Wind tunnel setup for experimental validation of wind turbine control concepts under tailor-made reproducible wind conditions

Abstract

To speed up validation and prototyping of novel control and design concepts in wind energy, wind tunnel experiments should be used in synergy with numerical simulations and field experiments. The paper presents a wind tunnel setup consisting of a scaled wind turbine model MoWiTO and an active grid for generation of tailor-made and reproducible inflow conditions. To demonstrate that the presented experimental setup is suitable for fast validation of advanced control concepts, several control algorithms have been implemented and validated in various inflow conditions, such as turbulent and sheared inflows, and wind gusts. The tested control algorithms include the baseline collective pitch and torque control, individual pitch control for load reduction, and a control algorithms for compensation of static aerodynamic imbalances. All control algorithms resulted in an expected behaviour of the model wind turbine, thus emphasizing that the presented experimental setup can be used for fast and inexpensive testing of control concepts.