Date of Award

5-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Legacy Department

Electrical Engineering

Committee Chair/Advisor

Dawson, Darren M

Committee Member

Wagner , John

Committee Member

Burg , Timothy

Committee Member

Walker , Ian D

Abstract

This dissertation describes the design and implementation of Lyapunov-based control strategies for the maximization of the power captured by renewable energy harnessing technologies such as (i) a variable speed, variable pitch wind turbine, (ii) a variable speed wind turbine coupled to a doubly fed induction generator, and (iii) a solar power generating system charging a constant voltage battery.
First, a torque control strategy is presented to maximize wind energy captured in variable speed, variable pitch wind turbines at low to medium wind speeds. The proposed strategy applies control torque to the wind turbine pitch and rotor subsystems to simultaneously control the blade pitch and tip speed ratio, via the rotor angular speed, to an optimum point at which the capture efficiency is maximum. The control method allows for aerodynamic rotor power maximization without exact knowledge of the wind turbine model. A series of numerical results show that the wind turbine can be controlled to achieve maximum energy capture.
Next, a control strategy is proposed to maximize the wind energy captured in a variable speed wind turbine, with an internal induction generator, at low to medium wind speeds. The proposed strategy controls the tip speed ratio, via the rotor angular speed, to an optimum point at which the efficiency constant (or power coefficient) is maximal for a particular blade pitch angle and wind speed by using the generator rotor voltage as a control input. This control method allows for aerodynamic rotor power maximization without exact wind turbine model knowledge. Representative numerical results demonstrate that the wind turbine can be controlled to achieve near maximum energy capture.
Finally, a power system consisting of a photovoltaic (PV) array panel, dc-to-dc switching converter, charging a battery is considered wherein the environmental conditions are time-varying. A backstepping PWM controller is developed to maximize the power of the solar generating system. The controller tracks a desired array voltage, designed online using an incremental conductance extremum-seeking algorithm, by varying the duty cycle of the switching converter. The stability of the control algorithm is demonstrated by means of Lyapunov analysis. Representative numerical results demonstrate that the grid power system can be controlled to track the maximum power point of the photovoltaic array panel in varying atmospheric conditions. Additionally, the performance of the proposed strategy is compared to the typical maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method of perturb and observe (P&O), where the converter dynamics are ignored, and is shown to yield better results.

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