Tracking performance and power quality enhancement of DFIG based wind turbine using robust integral terminal sliding mode control

The aim of this work is to develop a robust Integral Terminal Sliding Mode Control (ITSMC) strategy for a Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) wind turbine (WT) operating in challenging conditions. This controller is designed to manage the system's rotor side converter (RSC) and grid side converter (GSC), ensuring maximum power production, improved power quality, and accurate tracking of system state variables, even in the face of fluctuating wind conditions, parameter uncertainties, and external disturbances. The stability of the proposed controller is assured using the Lyapunov theory. The performance of ITSMC is compared with that of the conventional sliding mode controller (SMC) and backstepping controller through simulation tests, using the integral absolute error (IAE) as a performance metric. The results highlight the superiority of ITSMC, demonstrating its ability to precisely track reference values, eliminate static errors, and minimize chattering. ITSMC consistently achieves the lowest IAE for all tracked state variables and across all test scenarios. A comparative study analyzing the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the proposed controller versus SMC, the backstepping controller, and other similar works in the literature shows a marked improvement in the THD of stator and filter currents by at least 24.53 % and 7.96 %, respectively. These findings underscore the controller's capability to enhance the power quality delivered to the grid.