Improved model-free adaptive control considering wind speed and platform motion for floating offshore wind turbines

Abstract

To cope with the problems of cumbersome modeling and strongly disturbances in the control of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), an improved model-free adaptive control (MFAC) strategy considering both wind speed disturbance and floating platform motion response to wave disturbance is proposed. In this strategy, a detailed mathematical model of the FOWT is avoided and the feedback controller is designed based on improved MFAC using only the input–output data to dynamically linearize the FOWT. Strongly disturbances caused by random wind and floating platform motion response to wave are compensated by a feedforward controller. The proposed method and the comparison method including the baseline controller are simulated under different wind scenarios using FAST. The results show that the proposed controller regulates the generator speed more smoothly and closer to the rated value, suppresses the motion of the floating platform more effectively, and can significantly improve the performance of FOWTs.