Control strategy for variable-speed wind turbine in below rated wind speed

Generating electrical power from renewable sources has increased substantially over the past decades and one of the most capable is wind power. From this energy source, the electrical power is directly generated using wind turbines. The type of the wind turbine used for this project is a variable-speed horizontal-axis wind turbine. Comparing variable speed wind turbines with constant speed wind turbines, variable speed machines have several advantages over constant speed machines, which outweigh the substantial cost of the power electronics necessary to obtain variable speed operations.;The major advantage in below rated wind speed is additional energy capture and in above rated wind speed the frequent mentioned advantage is additional power-train compliance and associated load alleviation.;In variable speed wind turbines, the operational strategy is regularly selected to maximise the energy capture. For this purpose, the operating state of the wind turbine is caused to track the Cpmax curve, which is the maximum aerodynamic efficiency curve. The accuracy of this tracking depends on the controller designed for the wind turbine and the control strategy used. The purpose of this project is to investigate a control strategy for a variable-speed wind turbine in below rated wind speed to improve the power capture. To achieve the objective of this thesis, a controller to track the Cpmax curve is designed in this project.;The controller is validated using a Simulink model developed to the wind turbine. The Simulink model tested for different wind speeds from 4 m/s to 12 m/s with different turbulences from 5% to 20%.Generating electrical power from renewable sources has increased substantially over the past decades and one of the most capable is wind power. From this energy source, the electrical power is directly generated using wind turbines. The type of the wind turbine used for this project is a variable-speed horizontal-axis wind turbine. Comparing variable speed wind turbines with constant speed wind turbines, variable speed machines have several advantages over constant speed machines, which outweigh the substantial cost of the power electronics necessary to obtain variable speed operations.;The major advantage in below rated wind speed is additional energy capture and in above rated wind speed the frequent mentioned advantage is additional power-train compliance and associated load alleviation.;In variable speed wind turbines, the operational strategy is regularly selected to maximise the energy capture. For this purpose, the operating state of the wind turbine is caused to track the Cpmax curve, which is the maximum aerodynamic efficiency curve. The accuracy of this tracking depends on the controller designed for the wind turbine and the control strategy used. The purpose of this project is to investigate a control strategy for a variable-speed wind turbine in below rated wind speed to improve the power capture. To achieve the objective of this thesis, a controller to track the Cpmax curve is designed in this project.;The controller is validated using a Simulink model developed to the wind turbine. The Simulink model tested for different wind speeds from 4 m/s to 12 m/s with different turbulences from 5% to 20%