Design and implementation details of a low cost sensorless emulator for variable speed wind turbines

• Published in: Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks Vol. 26; p. 100431
• Main Authors: Benzaouia, Soufyane, Mokhtari, Mohammed, Zouggar, Smail, Rabhi, Abdelhamid, Elhafyani, Mohamed Larbi, Ouchbel, Taoufik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2021; Elsevier
• Subjects: DC motor; Engineering Sciences; Fuzzy logic control; Power coefficient; Second-order sliding-mode speed observer; Wind turbine emulator; Fuzzy logic control; Wind turbine emulator; DC motor; Power coefficient; Second-order sliding-mode speed observer
• ISSN: 2352-4677; 2352-4677
• DOI: 10.1016/j.segan.2021.100431

In this paper, a low cost wind turbine emulator (WTE) is designed and implemented. The aim is accurately simulating the nonlinear behaviors and characteristics of a real wind turbine. It is well known that each wind turbine has its own power coefficient characteristic. This work contains an analysis of the WTE by considering the main power coefficient models known in literature. Speed sensor is one of the most important component used to provide the shaft speed information. This latter will increase greatly the system cost and volume of the control scheme. In our work, we propose cheapest solution by using a second-order sliding-mode speed observer based on super-twisting algorithm. Note that the accurate speed estimation is essential to maintain good simulation of wind turbine characteristics. The WTE closed loop operation is ensured by the fuzzy logic technique. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed sensorless WTE solution.