Variable structure strategy to avoid amplitude and rate saturation in pitch control of a wind turbine

This work proposes the application of a recent compensation technique for input constraints avoidance to the pitch control of a wind turbine. The pitch angle actuators commonly present a hard limit on their rate of change together with the natural amplitude saturation, and a dynamics during their unconstrained operation that can be modeled as a first-order linear system. This dynamic behavior of the pitch actuator requires a particular design of the compensation method, which is based on variable structure systems to avoid both amplitude and rate input saturation by means of an auxiliary loop. The developed methodology reduces the pitch actuator activity necessary to regulate the generated power around its nominal value when facing sudden wind gusts. Another interesting feature of the proposal is that it allows the operator to fix conservative bounds for the actuator speed operation in order to increment the structural robustness of the wind turbine and to extend in this way the service life of the energy system. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is evaluated by simulation results in an autonomous wind energy conversion system for water pumping with a brushless double feed induction generator (BDFIG).