Active disturbance rejection control of a permanent magnet synchronous generator for wind turbine applications

With sight on maximizing the amount of energy that can be extracted, by a wind turbine, from the wind, this article solves the maximum power point tracking problem for a permanent magnet synchronous generator-based horizontal wind turbine connected to the electrical grid. A three-phase back-to-back converter, which allows a decoupling between the electrical grid and the generator, is employed as an interphase between the wind turbine and the utility grid. Based on the mathematical model in the synchronous reference frame and taking advantage of the differential flatness property the system exhibits, controllers based on the active disturbance rejection methodology are designed, in this work, to track the curve of maximum extracted power from the wind and manage the generated electricity into the grid. At the same time, the phase angle of the electricity generated is synchronized with the phase angle of the electrical grid. Numerical simulations are performed to support the controllers presented in this work.