Xuhua Yan
Fault tolerant control of tidal current turbine generation systems.
Email: [email protected]
Project supervisors
Project description
The control system can improve the tidal current turbine power quality. This happens when the current speed fluctuates under the swell effects. The efficiency depends on the availability and quality of sensors. These provide information about speed, current and voltage. If one or more of the sensors breaks under strong tidal currents, it may lead to the failure of the whole system. Fault-tolerant control strategies can avoid this. They can increase the system robustness and allow the system to operate normally under some fault conditions. In this project, I am focusing on faults in the tidal current speed sensor.
Methodology and objectives
I am developing a fault tolerant control strategy using MATLAB and Simulink. I have based it on the conventional tidal current turbine generation system. I have used the Perturb and Observe (P&O) control in the model. P&O control can track the maximum power point (MPP) without the tidal current speed sensor. Thus, the system can still operate without the reading of tidal current speed. I will develop other control strategies in the future such as fuzzy logic control.
Result
Tidal current turbines are usually installed at the locations with strong tidal currents. This maximises the power capture. In this situation, damage may occur to some devices. Such failures would generally need retrieval of the device to carry out maintenance onshore. The fault tolerant control strategy can reduce maintenance time and increase energy capture. It can also increase system robustness.
Qualifications
MSc in Electrical Power from Newcastle University