A real-time projection-based approach for fault accommodation in NREL's 5MW Wind Turbine systems

Abstract

This paper presents a real-time mechanism to tolerate faults occurring in a Wind Turbine system such that it can generate the rated power at anytime. This mechanism lies under the taxonomy of Active Fault-Tolerant Control (AFTC) system, namely projection-based approach. In the proposed approach, we do not use any a priori information about the model of the plant in real-time. In fact, we use the online measurements generated by the plant. Based on the given control objectives, and the observed measurements, the controller is re-configured such that the turbine can generate the rated power even under faulty conditions. Secondly, no use of an explicit fault-diagnosis module is seen in this approach. The benchmark model for the Wind Turbine is a FAST coded simulator designed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) National Wind Turbine Center.