Robust Model Predictive Control Applied to a WRIG-Based Wind Turbine

This paper proposes a robust nonlinear predictive controller (Robust NPC) applied to a wound-rotor induction generator (WRIG)-based wind turbine. The Taylor series expansion is used to predict the outputs system and the cost function which determines the control law. The objective of the paper is to ensure the WRIG optimum performances in terms of the tracking of the desired trajectory of the rotor speed and the controlling of the rotor current. The nonlinear predictive controller (NPC) cannot ensure the best performances of the system in the presence of the external perturbation. That’s the reason why a perturbation observer (POB) is necessary. It ensures a robustness against the perturbation by predicting its aerodynamic torque. The proposed controller is studied via simulation on a 1.5 MW WRIG-based wind turbine. Good results were obtained with respect to the rotor speed trajectory tracking and rotor current tracking that shows the benefits of using a robust NPC.