures. The trend analysis is helpful not only for early fault detection but also to track the improvement in the degradation rate. This research considered trend analysis methods for the prognostic parameters, degradation waveform and multivariate data. In this respect, graphical methods was found appropriate for trend detection of signal features. Hilbert Huang Transform was applied to analyze the trends in waveforms. For multivariate data, it was realized that PCA is able to indicate the trends in the data if accompanied by proper data processing. In addition, two algorithms are introduced to address non-monotonic trends. It seems, both algorithms have the potential to treat the non-monotonicity in degradation data. Although considerable research has been devoted to developing prognostics algorithms, rather less attention has been paid to post-prognostic issues such as maintenance decision making. A multi-objective optimization model is presented for a power generation unit. This model proves the ability of prognostic models to balance between power generation and life extension. In this research, the confronting objective functions were defined as maximizing profit and maximizing service life. The decision variables include the shaft speed and duration of maintenance actions. The results of the optimization models showed clearly that maximizing the service life requires lower shaft speed and longer maintenance time

Optimal state observation using quadratic boundedness: application to UAV disturbance estimation

This paper presents the design of a state observer which guarantees quadratic boundedness of the estimation error. By using quadratic Lyapunov stability analysis, the convergence rate and the ultimate (steady-state) error bounding ellipsoid are identified as the parameters that define the behaviour of the estimation. Then, it is shown that these objectives can be merged in a scalarised objective function with one design parameter, making the design problem convex. In the second part of the article, a UAV model is presented which can be made linear by considering a particular state and frame of reference. The UAV model is extended to incorporate a disturbance model of variable size. The joint model matches the structure required to derive an observer, following the lines of the proposed design approach. An observer for disturbances acting on the UAV is derived and the analysis of the performances with respect to the design parameters is presented. The effectiveness and main characteristics of the proposed approach are shown using simulation results.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Grid Forming Wind Power Plants: Black start operation for HVAC grids and Diode Rectifier-based Wind Power Plant integration

Tesis por compendio[ES] La Unión Europea plantea una serie de retos en el GREEN DEAL para conseguir un escenario donde sus miembros sean climáticamente neutros en 2050. Para ello se plantean unas acciones entre las que destaca la descarbonización del sector de la energía. Por otra parte, se ha puesto como objetivo conseguir una capacidad de energía eólica de 1200 GW en 2050, desde los 190 GW que se tenía en 2019. El cierre de centrales eléctricas basadas en grandes generadores síncronos junto con el aumento en la construcción de centrales eléctricas con fuentes basadas en electrónica de potencia como parques eólicos o plantas fotovoltaicas, hace necesario la incorporación de controladores grid forming en energías renovables basadas en electrónica de potencia. La integración de estrategias de control grid forming en turbinas eólicas debe considerar las funciones de reparto de potencia activa y reactiva (control droop en generadores síncronos), así como un sistema de protección ante faltas que permita una recuperación rápida cuando se despeja la falta. Por otra parte, en la transición de los actuales parques eólicos grid following que funcionan como fuentes de corriente a parques eólicos grid forming que funcionan como fuentes de tensión se debe considerar que ambas tecnologías van a coexistir conjuntamente por mucho tiempo. Por tanto, se hace necesario el estudio de estabilidad de parques eólicos con ambas tecnologías, así como el estudio de cuanta generación grid forming es necesaria para mantener el parque eólico estable en cualquier situación. Además, el uso de parques eólicos grid foming permite diferentes aplicaciones como la energización de redes eléctricas después de un apagón desde estos parques eólicos, o el uso de diodos rectificadores en enlaces HVDC para la conexión de parques eólicos marinos. Para facilitar el estudio y diseño de aerogeneradores grid forming, en la presente tesis se propone una técnica de agregación de aerogeneradores tipo-4. Esta técnica permite reducir la complejidad del parque eólico para su estudio y análisis. Esta tesis incluye las siguientes contribuciones: Para el funcionamiento de aerogeneradores grid forming en paralelo con aerogeneradores grid following se propone un método de diseño analizando la estabilidad del sistema completo. Además, se propone una estrategia de control ante faltas para asegurar una recuperación rápida y segura. Se propone el uso de técnicas de control H∞ para la sintonización de controladores grid forming. El uso de estas técnicas para el diseño de controladores puede mejorar la robustez de los controladores, así como el rendimiento de estos. Considerando la aplicación de la energización de redes HVAC desde parques eólicos, se ha propuesto como llevar a cabo dicha maniobra a partir de parque con aerogeneradores grid forming y grid following. Los resultados obtenidos validan el funcionamiento de la operación. Además, muestran que la cantidad de generación grid forming está relacionada con la dimensión de cargas que tienen que aguantar dichas turbinas más que con la estabilidad del sistema con un porcentaje bajo de generación grid forming. Finalmente, se han propuesto estrategias de protección para la integración de parque eólicos en redes malladas HVDC utilizando rectificadores de diodos. Los parques eólicos grid forming pueden ayudar a gestionar faltas disminuyendo los requisitos en las protecciones necesarias en el enlace HVDC. Esto permite una reducción del coste de la instalación, además de aumentar la robustez del sistema.[CA] La Unió Europea planteja uns reptes al GREEN DEAL per a aconseguir un escenario on els seus membres siguen climàticament neutrals al 2050. Per a aconseguir aquest objectiu es plantegen unes accions entre les quals destaca la de descarbonitzar el sector energètic. D'altra banda, s'ha posat com a objectiu aconseguir una capacitat d'energia eòlica de 1200 GW al 2050, des dels 190 GW que es tenia al 2019. El tancament de centrals elèctriques basades en grans generadors síncrons juntament amb l'augment en la construcció de centrals elèctriques basades en electrónica de potència com a parcs eòlics o plantes fotovoltaiques, fa necessari la incorporació de controladors grid forming en energies renovables que es basan en electrònica de potència. La integració d'estratègies de control grid forming per a turbines eòliques ha de considerar les funcions de repartiment de potència activa i reactiva, així com un sistema de protecció davant faltes que permeta una recuperació ràpida quan s'aïlla la falta. D'altra banda, en la transició dels actuals parcs eòlics grid following que funcionen com a fonts de corrent a parcs eòlics grid forming que funcionen com a fonts de tensió, s'ha de considerar que totes dues tecnologies coexistiran conjuntament per molt de temps. Per tant, es fa necessari l'estudi d'estabilitat d'un parc eòlic amb totes dues tecnologies, així com l'estudi del percentatge de generació grid forming necessari per a mantindre el parc eòlic estable en qualsevol situació. A més, l'ús de parcs eòlics grid foming permet diferents aplicacions com l'energització de xarxes elèctriques després d'una apagada des d'aquests parcs eòlics, o l'ús de díodes rectificadors en enllaços HVDC per a la connexió de parcs eòlics marins. Per a facilitar l'estudi i disseny d'aerogeneradors grid forming, en la present tesi es proposa una tècnica d'agregació d'aerogeneradors tipus-4. Aquesta técnica permet reduir la complexitat del parc eòlic per al seu estudi i anàlisi. La present tesi inclou les següents contribucions: Per al funcionament d'aerogeneradors grid forming en paral¿lel amb aerogeneradors grid following es proposa un mètode de disseny analitzant l'estabilitat del sistema complet. A més, es proposa una estratègia de control davant faltes per a assegurar una recuperació ràpida i segura. Es proposa l'ús de tècniques de control H∞ per a la sintonització de controladors grid forming. L'ús d'aquestes tècniques per al disseny de controladors pot millorar la robustesa dels controladors, a mé del rendiment d'aquestos. Considerant l'aplicació de l'energització de xarxes HVAC des de parcs eòlics, s'ha proposat com dur a terme aquesta maniobra a partir d'un parc eòlic amb aerogeneradors grid forming i grid following. Els resultats obtinguts validen el funcionament de l'operació. A més, mostren que la quantitat de generació grid forming està més relacionada amb la dimensió de les càrregues que ha d'aguantar el parc eòlic, que amb l'estabilitat del sistema que permet un menr percentatge de generació grid forming. Finalment, s'han proposat estratègies de protecció per a la integració de parcs eòlics marins en xarxes multi-punt HVDC utilitzant rectificadors de díodes. Els parcs eòlics grid forming poden ajudar a gestionar faltes disminuint els requisits de les proteccions necessàries en l'enllaç HVDC. Això permet una reducció del cost de la instal¿lació, a més d'augmentar la robustesa del sistema.[EN] The European Union GREEN DEAL aims to make its 27 members climate-neutral by 2050. The decarbonization of the energy sector stands out as one of the proposed actions. To achieve that goal, the target for wind power generation is set at 1,200 GW in 2050, from the 190 GW that was had in 2019. The closure of power plants based on large synchronous generators and the increase of power electronics based generation such as Wind Power Plants (WPPs) or photovoltaic plants, leads to the use of grid forming controllers for power electronics based renewable energy. Grid forming control strategies for wind turbines generators (WTGs) must consider active and reactive power sharing control (droop control in synchronous generators) as well as a protection system that allows a quick recovery after fault clearance. Moreover, a transition from the conventional grid following WPPs to new grid forming WPPs is required. The transition must consider the parallel operation of both technologies for a long time. Thus, it is necessary to study the stability of Wind Power Plants with both technologies, as well as the study of how much grid forming generation is required to keep a mixed grid forming and grid following WPP stable in any situation. In addition, the use of grid forming WPPs allows different applications such as the energization of HVAC and HVDC grids after a blackout from these WPPs, or the use of diode rectifiers in HVDC links for the off-shore WPPs connection. An aggregation technique for type-4 WTGs has been proposed in this thesis in order to facilitate the study and design of grid forming WPPs. The aggregation technique allows to reduce the WPP complexity for its study and analysis. The main contributions of this theses are: A design methodology has been proposed for the parallel operation of grid forming and grid following WTGs. Including the stability analysis of the complete system. Additionally, a fault control strategy is proposed to ensure a fast and safe recovery. The use of H∞ control techniques is also proposed for grid forming controller tuning. Using H∞ control techniques for controller design may improve the robustness of the controllers as well as the performance of the controllers. A procedure to carry out black start operation of HVAC grid from mixed grid forming and grid following WPPs has been proposed. The obtained results validate that the procedure works as expected. Moreover, the results show that the amount of grid-forming generation usually is determined by the load size steps as stability limits are usually less stringent. Finally, protection strategies have been proposed for the integration of off-shore WWPs in multi-terminal HVDC grids using diode rectifiers. Grid forming WPPs are able to help managing faults. Their use allow lower requirements of the HVDC protection equipment, leading to overall cost reduction and an increment of the system robustness.Martínez Turégano, J. (2022). Grid Forming Wind Power Plants: Black start operation for HVAC grids and Diode Rectifier-based Wind Power Plant integration [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/181529TESISCompendi