Maximum Power Generation Control of a Hybrid Wind Turbine Transmission System Based on H∞ Loop-Shaping Approach

Abstract

This paper presents the design, modeling, and optimal power generation control of a large hybrid wind turbine transmission system that seamlessly integrates planetary/parallel gear sets with a hydraulic transmission to improve the turbine's reliability and efficiency. The hybrid wind turbine has power splitting flows including both mechanical and hydraulic power transmissions. The turbine transmission ratio can be controlled to continuously vary for the maximum wind power extraction and grid integration. Dynamics of the hybrid wind turbine is modeled as an incremental disturbed state space model based on the dynamic equations of each mechanical/hydraulic element. To achieve good tracking and robustness performance, an optimal H∞ loop-shaping pressure controller is designed, which accurately tracks the optimal load pressure in the hydraulic transmission for maximizing wind power generations. The validations of the proposed hybrid wind turbine and the H∞ loop-shaping pressure controller are performed based on a detailed aero-hydro-servo-elastic hybrid type wind turbine simulation platform with both mechanical geared transmission and hydraulic transmission, which is adapted from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5 MW monopile wind turbine model within fatigue, aerodynamics, structures, and turbulence code. The validation results demonstrate that the hybrid wind turbine achieves better performance in both the maximum wind power extraction and power quality than the hydrostatic wind turbine. In addition, the proposed H∞ loop-shaping pressure controller has better tracking performance than the traditional proportional integral controller.