Vertical axis wind turbine control strategy

Abstract

Early expensive in automatic operation of the Sandia 17-m vertical axis research wind turbine (VAWT) has demonstrated the need for a systematic study of control algorithms. To this end, a computer model has been developed that uses actual wind time series and turbine performance data to calculate the power produced by the Sandia 17-m VAWT operating in automatic control. The model has been used to investigate the influence of starting algorithms on annual energy production. The results indicate that, depending on turbine and local wind characteristics, a bad choice of a control algorithm can significantly reduce overall energy production. The model can be used to select control algorithms and threshold parameters that maximize long-term energy production. An attempt has been made to generalize these results from local site and turbine characteristics to obtain general guidelines for control algorithm design.