Governor design for hydropower plants by intelligent sliding mode variable structure control

This work proposes a neural-fuzzy sliding mode control scheme for a hydro-turbine speed governor system. Considering the assumption of elastic water hammer, a nonlinear mode of the hydro-turbine governor system is established. By linearizing this mode, a sliding mode controller is designed. The linearized mode is subject to uncertainties. The uncertainties are generated in the process of linearization. A radial basis function (RBF) neural network is introduced to compensate for the uncertainties. The update formulas for the neural networks are derived from the Lyapunov direct method. For the chattering phenomenon of the sliding mode control, a fuzzy logic inference system is adopted. In the sense of Lyapunov, the asymptotical stability of the system can be guaranteed. Compared with the internal mode control and the conventional PID control method, some numerical simulations verify the feasibility and robustness of the proposed scheme.