Colloquium "Fault-tolerant control of a wind turbine with generator electromechanical faults"

Abstract:

The talk will give a brief overview of current wind energy trends and typical generators used in wind turbines, as well as their share in Croatian energy system. The focus will be on a method for increasing the availability of megawatt-class wind turbines which in turn enlarges the economic competence of wind energy. Wind turbine shut-down due to occurred generator electromechanical fault is to be avoided and the energy production continued under modified and fault-managed conditions. Considered generator failures occur gradually and can be detected before they develop to such an extent that they heavily damage the generator and induce wind turbine shut-down, where repair requires the whole generator to be replaced. Presentation will be focused on fault-tolerant control in cases of (i) damaged asynchronous generator rotor cage and (ii) stator winding isolation faults of asynchronous generators. The control device reduces the stress on particular generator points depending on the current mangetic flux position. At the same time, opimum power production is tried to be maintained.

CV:

Vinko Lešić received his master degree in electrical engineering and information technology from University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UNIZG-FER) in 2010. Currently, he is with the Department of Control and Computer Engineering at UNIZG-FER, where he is pursuing his PhD degree. Vinko joined ACROSS project in 2012 as a memeber of LACRES team. His research interests are in the area of control theory with application to advanced control of electrical drives and wind turbine generators in terms of fault-tolerant control, advanced estimation techniques and overall performance improvement.