A novel control structure for wind turbine with synchronous generator for tower load reduction

The attenuation of mechanical load is one of the most effective approaches in wind turbine components cost reduction, and improving the control system reduces mechanical loads with minimum effort. In modern wind turbines, electrically-excited synchronous generators are mostly applied in direct-drive structure. In current research, generator field voltage along with the blade pitch angle is employed for tower load reduction in a novel multivariable-adaptive control structure. The controller is designed based on the extracted model with aerodynamic, vibratory and electrical interactions. The centralized multivariable structure is chosen to simultaneously reduce rotor speed fluctuations and tower vibrations. Since the nonlinear wind turbine model is complex, the controller is designed via optimization process. The nonlinear aerodynamic behavior of blades influences the closed-loop performance in different operating condition; therefore controller is adapted to the condition by employing gain-scheduling method. The effects of signal noise, digital control and higher-order dynamics of electrical system might defect the closed-loop stability. The designed controller is implemented on a wind turbine simulator which includes the before-mentioned effects. By comparing the performance of the multivariable adaptive controller with a two input-one output multivariable controller, it is proven that the mechanical loads acting on tower have been greatly decreased.