Fault tolerant control of electric pitch control system based on single current detection

In view of the current sensors failure in electric pitch system,a variable universe fuzzy fault tolerant control method of electric pitch control system based on single current detection is proposed.When there is single or two-current sensor fault occurs,based on the proposed method the missing current information can be reconstructed by using direct current（DC）bus current sensor and the three-phase current can be updated in time within any two adjacent sampling periods,so as to ensure stability of the closed-loop system.And then the switchover and fault tolerant control of fault current sensor would be accomplished by fault diagnosis method based on adaptive threshold judgment.For the reconstructed signal error caused by the modulation method and the main control target of electric pitch system,a variable universe fuzzy control method is used in the speed loop,which can improve the anti-disturbance ability to load variation,and the robustness of fault tolerance system.The results show that the fault tolerant control method makes the variable pitch control system still has ideal control characteristics in case of sensor failure although part of the system performance is lost,thus the correctness of the proposed method is verified.

A Study on Effects of Blade Pitch on the Hydrodynamic Performances of a Propeller by Using CFD

The main objective of this work is to use the CFD （Computational Fluid Dynamics） technique to study the effects of pitch ratio on the controllable pitch propeller＇s thrust characteristic. The propeller analyzed is at the following design condition： diameter of 3.65 m, speed of 200 rpm, blade number of 4, average pitch of 2.459 m, pitch ratio at 0.7 of 0.6737. The first stage involves the mesh generation and refinement on domain of the designed propeller. The second stage deals with the identification of initial and boundary conditions of the mesh-equipped module. In the final stage, various results are calculated and analyzed for pitch ratio affecting on the propeller＇s thrust characteristic. The achieved results are the basis design and improving efficiency of the controllable pitch propeller.

Research on Pitch Control Strategies of Horizontal Axis Tidal Current Turbine

Based on blade element momentum theory and generator characteristic test,a dynamic simulation model of 150 kW horizontal-axis tidal current turbine was established.The matching of the dynamic characteristics between the turbine and generator under various current velocities is studied,and the influence of the pitch angle on the matching is analyzed.For the problem of maximum power output in case of low current speed and limiting power in high current speed,the relation between optimal pitch angle and output power is analyzed.On the basis of dynamic characteristic analysis,the variable pitch control strategy is developed.The performance of the turbine under various tidal conditions is simulated.The research results show that the designed controller enables the turbine to operate efficiently under the condition of low current speed,and achieve the goal of limited power at high current speed.

Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Control With Ultra-Local Model and Single Input Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Control for Pitch Control of Wind Turbines

As wind energy is becoming one of the fastestgrowing renewable energy resources,controlling large-scale wind turbines remains a challenging task due to its system model nonlinearities and high external uncertainties.The main goal of the current work is to propose an intelligent control of the wind turbine system without the need for model identification.For this purpose,a novel model-independent nonsingular terminal slidingmode control(MINTSMC)using the basic principles of the ultralocal model(ULM)and combined with the single input interval type-2 fuzzy logic control(SIT2-FLC)is developed for non-linear wind turbine pitch angle control.In the suggested control framework,the MINTSMC scheme is designed to regulate the wind turbine speed rotor,and a sliding-mode(SM)observer is adopted to estimate the unknown phenomena of the ULM.The auxiliary SIT2-FLC is added in the model-independent control structure to improve the rotor speed regulation and compensate for the SM observation estimation error.Extensive examinations and comparative analyses were made using a real-time softwarein-the-loop(RT-SiL)based on the dSPACE 1202 board to appraise the efficiency and applicability of the suggested modelindependent scheme in a real-time testbed.

Blade pitch control of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine

Collective pitch control and individual pitch control algorithms were present for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine to improve the self-starting capacity.Comparative analysis of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine(SB-VAWT) with or without pitch control was conducted from the aspects of aerodynamic force,flow structure and power coefficient.The computational fluid dynamics(CFD) prediction results show a significant increase in power coefficient for SB-VAWT with pitch control.According to the aerodynamic forces and total torque coefficient obtained at various tip speed ratios(TSRs),the results indicate that the blade pitch method can increase the power output and decrease the deformation of blade;especially,the total torque coefficient of blade pitch control at TSR 1.5 is about 2.5 times larger than that of fixed pitch case.Furthermore,experiment was carried out to verify the feasibility of pitch control methods.The results show that the present collective pitch control and individual pitch control methods can improve the self-starting capacity of SB-VAWT,and the former is much better and its proper operating TSRs ranges from 0.4 to 0.6.

Modeling and Analyzing Dynamic Response for An Offshore Bottom-Fixed Wind Turbine with Individual Pitch Control

The asymmetric or periodically varying blade loads resulted by wind shear become more significant as the blade length is increased to capture more wind power.Additionally,compared with the onshore wind turbines,their offshore counterparts are subjected to additional wave loadings in addition to wind loadings within their lifetime.Therefore,vibration control and fatigue load mitigation are crucial for safe operation of large-scale offshore wind turbines.In view of this,a multi-body model of an offshore bottom-fixed wind turbine including a detailed drivetrain is established in this paper.Then,an individual pitch controller(IPC)is designed using disturbance accommodating control.State feedback is used to add damping in flexible modes of concern,and a state estimator is designed to predict unmeasured signals.Continued,a coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic model is constructed.Based on this coupled model,the load reduction effect of IPC and the dynamic responses of the drivetrain are investigated.The results showed that the designed IPC can effectively reduce the structural loads of the wind turbine while stabilizing the turbine power out-put.Moreover,it is found that the drivetrain dynamic responses are improved under IPC.

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of A Vertical-Axis Eccentric-disc Variable-Pitch Turbine(VEVT)

A combined experimental and numerical investigation is carried out to study the performance of a vertical-axis eccentric-disc variable-pitch turbine(VEVT).A scheme of eccentric disc pitch control mechanism based on doubleblock mechanism is proposed.The eccentric control mechanism and the deflection angle control mechanism in the pitch control structure are designed and optimized according to the functional requirements of the turbine,and the three-dimensional model of the turbine is established.Kinematics analysis of the eccentric disc pitch control mechanism is carried out.Kinematics parameters and kinematics equations which can characterize its motion characteristics are derived.Kinematics analysis and simulation are carried out,and the motion law of the corresponding mechanical system is obtained.By analyzing the force and motion of blade of VEVT,the expressions of the important parameters such as deflection angle,attack angle and energy utilization coefficient are obtained.The lateral induced velocity coefficient is acquired by momentum theorem,the hydrodynamic parameters such as energy utilization coefficient are derived,and the hydrodynamic characteristics of VEVT are also obtained.The experimental results show that the turbine has good energy capture capability at different inflow velocities of different sizes and directions,which verifies that VEVT has good self-startup performance and high energy capture efficiency.

OBSO Based Fractional PID for MPPT-Pitch Control of Wind Turbine Systems

In recent times,wind energy receives maximum attention and has become a significant green energy source globally.The wind turbine(WT)entered into several domains such as power electronics that are employed to assist the connection process of a wind energy system and grid.The turbulent characteristics of wind profile along with uncertainty in the design of WT make it highly challenging for prolific power extraction.The pitch control angle is employed to effectively operate the WT at the above nominal wind speed.Besides,the pitch controller needs to be intelligent for the extraction of sustainable secure energy and keep WTs in a safe operating region.To achieve this,proportional–integral–derivative(PID)controllers are widely used and the choice of optimal parameters in the PID controllers needs to be properly selected.With this motivation,this paper designs an oppositional brain storm optimization(OBSO)based fractional order PID(FOPID)design for sustainable and secure energy in WT systems.The proposed model aims to effectually extract the maximum power point(MPPT)in the low range of weather conditions and save the WT in high wind regions by the use of pitch control.The OBSO algorithm is derived from the integration of oppositional based learning(OBL)concept with the traditional BSO algorithm in order to improve the convergence rate,which is then applied to effectively choose the parameters involved in the FOPID controller.The performance of the presented model is validated on the pitch control of a 5 MW WT and the results are examined under different dimensions.The simulation outcomes ensured the promising characteristics of the proposed model over the other methods.

Dynamic Positioning Control of Surge−Pitch Coupled Motion for Small-Waterplane-Area Marine Structures

For general dynamic positioning systems,controllers are mainly based on the feedback of motions only in the horizontal plane.However,for marine structures with a small water plane area and low metacentric height,undesirable surge and pitch oscillations may be induced by the thruster actions.In this paper,three control laws are investigated to suppress the induced pitch motion by adding pitch rate,pitch angle or pitch acceleration into the feedback control loop.Extensive numerical simulations are conducted with a semi-submersible platform for each control law.The influences of additional terms on surge−pitch coupled motions are analyzed in both frequency and time domain.The mechanical constraints of the thrust allocation and the frequency characters of external forces are simultaneously considered.It is concluded that adding pitch angle or pitch acceleration into the feedback loop changes the natural frequency in pitch,and its performance is highly dependent on the frequency distribution of external forces,while adding pitch rate into the feedback loop is always effective in mitigating surge−pitch coupled motions.

On Belly-flap for Pitch Control at Transonic Airfoil

One of the issues about Blended-Wing-Body configuration （BWB） is its difficulty in pitch control due to the missing tail. To solve this problem, a novel pitch control surface, belly-flap, has been presented. In this paper, the feasibility of belly-flap being used as a transonic pitch control device for tailless configuration is investigated on a BWB in-body airfoil, using the computationalfluid dynamic （CFD） method. The size, location and deflection angle of the flap are studied to detect their effect on the aerodynamic characteristics. The results reveal that the bubble separation due to the belly-flap can affect shock position on the upper surface of the airfoil and change the surface pressure distribution. By choosing appropriate geometry parameters, the load distribution can be improved to obtain significant pitch-up moment increment in a wide angle of attack with no lift-loss and less lift-drag ratio decrement.

Robust Adaptive Pitch Control of Floating Wind Turbines

In this paper, a modified sliding-mode adaptive controller is derived to achieve stability and output regulation for a class of dynamical systems represented by a non-homogeneous differential equation with unknown time-varying coefficients and unknown force function. In this scheme, the control law is constructed in terms of estimated values for the bounds of the unknown coefficients, where these values are continuously updated by adaptive laws to ensure asymptotic convergence to zero for the output function. The proposed controller is applied to solve the problem of pitch angle regulation for a floating wind turbine with dynamic uncertainty and external disturbances. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity of the designed controller to achieve the desired pitch angle for the floating turbine＇s body.

Comparative Performance of Fixed-Speed and Variable-Speed Wind Turbine Generator Systems

In the early development of the wind energy, the majority of the wind turbines have been operated at constant speed. Subsequently, the number of variable-speed wind turbines installed in wind farms has increased. In this paper, a comparative performance of fixed and variable speed wind generators with Pitch angle control has been presented. The first is based on a squirrel cage Induction Generator （IG） of 315 kW rated power, connected directly to the grid. The second incorporated a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator （PMSG） of 750 kW rated power. The performances of each studied wind generator are evaluated by simulation works and variable speed operation is highlighted as preferred mode of operation.

Numerical analysis of the performance of a three-bladed vertical-axis turbine with active pitch control using a coupled unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes and actuator line model

In this paper,we present a numerical model of a vertical-axis turbine(VAT)with active-pitch torque control.The model is based upon the Wind and Tidal Turbine Embedded Simulator(WATTES)and WATTES-V turbine realisations in conjunction with the actuator line method(ALM),and uses OpenFOAM to solve the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(URANS)equations with two-equation k-εturbulence closure.Our novel pitch-controlled system is based on an even pressure drop across the entire rotor to mitigate against dynamic stall at low tip speed ratio.The numerical model is validated against experimental measurements and alternative numerical predictions of the hydrodynamic performance of a 1:6 scale UNH-RM2 hydrokinetic turbine.Simulations deploying the variable pitch mechanism exhibit improved turbine performance compared to measured data and fixed zero-pitch model predictions.Near-wake characteristics are investigated by examining the vorticity distribution near the turbine.The pitch-controlled system is demonstrated to theoretically decrease turbulence generated by turbine rotations,mitigate the intensity of vortex shedding and size of detached vortices,and significantly enhance the performance of a vertical-axis hydrokinetic turbine for rated tip-speed ratios.

Wind Generator Stabilization with Doubly-Fed Asynchronous Machine

This paper investigates the function of doubly-fed asynchronous machine(DASM)with emphasis placed on its ability to the stabilization of the power system including wind generators.P(active power)and Q(reactive power)compensation from DASM can be regulated independently through secondary-excitation controlling.Simulation results by power system computer aided design(PSCAD)show that DASM can restore the wind-generator system to a normal operating condition rapidly even following severe transmission-line failures.Comparison studies have also been performed between wind turbine pitch control and proposed method.

Observer-Based Disturbance Accommodation Control Strategy for Useful Lifetime Control and Structural Load Mitigation of Wind Turbines

Wind turbines undergo degradation due to various factors which induce stress, thereby leading to fatigue damage to various wind turbine components. In addition, the current increase in demand for electrical power has led to the development of large wind turbines, which result in increased structural loads, therefore, increasing the possibility of early failure due to fatigue load. This paper proposes a proportional integral observer (PI-Observer) based disturbance accommodation controller (DAC) with individual pitch control (IPC) for load mitigation to reduce components’ damage and ensure the wind turbine is operational for the expected lifetime. The results indicate a reduction in blades’ bending moments with a standard deviation of 15.9%, which positively impacts several other wind turbine subsystems. Therefore, the lifetime control strategy demonstrates effective structural load mitigation without compromise on power generation, thus, achieving a nominal lifetime control to inhibit premature failure.

Control Scheme of Hybrid Wind-Diesel System with SMES Using NSGA-II

Robust control approach of hybrid wind-diesel power system is proposed in this paper. PID （proportional integral derivative） controller is designed in the blade pitch system of wind turbine to improve the system dynamic performance. Furthermore, to minimize the system oscillations, SMES （super-conducting magnetic energy storage） with first order lead-lag controller is implemented to supply and absorb active power quickly trying to reach power generation/demand balance and thereby control system frequency. Minimization of frequency and wind output power deviations are considered as two objective functions for the PID controller of wind turbine. Also, mitigating frequency and diesel output power deviations are presented as two objective functions of the lead-lag controller of SMES. NSGA-II （modified version of non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm） is used to tune the controllers＇ parameters to get an optimal response. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control technique are investigated under different operating conditions using Matlab environment. The simulation results confirm the ability of the controllers to damp all frequency and output powers fluctuations and enhance the stability and reliability of the hybrid power system.

Development of swashplateless helicopter blade pitch control system using the limited angle direct-drive motor(LADDM)

It can be greatly beneficial to remove the swashplate of conventional helicopter, because the swashplate is usually complicated, aerodynamically resistive, and obstacle of more complex pitch control for improving performance. The present technologies for helicopter vibration reduction are usually narrow in effective range or requiring additional actuators and signal transfer links, and more effective technology is desired. Helicopter blade pitch control system, which is removed of swashplate and integrated high-frequency pitch control function for active vibration reduction, is likely the suitable solution at current technical level. Several potential implementation schemes are discussed, such as blades being directly or indirectly driven by actuators mounted in rotating frame and application of different types of actuators, especially implementation schemes of electro-mechanical actuator with or without gear reducer. It is found that swashplateless blade pitch control system based on specially designed limited angle direct-drive motor （LADDM） is a more practical implementation scheme. An experimental prototype of the finally selected implementation scheme has been designed, fabricated and tested on rotor tower. The test results show considerable feasibility of the swashplateless helicopter blade pitch control system using the LADDM.

Flight Controller Design of Transport Airdrop

During airdrop of heavy load, the flight parameters vary continuously as the load moves in the hold, and change suddenly when the load drops out. This process deteriorates the flight quality and control characteristic as the load becomes heavier. Based on the simplified airdrop flight equations, the backstepping and switch control methods are developed to tackle the flight state holding and disturbance/uncertainty （such as large-scale flight condition, pilot manipulation error, system measure delay, etc.） attenuation problem in this paper. Moreover, these methods can be used as a reference for pilot manipulating during airdrop. With the backstepping theory, an adaptive controller is synthesized moves in the hold, and then a coordinated switch control method is for the purpose of stabilizing the transport when the load used to control the aircraft when the condition jumps from the existence of load at the rear of fuselage to no load in the fuselage. Simulation results show that the proposed controllers not only provide effective state holding during airdrop, but also achieve robust performance within wide flight conditions.

Numerical investigation on jet interaction with a compression ramp

A numerical investigation on jet interaction in supersonic laminar flow with a compres- sion ramp is performed utilizing the AUSMDV scheme and a parallel solver. Several parameters dominating the interference flowfield are studied after defining the relative increment of normal force and the jet amplification factor as the evaluation criterion of jet control performance. The computational results show that most features of the interaction flowfield between the transverse jet and the ramp are similar to those between a jet and a flat plate, except that the flow structures are more complicated and the low-pressure region behind the jet is less extensive. The relative force increment and the jet amplification factor both increase with the distance between the jet and the ramp shortening till quintuple jet diameters. Inconspicuous difference is observed between the jet-before-ramp and jet-on-ramp cases. The variation of the injection angle changes the extent of the separation region, the plateau pressure, and the peak pressure near the jet. In the present computational conditions, 120 is indicated relatively optimal among all the injection angles studied. For cold gas simulations, although little influence of the jet temperature on the pressure distribution near the jet is observed under the computation model and the flow parameters studied, reducing jet temperature somehow benefits the improvement of the normal force and the jet efficiency. When the pressure ratio of jet to freestream is fixed, the relative force increment varies little when increasing the freestream Mach number, while the jet amplification factor increases.