Control of marine current energy conversion system

This thesis involves the development of a system for control of a marine current energy conversion system. The control system is developed on the principles of load control, i.e. it aims to control the rotational speed of the turbine by controlling the power extracted from the generator. The system operates by feedback of the generator DC-voltage and current as well as the speed of the water current passing through the turbine. An IGBT-transistor controlled by an AVR-microcontroller executes control of the generator and hence the turbine. A digitally implemented PID-controller serves as the fundamental automatic control regime. The control system can be operated from a PC-application connected to the microcontroller through a serial wire connection. From the graphical user interface ofthe PC-application the system operator can set the system control parameters and monitor the state of the generator and turbine. The control system can be set to keep the turbine operating at a desired tip speed ratio, rotational speed or generator voltage. Further, for purposes of indoor testing of the control system a separate system, a motor control system, was developed as a part of this thesis work. The purpose of the motor control system is to enable simulating the behavior of a turbine with a motor driving the generator instead of an actual turbine. The motor control system operates by control of an ACS800 variable frequency drive that is connected to the motor. The motor control system allows its operator to feed in data describing the variations in water speed over time as well as data describing how the simulated turbine's power coefficient depends on its tip speed ratio. From this data the motor control system continuously calculates the torque that should be put on the generator axis by the motor. Results from test runs of the system show that the performance of the system is good. The system responds quickly to changes in the control parameters. Also the system manages to keep the specified control parameter quite well even during rapid changes in the water speed