An Individual Pitch Control Concept for Wind Turbines Based on Inertial Measurement Units

Abstract

Wind turbines are mainly designed by their fatigue behaviour. These fatigue behaviour can be mainly influenced by the control algorithm. So wind turbine designer struggle to enhance their control strategies to minimise the fatigue loads acting on their wind turbines. In this contribution an advanced control strategy for individual pitch control is presented, where no sensors within the blades are necessary. The loads in the blades are reconstructed by simplified models representing the characteristic dynamics of the wind turbine. The models are supported by a single Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) within the nacelle measuring the translational accelerations and angular velocities about the three independent axis. This contribution mainly focus on the development of the concept, while practical tests will be a future task. Nevertheless, the single steps of the reconstruction and control concept are validated using a well established multibody model.