Control of a wind turbine using real-time blade model
A wind turbine control system comprising a controller of a control mechanism of a wind turbine, wherein the controller implements a computerized real-time blade model to calculate operational parameters of the controller, and wherein the computerized real-time blade model receives as inputs a determined wind turbine operating point and a rotor-plane wind speed value that is estimated in real-time. In another aspect, the embodiments of the invention provide a method of controlling a control mechanism of a wind turbine. Advantageously, the invention provides a more flexible and responsive control system that is able to adapt to changing wind conditions even if those wind conditions are beyond what is usually predicted.
1. A wind turbine control system comprising:
a controller of a control mechanism of a wind turbine, wherein the controller implements a computerized real-time blade model configured to:
estimate a generated power value of the wind turbine;
estimate a rotor-plane wind speed value in real-time based on a difference between an actual generated power value of the wind turbine and the estimated generated power value of the wind turbine; and
calculate operational parameters of the wind turbine based on the estimated rotor-plane wind speed;
wherein the computerized real-time blade model receives as input a sensed wind turbine operating point, and wherein the controller is configured to adjust a pitch of the wind turbine based on the calculated operational parameters.
2. The wind turbine control system of any of claims 1 , including one or more control modules, each of which outputs a control signal for controlling the control mechanism.
3. The wind turbine control system of claim 2 , wherein the operational parameters calculated by the computerized real-time blade model are used to calculate one or more gain parameters associated with the one or more control modules.
4. The wind turbine control system of claim 3 , wherein each gain parameter is a control term of a control law implemented in the respective control module.
5. The wind turbine control system of claim 3 , wherein each gain parameter is calculated based on aerodynamic sensitivity values determined by the real-time computerized blade model.
6. The wind turbine control system of claim 5 , wherein an aerodynamic sensitivity value of the aerodynamic sensitivity values is one of the group of:
a pitch to thrust sensitivity which provides an indication of the sensitivity of thrust force along a rotor axis generated by the blades in dependence on a change in blade pitch angle;
a pitch to torque sensitivity which provides an indication of the sensitivity of rotor torque in dependence on a change in blade pitch angle;
a pitch to flap load sensitivity which provides an indication of the sensitivity of a blade flap loading in response to a change in the pitch angle; and
a pitch to chord-wise bending moment sensitivity which provides an indication of the sensitivity of the chord-wise bending moment in response to a change in the pitch angle.
7. The wind turbine control system of claim 1 , wherein the computerized blade model is a blade element momentum model.
8. The wind turbine control system of claim 1 , wherein the control mechanism is a pitch control mechanism.
9. The wind turbine control system of claim 1 , wherein the estimated rotor-plane wind speed is the wind speed of the planar swept area of the rotating blades.
10. A method of controlling a control mechanism of a wind turbine, the method comprising:
estimating a generated power value of the wind turbine;
estimating a rotor-plane wind speed value in real-time based on a difference between an actual generated power value of the wind turbine and the estimated generated power value of the wind turbine;
calculating, using a computerized real-time blade model, operational parameters of the wind turbine based on the estimated rotor-plane wind speed, wherein the computerized real-time blade model receives as input a sensed wind turbine operating point; and
adjusting a pitch of the wind turbine based on the calculated operational parameters.
11. The method of claim 10 , including one or more control modules, each of which outputs a control signal for controlling the control mechanism.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the operational parameters calculated by the computerized real-time blade model are used to calculate one or more gain parameters associated with the one or more control modules.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein each gain parameter is a control term of a control law implemented in a respective one of the one or more control modules.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computerized blade model is a blade element momentum model.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the control mechanism is a pitch control mechanism.
16. A computer program product downloadable from a communication network and/or stored on a non-transitory machine readable medium, comprising program code instructions for implementing an operation for controlling a control mechanism of a wind turbine, the operation comprising:
estimating a generated power value of the wind turbine;
estimating a rotor-plane wind speed value in real-time based on a difference between an actual generated power value of the wind turbine and the estimated generated power value of the wind turbine;
calculating, using a computerized real-time blade model, operational parameters of the wind turbine based on the estimated rotor-plane wind speed, wherein the computerized real-time blade model receives as input a sensed wind turbine operating point; and
adjusting a pitch of the wind turbine based on the calculated operational parameters.