Robust VAWT control system evaluation by coupled aerodynamic and electrical simulations

A control system for a vertical axis wind turbine is presented.The control strategy is to determine the electric load solely from the rotational velocity and the characteristics of the turbine, thus measurement of the incoming wind velocity is not required.The control system is evaluated with an aerodynamic vortex model coupled with an electrical model.Three different sets of control system parameters are tested, due to the trade off between high power absorption and achieving a fast system with high stability.The control systems are tested against a reference strategy where the wind speed is known.The simulations show that the three control systems provide a similar power absorption as the reference case.For dynamic cases, with fast changes in wind speed, the fast control strategies are beneficial.All control strategies are stable throughout the simulations when proper power absorption characteristics of the turbine are used. It is also shown that if peak power absorption is estimated at a too low tip speed ratio, the control strategies may inadvertently stop the turbine.