DAC with LQR control design for pitch regulated variable speed wind turbine

Disturbance Accommodation Control (DAC) is used to model and simulate a system with known disturbance waveform. This paper presents a control scheme to mitigate the effect of disturbances by using collective pitch control for the above-rated wind speed (Region III) for a variable speed wind turbine. We have used Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) to obtain full state feedback gain, disturbance feedback gain is calculated independently and then estimator gain is achieved by pole-placement technique in the DAC augmented plant model. The reduced order model (two-mass model) of wind turbine is used and 5MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) wind turbine is used in this research. We have shown comparison of results relating to pitch angle, drive train torsion and generator speed obtained by a PID controller and DAC. Simulations are performed in MATLAB/Simulink. The results are compared with PID controller for a step wind and also for turbulent wind disturbance. DAC method shows better regulation in output power and less fatigue of drive train in the presence of pitch actuator limits. Proposed controller tested on wind turbine shows better robustness and stability as compared to PID. The paper describes practical experiences to develop a new DC power plant controller user interface based on human-centered design ideas.