Design and implementation of a fuzzy logic yaw controller

This paper describes a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) designed and implemented to control the yaw angle of a 10 kW fixed speed teetered-rotor wind turbine presently being commissioned at the University of Texas at El Paso. The technical challenge of this project is that the wind turbine represents a highly stochastic nonlinear system. The problems associated with the wind turbine yaw control are of a similar nature as those experienced with position control of high inertia equipment like tracking antenna, gun turrets, and overhead cranes. Furthermore, the wind turbine yaw controller must be extremely cost-effective and highly reliable in order to be economically viable compared to the fossil fueled power generators.