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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/L36659/01
Title: APPLICATION OF NONLINEAR CONTROL TO VARIABLE SPEED WIND TURBINES
Principal Investigator: Leithead, Professor B
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Garrad Hassan & Partners Ltd Renewable Energy Systems Ltd
Department: Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Organisation: University of Strathclyde
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 May 1997 Ends: 31 October 2000 Value (£): 125,979
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Wind Power
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Energy No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The application of nonlinear control to pitch regulated constant speed wind turbines was investigated on a previous project funded by the EPSRC (GR/H/45209). A very marked improvement in the performance in comparison to linear control (approximately 40%) was demonstrated. The application of nonlinear control to variable speed wind turbines can be expected to be equally effective. First, it has been observed on a collaborative project with RES Ltd that substantial savings on the cost of large scale pitch regulated variable speed machine could be obtained by tight regulation of power and rotor speed so that strict hardware constraints are not violated. Second, prior to any practical demonstration of the coning rotor stall regulated variable speed concept of Garrad Hassan and Partners, which has the potential to improve the cost effectiveness of wind energy by 30% to 40%, effective realisable solutions to the rotor speed regulation design task must be determined; in particular, the implementation issues must be resolved in the stall region. Both these cases require a nonlinear treatment. The purpose of this project is to investigate the application of nonlinear control to variable speed wind turbines. The method developed for constant speed machines, suitably extended are to be used.
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Organisation Website: http://www.strath.ac.uk