Fuzzy Control Strategy for Wind Turbine Vibration Suppression under Complicated Operating Conditions

Abstract

Complicated terrains, specific regions, and high wind turbulence intensity frequently trigger shutdown protection of wind turbines due to vibration beyond the designated limit, resulting in serious loss of power generation. This paper aims at reducing the frequency of shutdowns and improving operational stability of wind turbines. Operational characteristics of wind turbines under complicated conditions such as specific regions and strong turbulent wind were analyzed. A fuzzy control approach was proposed based on pertinent theory, to deal with complicated operating conditions at specific sites. This strategy incorporates a vibration recognition algorithm to classify vibration conditions and a fuzzy control algorithm for vibration suppression based on the categorized conditions. Compared with the conventional shutdown or sector-based control methods, the proposed fuzzy control strategy of vibration suppression eliminates the frequent starting and stopping of wind turbines, thus ensuring power generation and improving operational stability. Furthermore, a simulation analysis was performed using Bladed software, taking 3.x MW wind turbines as the research object. Subsequent experimental verification was carried out at a wind farm. In the experiment, the application of the fuzzy vibration suppression control method effectively led to the quick ride-through of the wind turbine amid the complicated operating conditions including the specific region and strong turbulent wind. A 23.87% reduction in the maximum RMS of the front and rear accelerations of the nacelle demonstrated a substantial enhancement in the wind turbine reliability.

Keywords

• wind turbines
• vibration suppression
• fuzzy control
• complicated conditions