Industrial drive based wind simulator for small wind turbine optimisation

As part of the research effort to optimise a small grid-connected wind turbine, a wind simulator was built. The simulator enables the researcher to simulate any given wind speed as well as a predefined or recorded wind profile. The control variable for the simulation is torque, since the blades in a real situation produce a certain torque on the generator shaft. This generated torque depends on a power curve known as c_p - λ curve. Apart from the simulated torque an inertia compensation was needed, due to difference in inertia between the real blade situation and the used simulation motor. The simulator was built using nothing but standard industrial components such as an induction motor, industrial drive and NI Labview software.