Real-time wind turbine simulation for pitch control purposes by using a hardware-in-the-loop approach

Because of the fact that large wind turbines are not available for research experiments and downscaled models are characterized by having different behaviors than the large ones, simulation tools become significant not only for the study of the machine dynamics but also for the control system design. However, pure digital simulation alone is insufficient for studying the performance of control algorithms since real-time operation is required for such an analysis. As a result, an interacting approach that combines wind turbine simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) control emerges as a promising solution. Thus, the current work proposes a system for real-time simulation and control of large-scale wind turbines based on a Hardware-in-the-Loop approach, in which a simulation tool is combined with commercial control hardware for wind turbines. The hardware-software architecture is discussed. Finally, the practical convenience of the developed system is illustrated by means of a numerical study.