Comparative Analysis of Decoupling Control Methodologies and H ∞ Multivariable Robust Control for Variable-Speed, Variable-Pitch Wind Turbines: Application to a Lab-Scale Wind Turbine

Sergio Fragoso, Juan Garrido, Francisco Vázquez and Fernando Morilla
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Sergio Fragoso: Department of Computer Science and Numerical Analysis, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Juan Garrido: Department of Computer Science and Numerical Analysis, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Francisco Vázquez: Department of Computer Science and Numerical Analysis, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Fernando Morilla: Department of Computer Science and Automatic Control, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Juan del Rosal 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: This work is focused on the improvement of variable-speed variable-pitch wind turbine performance by means of its control structure. This kind of systems can be considered as multivariable nonlinear processes subjected to undesired interactions between variables and presenting different dynamics at different operational zones. This interaction level and the dynamics uncertainties complicate the control system design. The aim of this work is developing multivariable controllers that cope with such problems. The study shows the applicability of different decoupling methodologies and provides a comparison with a H ∞ controller, which is an appropriate strategy to cope with uncertainties. The methodologies have been tested in simulation and verified experimentally in a lab-scale wind turbine. It is demonstrated that the wind turbine presents more interaction at the transition zone. Then, this operational point is used as the nominal one for the controller designs. At this point, decoupling controllers obtain perfect decoupling while the H ∞ control presents important interaction in the generated power loop. On the other hand, they are slightly surpassed by the robust design at other points, where perfect decoupling is not achieved. However, decoupling controllers are easier to design and implement, and specifically dynamic simplified decoupling achieve the best global response. Then, it is concluded that the proposed methodologies can be considered for implantation in industrial wind turbines to improve their performance.

Keywords: decoupling networks; multivariable control; robust control; lab-scale VS-VP wind turbine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:5:p:713-:d:97178

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