An assessment of the effectiveness of individual pitch control on upscaled wind turbines

Abstract

The use of individual pitch control (IPC) based on loads transformed into nonrotating coordinates is explored on a range of wind turbines with ratings between 5MW and 15MW. Turbine models are generated using classical upscaling based on properties of the NREL 5MW reference wind turbine. The Ziegler-Nichols method is used with a low order linear model of each turbine to objectively tune a gain-scheduled, proportional-integral individual pitch controller. The performance of IPC is assessed by measuring reductions in blade and tower root damage equivalent loads from simulations at several wind speeds spanning Region 3. It is observed that the load reductions obtained with individual pitch control are maintained on upscaled turbines, with minimal impact on tower root loads, while actuator usage scales at a rate lower than expected with classical scaling. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.