Considerations for an Integrated Wind Turbine Controls Capability at the National Wind Technology Center: An Aileron Control Case Study for Power Regulation and Load Mitigation

Several structural dynamics codes have been developed at, and under contract to, the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). These design codes capture knowledge and expertise that has accumulated over the years through federally funded research and wind industry operational experience. The codes can generate vital information required to successfully implement wind turbine active control. However, system information derived from the design codes does not necessarily produce a system description that is consistent with the one assumed by standard control design and analysis tools (e.g., MATLAB@ and Matrix-X@). This paper presents a system identification-based method for extracting and utilizing high-fidelity dynamics information, derived from an existing wind turbine structural dynamics code (FAST), for use in active control design. A simple proportional-integral (PI) aileron control case study is then used to successfully demonstrate the method, and to investigate controller performance for gust and turbulence wind input conditions. Aileron control results show success in both power regulation and load mitigation.