Vibration attenuation performance of wind turbine tower using a prestressed tuned mass damper under seismic excitation

With the rapid development of large megawatt wind turbines,the operation environment of wind turbine towers(WTTs)has become increasingly complex.In particular,seismic excitation can create a resonance response and cause excessive vibration of the WTT.To investigate the vibration attenuation performance of the WTT under seismic excitations,a novel passive vibration control device,called a prestressed tuned mass damper(PS-TMD),is presented in this study.First,a mathematical model is established based on structural dynamics under seismic excitation.Then,the mathematical analytical expression of the dynamic coefficient is deduced,and the parameter design method is obtained by system tuning optimization.Next,based on a theoretical analysis and parameter design,the numerical results showed that the PS-TMD was able to effectively mitigate the resonance under the harmonic basal acceleration.Finally,the time-history analysis method is used to verify the effectiveness of the traditional pendulum tuned mass damper(PTMD)and the novel PS-TMD device,and the results indicate that the vibration attenuation performance of the PS-TMD is better than the PTMD.In addition,the PS-TMD avoids the nonlinear effect due to the large oscillation angle,and has the potential to dissipate hysteretic energy under seismic excitation.

Adaptive and Predictive Control Strategies for Wind Turbine Systems: A Survey

The wind turbine(WT) is a renewable energy conversion device for transformation of kinetic energy from the wind to mechanical energy for subsequent use in different forms.This paper focuses on wind turbine control design strategies.The content is divided into the following parts: 1) An overview of the recent advances that have been made in the application of adaptive and model predictive control strategies for wind turbines. 2) Summarizes some important aspects of modeling of wind turbines for control studies. 3) Provides an outlook on the application of adaptive model predictive control for uncertain systems to stimulate new research interests for wind turbine systems. We provide an overall picture of the research results with evaluation of the merits/demerits.

Intelligent control for large-scale variable speed variable pitch wind turbines

Large-scale wind turbine generator systems have strong nonlinear multivariable characteristics with many uncertain factors and disturbances. Automatic control is crucial for the efficiency and reliability of wind turbines. On the basis of simplified and proper model of variable speed variable pitch wind turbines, the effective wind speed is estimated using extended Kaiman filter. Intelligent control schemes proposed in the paper include two loops which operate in synchronism with each other. At below-rated wind speed, the inner loop adopts adaptive fuzzy control based on variable universe for generator torque regulation to realize maximum wind energy capture. At above-rated wind speed, a controller based on least square support vector machine is proposed to adjust pitch angle and keep rated output power. The simulation shows the effectiveness of the intelligent control.

Smart Semi-active PID-ACO control strategy for tower vibration reduction in Wind Turbines with MR damper

Wind turbine technology is well known around the globe as an eco-friendly and eff ective renewable power source. However, this technology often faces reliability problems due to structural vibration. This study proposes a smart semi-active vibration control system using Magnetorheological (MR) dampers where feedback controllers are optimized with nature-inspired algorithms. Proportional integral derivative (PID) and Proportional integral (PI) controllers are designed to achieve the optimal desired force and current input for MR the damper. PID control parameters are optimized using an Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. The eff ectiveness of the ACO algorithm is validated by comparing its performance with Ziegler-Nichols (Z-N) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The placement of the MR damper on the tower is also investigated to ensure structural balance and optimal desired force from the MR damper. The simulation results show that the proposed semi-active PID-ACO control strategy can signifi cantly reduce vibration on the wind turbine tower under diff erent frequencies (i.e., 67%, 73%, 79% and 34.4% at 2 Hz, 3 Hz, 4.6 Hz and 6 Hz, respectively) and amplitudes (i.e. 50%, 58% and 67% for 50 N, 80 N, and 100 N, respectively). In this study, the simulation model is validated with an experimental study in terms of natural frequency, mode shape and uncontrolled response at the 1st mode. The proposed PID-ACO control strategy and optimal MR damper position is also implemented on a lab-scaled wind turbine tower model. The results show that the vibration reduction rate is 66% and 73% in the experimental and simulation study, respectively, at the 1st mode.

Platform motion minimization using model predictive control of a floating offshore wind turbine

Wind turbines are installed offshore with the assistance of a floating platform to help meet the world’s increasing energy needs.However,the incident wind and extra incident wave disturbances have an impact on the performance and operation of the floating offshore wind turbine(FOWT)in comparison to bottom-fixed wind turbines.In this paper,model predictive control(MPC)is utilized to overcome the limitation caused by platform motion.Due to the ease of control synthesis,the MPC is developed using a simplified model instead of high fidelity simulation model.The performance of the controller is verified in the presence of realistic wind and wave disturbances.The study demonstrates the effectiveness of MPC in reducing platform motions and rotor/generator speed regulation of FOWTs.

Fractional-Order Control of a Wind Turbine Using Manta Ray Foraging Optimization

In this research paper,an improved strategy to enhance the performance of the DC-link voltage loop regulation in a Doubly Fed Induction Generator(DFIG)based wind energy system has been proposed.The proposed strategy used the robust Fractional-Order(FO)Proportional-Integral(PI)control technique.The FOPI control contains a non-integer order which is preferred over the integer-order control owing to its benefits.It offers extra flexibility in design and demonstrates superior outcomes such as high robustness and effectiveness.The optimal gains of the FOPI controller have been determined using a recent Manta Ray Foraging Optimization(MRFO)algorithm.During the optimization process,the FOPI controller’s parameters are assigned to be the decision variables whereas the objective function is the error racking that to be minimized.To prove the superiority of the MRFO algorithm,an empirical comparison study with the homologous particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm is achieved.The obtained results proved the superiority of the introduced strategy in tracking and control performances against various conditions such as voltage dips and wind speed variation.

Asymptotic Tracking Control for Wind Turbines in Variable Speed Mode

This paper presents a variable speed control strategy for wind turbines in order to capture maximum wind power.Wind turbines are modeled as a two-mass drive-train system with generator torque control.Based on the obtained wind turbine model,variable speed control schemes are developed.Nonlinear tracking controllers are designed to achieve asymptotic tracking for a prescribed rotor speed reference signal so as to yield maximum wind power capture.Due to the difficulty of torsional angle measurement,an observer-based control scheme that uses only rotor speed information is further developed for global asymptotic output tracking.The effectiveness of the proposed control methods is illustrated by simulation results.

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.

Vibration Performance, Stability and Energy Transfer of Wind Turbine Tower via Pd Controller

In this paper,we studied the vibration performance,energy transfer and stability of the offshore wind turbine tower system under mixed excitations.The method of multiple scales is utilized to calculate the approximate solutions of wind turbine system.The proportional-derivative controller was applied for reducing the oscillations of the controlled system.Adding the controller to single degree of freedom system equation is responsible for energy transfers in offshore wind turbine tower system.The steady state solution of stability at worst resonance cases is studied and examined.The offshore wind turbine system behavior was studied numerically at its different parameters values.Furthermore,the response and numerical results were obtained and discussed.The stability is also analyzed using technique of phase plane and equations of frequency response.In addition,the numerical results and comparison between analytical and numerical solutions were obtained with MAPLE and MATLAB algorithms.

Dynamic Circulation Control for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine using Virtual Solidity Matching

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) with fixed pitch blades have a limited power capture performance envelope as the Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) changes. Circulation Control (CC) has been proposed and simulated to possibly increase power capture of a VAWT using constant CC jet momentum, but a practical method of minimizing CC usage has yet to be explored. In addition, VAWTs are typically limited in power capture performance either by a maximum peak at a small set of TSR or wide operating TSR at fractions of the peak performance based on the design solidity. Both the reduced jet usage and solidity limitation were addressed by developing a method of dynamically using CC to perform a virtual solidity change. The developed method described within this work used CC to change blade aerodynamics to specifically match a maximum performing static solidity or wake shape at a given TSR. Simulation results using an existing aerodynamics model indicated a significant reduction in the re-quired CC jet momentum compared to a constant CC system along with control over power capture for a CC-VAWT.

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.

Evaluating effectiveness of multiple tuned mass dampers for vibration control of jacket offshore wind turbines under onshore and seafloor earthquakes

The dynamic characteristics and structural responses of operation and grid loss offshore wind turbines(OWTs)under onshore and seafloor earthquakes are analyzed based on the established coupled seismic analysis model.In addition to the remarkable influence of the rotor system on the responses of the operation OWT under earthquakes,interactions among the natural modes of the grid loss OWT in the fore-aft and side-to-side directions are revealed.By comparing with the onshore earthquakes,the more significant differences of structural response are observed under the selected seafloor earthquakes,due to the longer duration and more abundant energy distribution around the natural frequencies of OWT.Concurrently,a multiple tuned mass damper(MTMD)is designed and applied to the operation and grid loss OWTs.Then,the comparisons of the mitigation effects under onshore and seafloor ground motions are carried out,and the necessity of applying seafloor ground motions to OWTs are proved.Moreover,in comparison to the operation OWT,more effective reductions are observed for the grid loss OWT under onshore and seafloor earthquakes using the designed MTMD.Therefore,the combined shutdown procedures and MTMD vibration control strategy is suggested for OWTs under earthquakes.

Self-Tuning Control Techniques for Wind Turbine and Hydroelectric Plant Systems

The interest on the use of renewable energy resources is increasing, especially towards wind and hydro powers, which should be efficiently converted into electric energy via suitable technology tools. To this aim, self-tuning control techniques represent viable strategies that can be employed for this purpose, due to the features of these nonlinear dynamic processes working over a wide range of operating conditions, driven by stochastic inputs, excitations and disturbances. Some of the considered methods were already verified on wind turbine systems, and important advantages may thus derive from the appropriate implementation of the same control schemes for hydroelectric plants. This represents the key point of the work, which provides some guidelines on the design and the application of these control strategies to these energy conversion systems. In fact, it seems that investigations related with both wind and hydraulic energies present a reduced number of common aspects, thus leading to little exchange and share of possible common points. This consideration is particularly valid with reference to the more established wind area when compared to hydroelectric systems. In this way, this work recalls the models of wind turbine and hydroelectric system, and investigates the application of different control solutions. Another important point of this investigation regards the analysis of the exploited benchmark models, their control objectives, and the development of the control solutions. The working conditions of these energy conversion systems will also be taken into account in order to highlight the reliability and robustness characteristics of the developed control strategies, especially interesting for remote and relatively inaccessible location of many installations.

Model Predictive Yaw Control Using Fuzzy-Deduced Weighting Factor for Large-Scale Wind Turbines

Yaw control system plays an important role in helping large-scale horizontal wind turbines capture the wind energy.To track the stochastic and fast-changing wind direction,the nacelle is rotated by the yaw control system.Therein,a difficulty consists in the variation speed of the wind direction much faster than the rotation speed of the nacelle.To deal with this difficulty,model predictive control has been recently proposed in the literature,in which the previewed wind direction is employed into the predictive model,and the estimated captured energy and yaw actuator usage are two contradictive objectives.Since the performance of the model predictive control strat-egy relies largely on the weighting factor that is designed to balance the two objectives,the weighting factor should be carefully selected.In this study,a fuzzy-deduced scheme is proposed to derive the weighting factor of the mod-el predictive yaw control.For the proposed fuzzy-deduced strategy,the variation degree and the increment of the wind direction during the predictive horizon are used as the inputs,and the weighting factor is the output,which is dynamically adjusted.The proposed model predictive yaw control is demonstrated by some simulations using real wind data and its performance is compared with the conventional model predictive control with thefixed weighting factor.Comparison results confirm the outweighing performance of the proposed control strategy over the conventional one.

PID-Type Fuzzy Controller for Grid-Supporting Inverter of Battery in Embedded Small Variable Speed Wind Turbine

Frequency and voltage of embedded variable speed wind turbine (VSWT) driving a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) is strongly affected by wind speed fluctuations. In practice, power imbalance between supply and demand is also common, especially when VSWT-PMSG is connected to a weak micro grid (MG). If load demand fluctuations become high, isolated MG may be unable to stabilize the frequency and voltage so that battery storage needs to be installed into the MG to adjust energy supply and demand. To allow flexible control of active and reactive power flow from/to battery storage, grid-supporting inverters are used. For a system that contains highly nonlinear components, the use of conventional linear proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers may cause system performance deterioration. Additionally, these controllers show slow, oscillating responses, and complex equations are required to obtain optimum responses in other controllers. To cope with these limitations, this paper proposes PID-type fuzzy controller (PIDfc) design to control grid-supporting inverter of battery. To ensure safe battery operating limits, we also propose a new controller scheme called intelligent battery protection (IBP). This IBP is integrated into PIDfc. Several simulation tests are performed to verify the scheme’s effectiveness. The results show that the proposed PIDfc controller exhibits improved performance and acceptable responses, and can be used instead of conventional controllers.

An Advanced Control Strategy for Dual-Actuator Driving System in Full-Scale Fatigue Test of Wind Turbine Blades

A new dual-actuator fatigue loading system of wind turbine blades was designed.Compared with the traditional pendulum loading mode,the masses in this system only moved linearly along the loading direction to increase the exciting force.However,the two actuators and the blade constituted a complicated non-linear energy transferring system,which led to the non-synchronization of actuators.On-site test results showed that the virtual spindle synchronous strategy commonly used in synchronous control was undesirable and caused the instability of the blade’s amplitude eventually.A cross-coupled control strategy based on the active disturbance rejection algorithm was proposed.Firstly,a control system model was built according to the synchronization error and tracking error.Furthermore,based on arranging the transition process,estimating the system state and error feedback,and compensating disturbance,an active disturbance rejection controller was designed by adopting the optimal control function.Finally,on-site test results showed that the cross-coupled control strategy based on the active disturbance rejection algorithm could ensure the synchronization of two actuators.The maximum speed synchronization error of the two motors was less than 16 RPM,the displacement synchronization error of the two actuators was less than 0.25 mm and approaching zero after 4 seconds,and the peak value of vibration of the blade was less than 5 mm,which satisfied the fatigue test requirement.

Coordinated Rotor-Side Control Strategy for Doubly-FedWind Turbine under Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Grid Faults

In order to solve the problems of rotor overvoltage,overcurrent and DC side voltage rise caused by grid voltage drops,a coordinated control strategy based on symmetrical and asymmetrical low voltage ride through of rotor side converter of the doubly-fed generator is proposed.When the power grid voltage drops symmetrically,the generator approximate equation under steady-state conditions is no longer applicable.Considering the dynamic process of stator current excitation,according to the change of stator flux and the depth of voltage drop,the system can dynamically provide reactive power support for parallel nodes and suppress the rise of DC side voltage and rotor over-current.When the grid voltage drops asymmetrically,the positive and negative sequence components are separated in the rotating coordinate system.The doubly fed generator model is established to suppress the rotor positive sequence current and negative sequence current respectively.At the same time,the output voltage limit of the converter is discussed,and the reference value is adjusted within the allowable output voltage range.In order to adapt to the occurrence of different types of power grid faults and complex operating conditions,a fast switching module of fault type detection and rotor control mode is designed to detect the type of power grid faults and voltage drop depth in real time and switch the rotor side control mode dynamically.Finally,the simulation model of the doubly fed wind turbine is constructed in Matlab/Simulink.The simulation results verify that the proposed control strategy can improve the low-voltage ride through performance of the system when dealing with the symmetrical and asymmetric voltage drop of the power grid and identify the power grid fault type and provide the correct control strategy.

Rooted Tree Optimization for Wind Turbine Optimum Control Based on Energy Storage System

The integration of wind turbines(WTs)in variable speed drive systems belongs to the main factors causing lowstability in electrical networks.Therefore,in order to avoid this issue,WTs hybridization with a storage system is a mandatory.This paper investigates WT system operating at variable speed.The system contains of a permanent magnet synchronous generator(PMSG)supported by a battery storage system(BSS).To enhance the quality of active and reactive power injected into the network,direct power control(DPC)scheme utilizing space-vector modulation(SVM)technique based on proportional-integral(PI)control is proposed.Meanwhile,to improve the rendition of this method(DPC-SVM-PI),the rooted tree optimization technique(RTO)algorithm-based controller parameter identification is used to achieve PI optimal gains.To compare the performance ofRTO-based controllers,they were implemented and tested along with some other popular controllers under different working conditions.The obtained results have shown the supremacy of the suggested PIRTO algorithm compared to competing controllers regarding total harmonic distortion(THD),overshoot percentage,settling time,rise time,average active power value,overall efficiency,and active power steadystate error.

Grid Harmonic and Control Delay Compensation for Three-phase Grid-connected VSIs in Small Wind Turbine Systems

Voltage space vector pulse-width modulation(SVPWM) has been widely applied to control current in three-phase voltage source inverters(VSI).However,as a voltage type modulator,SVPWM has certain drawbacks compared with current type modulators for grid-connected applications.For a grid-connected VSI,the performance of existing current controllers based on SVPWM is compromised by grid harmonics,control delay and system nonlinearities such as switching dead time.Moreover,unlike current type PWM,SVPWM does not inherently have over-current protection.A novel SVPWM-based current controller is proposed for three-phase grid-connected VSIs for small wind turbine appli-cations.To overcome the drawbacks of SVPWM,a grid harmonic compensation method is proposed along with compen-sation for control delays.Both simulation and experimental results have established excellent steady-state response and fast dynamic response of the current controller.In addition,the DSP-based control system has both improved real-time control performance and fast response for over-current protection.