Nonlinear synergetic control of wind turbine for

maximum power point tracking

Aghiles Ardjal Maamar Bettayeb Rachid Mansouri
L2CSP Laboratory Dpt. Electrical & computer engineering L2CSP Laboratory
Mouloud Mammeri University University of Sharjah Mouloud Mammeri University
Tizi Ouzou, Algeria Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Tizi Ouzou, Algeria
aghiles [email protected] [email protected] rachid mansouri [email protected]

Abstract—This paper focuses to improve wind turbine systems Unfortunately, this type of controller suffers from a major
efficiency, in other words, to maximize the output power delivered disadvantage, that is, the phenomenon of chattering.
by the wind turbine. To do this it is necessary to have a good In order to reduce this phenomenon, a more recent tech-
controller. In this study, we use a nonlinear synergetic controller.
Synergetic control theory is applied to reach the maximum power nique(synergistic approach) is proposed in [5]. In [6], syner-
point tracking (MPPT) of a variable speed energy conversion getic control is proposed as a nonlinear control technique to
system. A comparison with the robust sliding mode control track photovoltaic systems and it is shown using simulation
allowed us to see the effectiveness of the proposed controller. that synergetic control eliminates chattering effect compared
These controllers are tested in a Simulink/Matlab environment. to sliding mode control. The synergetic controller which has
Simulation results present good performance compared to the
classical sliding mode controller, as well as to the synergetic received much attention for integer-order systems can also be
controller with linear macro-variable. designed for fractional-order systems as show as in [7]. In this
Index Terms—Non linear synergetic control, Wind turbine, paper, it is applied for the control of the wind speed turbine
MPPT, TSR to extract the maximum power. This new approach does not
require the linearization of the model and explicitly uses a
I. I NTRODUCTION nonlinear model for the synthesis of the control.
The maximum power extraction algorithms developed so
Recently, Maximum possible power of the turbine is ob- far can be classified into three main control methods, namely
tained using Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control. tip speed ratio (TSR) control, power signal feedback (PSF)
The overall objective of control can be summarized by these control and hill-climb search (HCS) control [8].
three key words: measure, compare, correct. However, each In order to obtain the maximum output power from the
process has its own requirements; each device has its own wind speed, the turbine should operate at the optimal TSR.
operating conditions. It is therefore essential that the regulation In this study, we adopted the tip speed ratio (TSR) control
is designed to meet the specific needs related to safety, strategy with a non linear controller. This controller is based
production requirements and equipment. Regulation is the on nonlinear synergetic controller (NSC).
action of automatically adjusting a quantity so that it always The rest of the paper is organized as follows: The wind
keeps its value or stays close to the desired value, regardless turbine modeling and problem formulation for MPPT are
of the disturbances that may occur. The most important part presented in Section 2. In Section 3, the synergetic controller
of the control design for nonlinear dynamical systems is to is reviewed. The nonlinear synergetic control strategy is devel-
guarantee the stability [1]. The control algorithms used in the oped in Section 4. Simulation results and comparison with two
linear control were initially, based on conventional regulators well known controllers, classical sliding mode controller and
such as conventional PI [2]. synergetic controller with linear macro-variable, are presented
Unfortunately, the variation of the parameters of the system in Section 5. Conclusion is given in Section 6.
causes uncertainties on the coefficients of the regulator. This II. W IND T URBINE M ODELING AND P ROBLEM
is due to the fact that the robustness of the linear regulators F ORMULATION FOR MPPT
is valid only in the vicinity of the operating point around
which the system is linearized. Also to extend this range of A. Wind Turbine Modeling
parametric variation and ensure robustness for all operating The power carried by a flowing mass of air, the wind, is in
points, a technique of non-linear control [3] called variable terms the product of the cross-sectional area of the mass and
structured control (VSC) [4], known for its simplicity, speed the wind, the density of the wind ρ and the wind speed υω
and Robustness was widely adopted and has shown its effec- [9]. The expression of this power is given by the following
tiveness in many applications. equation:
1
978-1-5386-0686-5/17/$31.00 2017 IEEE P0 = ρπR2 υω3 (1)
2

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࣓࢘ ࣓ࢍ
:LQG ࣏࣓ 5RWRU ࡼࢍ 
0.6
2deg β= 2deg

0.5
4deg
6deg
β=4deg
β=6deg
VSHHG DHURG\QDPLFV ࢀ  *HDUER[ *HQHUDWRU
8deg
β=8deg
β=10deg
ࢇ ࢀࢍ
p
Power coefficient C

0.4 10deg
β=12deg
12deg
β=14deg
0.3
14deg
β=20deg
Fig. 2. Wind turbine scheme.
20deg
0.2

0.1
mechanical energy into electrical energy [13]. The system
modeling is inspired from [14]–[17].
0
0 5 10 15 20 The power captured from the wind turbine (aerodynamic
Tip Speed Ratio λ
power) can also be defined by
Fig. 1. CP (λ, β) Characteristics for various values of pitch angle. Pa = ωr Ta (5)
Moreover,
Cp (λ)
Where R is the turbine radius(m), ρ is the air density Cq (λ) = (6)
λ
(Kg/m3 ) and υω is the wind speed (m/s). The air density is From Equations 2, 4, 5 and 6, we obtain
proportional to the air temperature and the air pressure, both of
which vary with height above the sea level. The power in the Ta = 0.5πρCq (λ)R3 υω 2 (7)
wind cannot be completely converted to mechanical energy of
a wind turbine. The theoretical maximum of energy extraction When the pitch angle β is fixed, the wind turbine energy
from the wind was discovered by Betz in 1926 [9]. The power conversion system can only operate at some special λ to
captured by a wind turbine is given by capture the maximum power up to the rated speed. This special
value is called the optimum tip speed ratio λopt . The optimum
1 torque can be described by
P0 = ρπCp (λ, β)R2 υω3 (2)
2 2
Topt = Kopt ωopt (8)
The turbine Power coefficient Cp (λ, β) describes the power
extraction efficiency of the wind turbine. It is a nonlinear where
0.5πρCqmax R3
function of both the tip speed ratio λ and the blade pitch Kopt = (9)
λ2 opt
angle β. While its maximum theoretical value is approximately
0.59, in practice, it lies between 0.4 and 0.45. Several different and
λopt vω
versions of fitted equations for Cp have been used in previous ωopt = (10)
R
studies [8]. In this paper, the coefficient Cp is approximated
The mechanical equation of the shaft, including both the
by Eq. (3) [10], [11]. turbine and the generator masses, is given by [18]–[20]
π(λ + 0.1) d
Cp = (0.5 − 0.167(β − 2)) sin( ) Jt ωr = Ta − Kt ωr − Tg (11)
(18.5 − 0.3(β − 2)) (3) dt
−0.00184(λ − 3)(β − 2) Where Jt is the system inertia, Kt is the viscous friction
coefficient, Ta is the torque developed by the turbine and Tg
The tip speed ratio λ is a variable expressing the ratio of is the torque due to load which in this case is the generator
the linear speed of the blade tips to the rotational speed of the torque.
wind turbine, and can be expressed by Eq. (4):
B. Problem Formulation
ωr R
λ= (4) The parameters of the wind turbine are evaluated according
υω
to the configuration of the model and are also fixed. According
A typical relationship between Cp and λ is shown in Figure to Equations 2 and 3,at any specific wind speed, the power
(1). This figure shows that there is a fixed value of λ for extracted by the wind turbine depends only on the value of Cp .
which Cp is maximum when β is constant. According to the Hence, for a constant pitch angle turbine, the power captured
Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control approach, is usually dominated by the value of Cpmax and this value is
this corresponds to the maximum power extraction for a given dependent on the rotor speed of the wind turbine. In order to
wind speed [?], [12]. obtain the maximum output power from the wind speed, the
In this paper, the pitch angle β is set to 2. The global turbine should operate at the optimal TSR. Than in this study,
scheme of a variable speed wind turbine is displayed in Figure we adopted the tip speed ratio (TSR) control strategy with
2. Roughly speaking, a variable speed wind turbine mainly a non linear controller. This controller is based on nonlinear
consists of an aero turbine, which converts wind energy into synergetic controller. Figure 3 shows the block diagram of a
mechanical energy, a gearbox, which serves to increase the Wind energy control system (WECS) with TSR control [21],
speed and decrease the torque and a generator to convert [22].

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 Wind
ܲ଴௣௧  choosing a suitable macro-variable and a specific control pa-
ߣ௢௣௧ ‫ܥ‬௘௠  ߱௥ 
rameter T . In the synthesis of the synergistic controller shown
Wind ߱௥௘௙ Turbine
 Controller above, it is clear that it acts on the non-linear system and
speed ܴ Ͳ
MPPT linearization or simplification of the model is not necessary as
 is often the case for traditional control approaches.
Fig. 3. Block diagram of WECS with TSR control IV. N ONLINEAR SYNERGETIC CONTROL STRATEGY
In this study, two types of macro-variable are used. First,
let us consider the following macro-variable
III. SYNERGETIC CONTROL
ψω1 = ωref − ωr (19)
The design procedure based on synergetic control the-
ory follows the Analytical Design of Aggregated Regulator The objective of the synergetic controller is to force the system
(ADAR) method [5]. We consider an n-dimension nonlinear to work on the manifold where the macro-variable is equal
dynamic system that can be described by the following equa- to zero. According to the evolving scheme of the synergetic
tion. control theory.
dx(t)
= f (x, u, t) (12) T ψ˙ω + ψω = 0; T > 0 (20)
dt
Substituting Eq.(19) into Eq. (20), we get:
The synergetic synthesis begins with a choice of a function of
the system state variables defined as the macro variable    
T ω̇ref − ω˙r + ωref − ωr = 0 (21)
ψ = ψ(x, t) (13) Substituting Eq. (11) into Eq. (21) and rearranging, we get:
Value in which ψ represents the macro-variable and ψ(x, t) Jt
is a user-defined function of the system state variable and T g = T a − K t ωr − (ωref − ωr + T ω̇ref ) (22)
T
independent time. The characteristics of the macro-variable Second, let us use the following macro variable
can be chosen by the designer, according to the control 
parameters, the response time, limitations of the command, ψω2 = Kp (ωref − ωr ) + KI (ωref − ωr ) (23)
etc... The objective of the synergetic controller is to force
the system to operate on the manifold ψ = 0. The desired Substituting Eq.(23) into Eq. (20), we get:
dynamic evolution of the macro-variable is given according to     
the following equation: T Kp ω̇ref − ω̇r + KI ωref − ωr
   (24)
T ψ̇ + ψ = 0; T > 0 (14) +Kp ωref − ωr + KI (ωref − ωr ) = 0
Where T is a design parameter that specifies the converging Substituting Eq. (11) into Eq. (24) and rearranging, we get:
speed of the closed-loop system to the manifold specified by
that the macro-variable equals to zero, ψ̇ is the derivative of 1 ψω2
the aggregated macro-variable. The solution of this differential Tg = Ta −Kt ωr −Jt (ωref
˙ + ( +Ki (ωref −ωr )) (25)
Kp T
equation gives the following function for ψ(t):
−t
V. SIMULATION RESULTS
ψ(t) = ψ0 e T (15) To verify the effectiveness and validity of the proposed NSC
ψ(t) is attracted to ψ = 0 from any initial condition ψ0 . for the nonlinear wind turbine system, the WTS is simulated
The chain rule of differentiation gives under MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. The parameters
selected for this system are listed as shown in Table I The
dψ dx(t)
ψ̇ = (16)
dx dt TABLE I
Combining Equations 12, 14 and 16 , we obtain W IND TURBINE PARAMETERS .

ψ Data from the wind turbine

f (x, u, t) + ψ = 0
T (17) Gear ratio 23.75
dx Density of air 1.25kg/m3
Upon solving Equation 17 for u, the controller law is then Number of blades 3
expressed as follows: Diameter of the rotor 23.2m
Turbine total inertia (back on the fast shaft) 4.6822kg.m
u = g(x, ψ(x, t), T, t) (18) Total viscous friction coefficient (back on the fast shaft) 0.012N.m/s

It is seen from Equation 18, that the control law depends response due to the sliding mode control is shown in Figure
not only on the state variables of the system, but also on the 4. It is clear that control system is able to track the optimum
macro-variable and the control parameter T . In other words, value of the reference. but as we can see, Figure 5 shows the
the designer can choose the characteristics of the controller by high chattering effect can be noticed on the sliding surface.

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This chattering can have bad effect on the WECS itself and it 200

also puts high stress to the generator. To eliminate this negative 0.04

effect, the synergetic controller is applied to the WECS. 150 0.02

Macro−variable ω (rad/s)
0

100 −0.02

−0.04
250 5 10 15 20 25
50

200

X: 0.092 0
generator speed (rd/s)

Y: 190.7
Real and reference

150
−50
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (s)
100

50 ω
m
Fig. 7. Macro variable and its zoom for the synergetic control with linear
ωref
macro-variable ψω1 .
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time(s)

0.52

Fig. 4. The generator speed and its reference for the classical sliding mode 0.5
control SMC.
0.48

Power coefficient (Cp)

0.46

0.44 0.504

0.502
0.42
200 0.5
1.5 0.4 0.498
1 0.496
150 0.38
0.5 5 10 15 20 25
Sliding Surface Zoom

0.36
0
100 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
−0.5 Time(s)
3 4 5 6 7 8

50

Fig. 8. Power coefficient and it zoom for wind turbine with synergetic control
0 with linear macro variable ψω1 .

−50
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (s)

ψω1
50
ψω2
Fig. 5. Sliding surface and its zoom for the classical sliding mode control
SMC. 0
Macro−variable ω (rad/s)

−50

40

−100 20
250 0

−150 −20

−40
200
5 10 15 20 25
−200
generator speed (rad/s)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Real and reference

Time (s)
150

100 Fig. 9. Macro variable and its zoom for the synergetic control with
disturbance, for linear and nonlinear macro-variables.
50
ωm
ω
ref
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0.52
Time(s)

0.5

ψ
Fig. 6. The generator speed and its reference for the synergetic control with 0.48
ω1
ψ
linear macro-variable ψω1 .
Power coefficient (Cp)

ω2
0.46

0.504
0.44
0.502
0.42 0.5
Fig. (6), (7) and (8) show the results of the synergetic 0.4
0.498

controller with macro-variable ψω1 . We can see clearly that 0.38

0.496

0.494
5 10 15 20 25
the rotational speed converges to its desired reference with 0.36

good dynamics and track perfectly the reference. 0 5 10 15

Time(s)
20 25 30

In real world applications, the wind turbine system can have

external disturbances in sensors. Fig. 10. Power coefficient and it zoom for wind turbine with synergetic
After addition of the disturbance, Figs.(9) and (10) show an control with disturbance, for linear and nonlinear macro-variable.
excellent tracking and rejection of disturbance for synergetic
control with macro-variable ψω2 , unlike the synergetic control
with macro variable ψω1 . The advantage of the synergistic

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