Re451 - Week10 - Lecture 18

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certain materials for which
the author does not possess
copyright.
Therefore, the contents of

this lecture and any shared
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intended for the students of
this course.
Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 1
WIND TURBINE:
“Control” & “Safety”
Dr. Hassen M. Ouakad
Renewable Energy
Engineering Department
RE 451, Wind Energy

Typical Components
of a Wind Turbine
Section view of typical components of
a wind turbine that are involved in its
monitoring and control.
Pitch Control
Yaw
Control

OUTLINE
 Wind Turbine/Farm Controller

 Optimum TSR
 Main controller of WT
 WT Control Strategies:
 Fixed Speed Designs
 Variable Speed Designs
 Axial Induction Control
 Lift Control
Operational States
Safety concepts
OUTLINE

 Optimum TSR
 Main controller of WT
 WT Control Strategies:
 Lift Control
Safety concepts
Wind Turbine Control
 The control system on a wind turbine is designed to:

1.Seek the highest efficiency of operation that
maximizes the coefficient of power, Cp,
2.Ensure safe operation under all wind conditions.
 Wind turbine control systems are typically divided

into three functional elements:
1. the control of groups of wind turbines in a wind farm,
2. the supervising control of each individual wind turbine,
3. separate dedicated dynamic controllers for different wind
turbine sub-systems.

Wind Farm
Control System Architecture
The wind farm controller's function is
“power management“: It can initiate and
shut down turbine operation as well as
coordinate the operation of numerous
wind turbines in response to
environmental and operating conditions.
Dynamic control" is on low level

(e.g. torque, pitch, power...etc).
The wind turbine supervisory controller

manages the individual turbine operation:
 Including power production, low-wind
shutdown, high-wind shutdown, high load
limits, and orderly start-up and shut-down
 Also provides control input to the dynamic High level for turbine
operating status
controllers for r.p.m. control to maintain an
optimum tip-speed-ratio, and blade pitch Schematic of the wind turbine functional
control.
Dr. Hassen OUAKAD control elements. RE 451/ 7
Control of Wind Turbines
There are two different ways of controlling the

wind turbines:
 Passive control: by mechanical elements.
For example: Tail-rotor
Vane
 Active control: by sensor-actuator systems,

usually using digital controllers.
Active control by
sensor-actuator systems
LIDAR (Light
Detection and
Ranging)
Actuators: Sensors:
• Generator • A generator speed, rotor speed, wind speed,
• Motors: pitch, yaw yaw rate, …
• Linear motors, magnets, switches • Temperature of gearbox oil, generator winding,
• Hydraulic powers and pistons ambient air, …
• Blade pitch, blade azimuth, yaw angle, wind
(high power & speed)
direction, …
• Resistance heaters & fans for
• Grid power, current, voltage, frequency, ..
temperature control
• Tower top acceleration, gearbox vibration, shaft
• Brakes (rotor, yaw) torque, blade root bending moment,…
• Environment (icing, humidity, lightning)
OUTLINE

 Optimum TSR
 Main WT Control Strategies:
 Lift Control
Safety concepts


PWind  A 2v3 ;  PWT  cP    Pwind ;
2
TSR TSR    
R  R  N rpm
vtip

v v 30 v
 Generally, there exists an

optimum tip-speed-ratio, that
maximizes Cp: This λ depends
on the individual wind turbine   cst
design (6 <= λ <= 8)

Variable Speed

Rotor speed PWind  A 2v3 ;
2
depending on
wind speed  PWT  cP    Pwind
R  R  N rpm
vtip
TSR     
v v v 30 v
PWT
N
Example:
600kW two-bladed horizontal wind turbine. Schematic of a wind turbine closed-loop
control system.
The sensitivity of Cp to λ
motivates closed-loop control
focusing on the rotation
frequency:
vtipR  R  N rpm
TSR      Example of the relation between the
v v 30 v rotor tip-speed ratio and rotor pitch
angle on the coefficient of power for a
600kW two-bladed horizontal wind
Dr. Hassen OUAKAD turbine. RE 451/ 13
Aerodynamic
Torque Control
 One of the approaches to control is through
control of the rotor aerodynamic torque.
 This ultimately comes by controlling the rotor L/D.
 For L/D control, there are two approaches:
1. Stall-regulated rotor designs
2. Pitch-regulated rotor designs

Differences?
 Stall-regulated rotors are designed with section shapes and

mean angles of attack to cause the rotor to stall at higher wind
speeds, beginning at rated power wind speeds. (More detail on this later)
Stall regulated machines require speed
regulation and a suitable torque speed
R r characteristic intrinsic in the aerodynamic
design of the rotor. As wind speed increases
and the rotor speed is held constant, flow
angles over the blade sections steepen.
@r
Dr. Hassen OUAKAD r/R RE 451/ 15

Differences?
 Pitch-regulated rotors reduce the
aerodynamic torque by reducing the
pitch and thereby the local angle of
attack of the rotor sections:
 The lower angles of attack reduce
the section lift coefficients and
thereby the aerodynamic torque
on the rotor.
 The pitch control initiates when
the wind velocity is sufficient to
generate the turbine rated power
level.
 It continues to reduce the pitch
to seek to maintain an optimum λ
while also maintaining a constant
rated power up to the cut-out
wind speed.
Electrical Torque
Control
 Another approach to control λ is through electrical
torque control (speed Control): Synchronous
generators (SGs) are most commonly used in large
wind turbines: they are used as generators especially for
large power systems, such as turbine generators and
hydroelectric generators in the grid power supply.

Electrical Torque
Control
 The reactive power generated by a Synchronous Generator
can be adjusted by controlling the magnitude of the rotor field
current
 Unloaded synchronous generators are also often installed
in power systems solely for power factor correction, or for
control of reactive kV-A flow.
 For a general case of a synchronous machine with P poles, the
relationship between the electrical and mechanical angular
velocities, ω and ωm is:
In terms of physical frequency,
f(Hz) and n (r.p.m),

Schematic drawing of a 4-pole
Electrical Torque synchronous machine along with the
sinusoidal waveform of the induced
Control electromotive force (emf) which has units

of volts, that is produced by the rotation
of the rotor.
 Most wind turbine generators have

4 poles: then To produce the 50 Hz.
frequency that is the Tunisian power
standard, the rotor would need to spin
at 1500 r.p.m!
 For a fixed r.p.m. wind turbine, a gear
box would be designed so that at the
optimum tip-speed ratio, the generator
rotor would spin at the r.p.m. that
would produce the grid frequency in
Hz: This approach is quite preventive
 An alternate approach is converting the
AC power to DC power, after which it is
converted back to AC power with the
Tunisian standard 50 Hz frequency.
Wind Turbine
Operation Strategy
 “Four” strategic objectives to wind turbine
operation:
1. To maximize energy production while keeping operation
within speed and load constraints,
2. to prevent extreme loads and to minimize fatigue damage
that can occur as a result of repeated bending caused by
weight on the rotors and unsteady aerodynamics loads,
3. to provide acceptable power quality at the point of
connection to the power grid,
4. to provide safe operation.

Wind Turbine
Operation Strategy
The control approach depends on the wind

turbine design:
1. For (Ucut-in < U¶ < Urated)  the object is to
maximize power production.
2. For (Urated < U¶ < Ucut-out)  the object is to
limit power to the rated value.
Two MAIN approaches to accomplish this:
1. Fixed Speed Designs
2. Variable Speed Designs
OUTLINE

 Optimum TSR
 Lift Control
Safety concepts

Fixed Speed Designs
 Fixed speed designs fall under two categories:
1. Passive Stall Regulated

2. Active Pitch Regulated

Stall Regulated
Fixed-Speed Control
 With “Stall Regulated” Fixed-Speed Control, the
rotor blades are at a fixed pitch angle and are
designed to stall at Urated to passively regulate the
generated power.
 They are designed to operate near the optimum tip-speed
ratio below Urated.
 As the wind speed increases, the effective angle of attack
of the rotor sections, , increases, e.g.:
( ) ( )
( )
Stall Regulated
Fixed-Speed Control

Active Pitch Regulated
Fixed-Speed Control
 With “Active Pitch Regulated” Fixed-Speed
Control, the blade pitch is changed to provide
power smoothing in high wind conditions:

Power Regulation by
Pitching the Blades
 In nowadays utility-size wind turbines blades can also be turned
around the blade axis, changing  for all r/R.
 This is called pitching. By pitching the blades (normally same
pitching for each blade) one can change CP
For higher wind speed pitching is used for power regulation
Angle  of chord line relative to rotor plane (also called twist

angle) depends on r/R, chosen such that maximum CP is reached

Power Regulation by
Pitching the Blades
rotor plane
pitching

3D Plot
a 3D-Plot

Power of Rotor With
Fixed Speed
Power of rotor at fixed speed = rated speed

Stall Regulation: Process
Stall regulation: Pitch angle at a suitble constant value =>

power roughly constant
Stall Regulation: Model
Power system of stall-regulated wind turbine:

Induction generator directly coupled to grid

Pitch Regulation: Process
Pitch regulation: Active regulation of power to rated power

by changing blade angle
Summary
 Both pitch and

stall regulations
are activated
when wind
speed is HIGH
 Although the stall regulation requires less moving parts and

capital cost, the pitch regulation is more flexible and results in
higher power quality and efficiency and lower stress on the
mechanical parts.
Therefore, it is more widely applied in the commercial WTs

OUTLINE

 Optimum TSR
 s

Variable Speed Designs
 Variable speed designs utilize electrical

torque control to seek to optimize λoptimum.
 This is applied to both stall regulated and

active pitch regulated approaches.
Active-Pitch
Control
Active-Pitch
Control
Control of
Variable-Speed Turbines
For speed control, main actuators are:
 Blade pitch
 Generator torque (controlled slowly to avoid drive-
train oscillations)
Rotation
Dr. Hassen speed as function of wind speed
OUAKAD RE 451/ 37
Stall Regulated
Variable-Speed Control
 With “Stall Regulated” Variable-Speed Control
______
------
Power curve for a STALL REGULATED

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD wind turbine with variable speed design. RE 451/ 38
Active Pitch Regulated
 With “Active Pitch Regulated” Variable-Speed
Control:

Pitch Regulated
Example torque-speed diagram for a 5 MW variable speed pitch-regulated

wind turbine model (Hart, 2018). Pitch control becomes active at the point
where the operating strategy reaches the rated power curve.
Control of
With the problem that wind speed on rotor discs can not be
perfectly known, what is the maximum power production and
power coefficient ?
(*)
(*)

Variable-Speed
Adaptive Torque Control
Optimal torque control based on effective tracking

range for maximum power point tracking of wind
turbines under varying wind conditions
Variable-Speed
Adaptive Torque Control
APPENDIX C for
further details

Summary
Maximum CP operation below rated wind speed by

changing generator torque (torque control)
• Essential for variable speed operation is torque control

• From rotor aerodynamics the relation between torque
(Q) and rotation speed () can be obtained such that
rotor operates at maximum CP without measuring wind
speed 
• Q proportional to  ² Q 𝐶 𝜋 𝑅  /
• Q() given in form of a table used in the generator-side

converter

Summary
Q
aero

gene

Example
Example of control trajectory to seek the optimum tip-speed ratio for
the wind turbine performance shown in the 3D plot assuming β= -1º

Essential
Control Concepts
/
P
Essential control concepts
𝑣 𝑣 : Variable speed and maximum 𝐶 tracking by torque control
𝑣 𝑣 : Controlling the speed to rated speed by pitching the blades

Implementation
Variable speed and torque control can be achieved with a converter
 induction generator (asynchronous generator) produces electrical power

when its rotor is turned faster than the synchronous speed.
 Drawback as compared to SGs: IGs generate only Active Power and
consume reactive power.

Implementation
Rated speed
Rated power

Thank You

APPENDIX A:
Torque control at
Partial Load STABILITY

Torque control at Partial Load
(in Region IIB)

APPENDIX B:
Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed

Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed
Power, Thrust as a function of wind speed

Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed

Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed

Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed

Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed

Thrust Jump at
Nominal Wind Speed

Comparisons
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2020.e00566

APPENDIX C:
Control of

Control of
With the problem that wind speed on rotor discs can not be
perfectly known, what is the maximum power production and
power coefficient ?
(*)
(*)

Control of Torque and TSR V.S. wind speed
Variable-Speed WT

Torque and TSR V.S. wind speed
Torque control at Partial
Load (in Region IIB)

(in Region IIB)

(in Region IIB)

Example
A wind farm rated at 100MW (approximately 65 1.5MW wind

turbines) and operating with a reasonable 35% capacity factor
can produce about 307GWh of energy in a given year.
 If the cost of energy is $0.04 per kWh, each GWh is

worth about $40,000
 Therefore a 1% loss of energy on this wind farm is

equivalent to a loss of $123,000 per year.
 A 4% improvement in the power would result in

approximately $500K profit for the wind farm.

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COPYRIGHT

The below slides includes

Therefore, the contents of

RE 451, Wind Energy

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 3

 Wind Turbine/Farm Controller

 Wind Turbine/Farm Controller

 The control system on a wind turbine is designed to:

 Wind turbine control systems are typically divided

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 6

Dynamic control" is on low level

The wind turbine supervisory controller

There are two different ways of controlling the

 Active control: by sensor-actuator systems,

 Wind Turbine/Farm Controller

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 10

 Generally, there exists an

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 11

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 14

 Stall-regulated rotors are designed with section shapes and

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD r/R RE 451/ 15

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 17

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 18

Control electromotive force (emf) which has units

 Most wind turbine generators have

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 20

The control approach depends on the wind

 Wind Turbine/Farm Controller

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 22

 Fixed speed designs fall under two categories:

1. Passive Stall Regulated

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 23

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 25

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 26

For higher wind speed pitching is used for power regulation

Angle  of chord line relative to rotor plane (also called twist

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 27

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 28

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 29

Power of rotor at fixed speed = rated speed

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 30

Stall regulation: Pitch angle at a suitble constant value =>

Power system of stall-regulated wind turbine:

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 32

Pitch regulation: Active regulation of power to rated power

 Both pitch and

 Although the stall regulation requires less moving parts and

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 34

 Wind Turbine/Farm Controller

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 35

 Variable speed designs utilize electrical

 This is applied to both stall regulated and

Power curve for a STALL REGULATED

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 39

Example torque-speed diagram for a 5 MW variable speed pitch-regulated

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 41

Optimal torque control based on effective tracking

Dr. Hassen OUAKAD RE 451/ 43

Maximum CP operation below rated wind speed by