Sara Ablove
Research Mentor(s): M. Javad Javaherian
Mentor Department: Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
Authors:
Session: Session 5 (2:00pm – 2:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 25
Abstract
On account of the effects of Climate Change becoming increasingly apparent, governments globally have become more interested in renewable energy as a possible solution to reducing their carbon footprint. While wind turbines, whether onshore or offshore, are a valuable source of energy production, they require certain controls to operate safely and efficiently for the long term health and dependability of the equipment and the electrical grid. As such, yaw, pitch, and generator control may be utilized to ensure the reliable and efficient rotational speed of the turbine under different weather conditions. In this research a control scheme is proposed to measure the power output of the turbine, and regulate it by adjusting the rotation of the generator and pitch of the blades. To this end, a microcontroller was programmed using the arduino IDE to both adjust the linear actuator on the turbine as well as the resistance of the load. A look-up table was created to provide a reference for the specific load configuration necessary to obtain a certain output within the control code. Additional safety features such as a manual stop and load detection are also proposed in case of unexpected external emergencies or internal failure. It is expected that with the implementation of this scheme, the turbine will have increased efficiency and safety through automatic adjustments.
