Pitch angle control of a wind turbine operating above the rated wind speed: A sliding mode control approach

L Colombo; M L Corradini; G Ippoliti; G Orlando

doi:10.1016/j.isatra.2019.07.002

Pitch angle control of a wind turbine operating above the rated wind speed: A sliding mode control approach

ISA Trans. 2020 Jan:96:95-102. doi: 10.1016/j.isatra.2019.07.002. Epub 2019 Jul 8.

Authors

L Colombo¹, M L Corradini², G Ippoliti³, G Orlando⁴

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: l.colombo@pm.univpm.it.
² Scuola di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università di Camerino, Via Madonna delle Carceri, 62032 Camerino (MC), Italy. Electronic address: letizia.corradini@unicam.it.
³ Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: gianluca.ippoliti@univpm.it.
⁴ Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: giuseppe.orlando@univpm.it.

PMID: 31320141
DOI: 10.1016/j.isatra.2019.07.002

Abstract

The paper focuses on variable-rotor-speed/variable-blade-pitch wind turbines operating in the region of high wind speeds, where control is aimed at limiting the turbine energy capture to the rated power value. A robust sliding mode approach is proposed, using the blade pitch as control input, in order to regulate the rotor speed to a fixed rated value, in the presence of uncertainties characterizing the wind turbine model. Closed loop convergence of the overall control system is proved. The proposed control solution has been validated on a 5-MW three-blade wind turbine using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) wind turbine simulator FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) code. A comparison with the standard FAST baseline controller (NWTC 2012 and Jonkman et al. 2009) has been also included.

Keywords: Pitch control; Sliding mode control; Wind turbines.