Adding feedforward blade pitch control to standard feedback controllers for load mitigation in wind turbines

Abstract

Combined feedback/feedforward blade pitch control is compared to industry standard feedback control when simulated in realistic turbulent winds. The feedforward controllers are designed to reduce fatigue loads, increasing turbine lifetime and therefore reducing the cost of energy. Two feedforward designs are studied: collective-pitch model-inverse feedforward using a non-causal series expansion and individual-pitch gain-scheduled shaped compensator. The input to the feedforward controller is a measurement of incoming wind speed, which could potentially be provided by LIDAR. Three of the designs reduce structural loading compared to standard feedback control, without reducing power production.