Active and passive fault-tolerant LPV control of wind turbines

This paper addresses the design and comparison of active and passive fault-tolerant linear parameter-varying (LPV) controllers for wind turbines. The considered wind turbine plant model is characterized by parameter variations along the nominal operating trajectory and includes a model of an incipient fault in the pitch system. We propose the design of an active fault-tolerant controller (AFTC) based on an existing LPV controller design method and extend this method to apply for the design of a passive fault-tolerant controller (PFTC). Both controllers are based on output feedback and are scheduled on the varying parameter to manage the parameter-varying nature of the model. The PFTC only relies on measured system variables and an estimated wind speed, while the AFTC also relies on information from a fault diagnosis system. Consequently, the optimization problem involved in designing the PFTC is more difficult to solve, as it involves solving bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) instead of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Simulation results show the performance of the active fault-tolerant control system to be slightly superior to that of the passive fault-tolerant control system.