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An Experimental Test Setup for Advanced Estimation and Control of an AirborneWind Energy System

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Airborne Wind Energy

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

This chapter gives a detailed description of a test setup developed at KU Leuven for the launch and recovery of unpropelled tethered airplanes. The airplanes are launched by bringing them up to flying speed while attached by a tether to the end of a rotating arm. In the development of the setup, particular care was taken to allow experimental validation of advanced estimation and control techniques such as moving horizon estimation and model predictive control. A detailed overview of the hardware, sensors and software used on this setup is given in this chapter. The applied estimation and control techniques are outlined in this chapter as well, and an analysis of the closed loop performance is given.

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References

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  2. Eindhoven University of Technology: E-box project page. http://cstwiki.wtb.tue.nl/index.php?title=E-box. Accessed 17 July 2013

  3. Ferreau, H. J.: Model predictive control algorithms for applications with millisecond timescales. Ph.D. Thesis, KU Leuven, 2011. https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/312147/1/phd ferreau.pdf

  4. Ferreau, H. J., Kraus, T., Vukov, M., Saeys,W., Diehl, M.: High-speed moving horizon estimation based on automatic code generation. In: Proceedings of the 51st IEEE Annual Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 687–692, Maui, HI, USA, 10–13 Dec 2012. doi: 10.1109/CDC.2012.6426428

  5. Gros, S., Zanon, M., Diehl, M.: Orbit Control for a Power Generating Airfoil Based on Non- linear MPC. In: Proceedings of the 2012 American Control Conference, pp. 137–142, Montréal, Canada, 27–29 June 2012. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs all.jsp?arnumber = 6315367

  6. Gros, S., Zanon, M., Vukov, M., Diehl, M.: Nonlinear MPC and MHE for Mechanical Multi-Body Systems with Application to Fast Tethered Airplanes. In: Proceedings of the 4th IFAC Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Conference, pp. 86–93, Leeuwenhorst, Netherlands, 23–27 Aug 2012. doi: 10.3182/20120823-5-NL-3013.00061

  7. Houska, B.: Robustness and Stability Optimization of Open-Loop Controlled Power Generating Kites. M.Sc.Thesis, Ruprecht-Karls-Universit¨at, Heidelberg, 2007. http://www.kuleuven.be/optec/files/Houska2007a.pdf

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  11. Quirynen, R., Vukov, M., Diehl, M.: Auto Generation of Implicit Integrators for Embedded NMPC with Microsecond Sampling Times. In: Proceedings of the 4th IFAC Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Conference, pp. 175–180, Leeuwenhorst, Netherlands, 23–27 Aug 2012. doi: 10.3182/20120823-5-NL-3013.00013

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Research Council KUL: PFV/10/002 Optimization in Engineering Center OPTEC, GOA/10/09 MaNet and GOA/10/11 Global real- time optimal control of autonomous robots and mechatronic systems. Flemish Government: IOF/KP/SCORES4CHEM, FWO: PhD/postdoc grants and projects: G.0320.08 (convex MPC), G.0377.09 (Mechatronics MPC); IWT: PhD Grants, projects: SBO LeCoPro; Belgian Federal Science Policy Office: IUAP P7 (DYSCO, Dynamical systems, control and optimization, 2012-2017); EU: FP7- EMBOCON (ICT-248940), FP7-SADCO (MC ITN-264735), ERC ST HIGHWIND (259 166), Eurostars SMART, ACCM.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. KU Leuven, Department of Electrical Engineering, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Kurt Geebelen, Milan Vukov, Mario Zanon, Sébastien Gros, Andrew Wagner & Moritz Diehl

  2. KU Leuven, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 300C, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Dirk Vandepitte & Jan Swevers

  3. Mobile Marine Robotics Research Center, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Hammad Ahmad

Authors
  1. Kurt Geebelen
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  2. Milan Vukov
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  3. Mario Zanon
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  4. Sébastien Gros
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  5. Andrew Wagner
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  6. Moritz Diehl
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  7. Dirk Vandepitte
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  8. Jan Swevers
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  9. Hammad Ahmad
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kurt Geebelen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NTS Energie- und Transportsysteme GmbH, Berlin, Germany

    Uwe Ahrens

  2. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Electrical Engineering (ESAT), Leuven, Belgium

    Moritz Diehl

  3. Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Roland Schmehl

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Geebelen, K. et al. (2013). An Experimental Test Setup for Advanced Estimation and Control of an AirborneWind Energy System. In: Ahrens, U., Diehl, M., Schmehl, R. (eds) Airborne Wind Energy. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39965-7_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39965-7_27

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39964-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39965-7

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

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