Abstract
This chapter presents a low-cost, flexible lab test-bench wind farm for advanced research and education on wind turbine and wind farm design and control. The mechanical, electrical, electronic and control system design of the wind turbines, along with the dynamic models, parameters and classical pitch and torque controllers are introduced in detail. Furthermore, the study presents a variety of experiments that (a) quantifies the effect of the number of blades in the aerodynamic efficiency, (b) estimates the generator efficiency, (c) validates the rotor-speed pitch control system, (d) proves the concept of maximum power point tracking for individual wind turbines, (e) estimates the aerodynamic C p /λ characteristics, (f) calculates the power curve, and (g) studies the effect of wind farm topology configurations on the individual and global power efficiency. The experimental results prove that the dynamics of the test-bench corresponds well with full-scale wind turbines. This fact makes the test-bench wind farm appropriate for advanced research and education in wind energy systems.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Burton T, Jenkins N, Sharpe D, Bossanyi E (2011) Wind energy handbook, vol 2. John Wiley & Sons, New York
García-Sanz M, Houpis CH (2012) Wind energy systems: control engineering design. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton
García-Sanz M, Mauch A, Philippe C (2014) The QFT control toolbox (QFTCT) for Matlab. CWRU, UPNA and ESA-ESTEC, Version 5.01. http://cesc.case.edu
Houpis CH, Rasmussen SJ, García-Sanz M (2006) Quantitative feedback theory: fundamentals and applications, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton
Lego mindstorms (2014). http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms
Mindsensors. Sensors for Lego. http://mindsensors.com/
Matlab (2014). Mathworks. http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/
Lego motor characteristics. http://www.philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm
Arduino microcontroller. http://arduino.cc/
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Su-Young Min and Yingkang (Demi) Du for their contribution to this work, and the Milton and Tamar Maltz Family Foundation and Cleveland Foundation for funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
García-Sanz, M., Labrie, H., Cavalcanti, J.C. (2014). Wind Farm Lab Test-Bench for Research/Education on Optimum Design and Cooperative Control of Wind Turbines. In: Luo, N., Vidal, Y., Acho, L. (eds) Wind Turbine Control and Monitoring. Advances in Industrial Control. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08413-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08413-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08412-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08413-8
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)