Wind Sensorless Control of Wind Energy Conversion System with PMS Generator

This paper addresses the problem of controlling wind energy conversion systems (WECS) which involve permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) fed by IGBT-based buck-to-buck rectifier-inverter. The goal of control is to maximize wind energy extraction and this needs letting the wind turbine rotor operate in variable-speed mode. Interestingly, the present study features the achievement of the above energetic goal without resorting to sensors for wind velocity. The control strategy involves: (i) a non-linear regulator designed by the backstepping technique; (ii) a sensorless online reference-speed optimizer designed using the turbine power characteristic to achieve the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) requirement. It is formally shown that the proposed controller actually meets its control objectives. This theoretical result is confirmed by several simulations.