Variable structure control of a doubly fed induction generator for wind energy conversion systems

This paper presents the powers control of a variable speed wind turbine (WT) device based on a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). Indeed, to increase the efficiency of the WT system, a robust variable structure control has been applied. DFIG has been previously presented in several works with diverse control diagrams using generally conventional PI controllers. Nevertheless, this type of controllers does not sufficiently handle some of WT resource characteristics such as wind fluctuations effects. Indeed, these can reduce WT performances. Furthermore, DFIG parameter variations should be accounted for. In this context, this paper proposes a high-order sliding mode to control the WT DFIG. Simulation results show that the proposed approach presents attractive features such as chattering-free behavior, good response to speed variations and robustness against machine parameter variations compared to the conventional first order sliding mode technique and even fuzzy sliding mode one. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Euro-Mediterranean Institute for Sustainable Development (EUMISD)