A hybrid active fault-tolerant control scheme for wind energy conversion system based on permanent magnet synchronous generator

Wind energy has achieved prominence in renewable energy production. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a diagnosis system and fault-tolerant control to protect the system and to prevent unscheduled shutdowns. The presented study aims to provide an experimental analysis of a speed sensor fault by hybrid active fault-tolerant control (AFTC) for a wind energy conversion system (WECS) based on a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The hybrid AFTC switches between a traditional controller based on proportional integral (PI) controllers under normal conditions and a robust backstepping controller system without a speed sensor to avoid any deterioration caused by the sensor fault. A sliding mode observer is used to estimate the PMSG rotor position. The proposed controller architecture can be designed for performance and robustness separately. Finally, the proposed method was successfully tested in an experimental set up using a dSPACE 1104 platform. In this experimental system, the wind turbine with a generator connection via a mechanical gear is emulated by a PMSM engine with controled speed through a voltage inverter. The obtained experimental results show clearly that the proposed method is able to guarantee service production continuity for the WECS in adequate transition.