Yaw Control and Yaw Actuator Synchronised Control of Large Wind Energy Converters Using a Non-Linear PI Approach

This contribution studies the control of the yaw motion of large wind turbines. Two aspects are considered: the first is maximising the energy conversion by yawing the rotor in accordance with the wind direction. The other aspect is synchronising the control of all yaw actuators, which are affixed to the yaw gear rim. In a first phase, P and PI controllers are used in all control loops. Later on, the yaw controller and the synchronisers are replaced with nonlinear PI (NPI) controllers. Moreover, all actuator position P controllers are changed using nonlinear P (NP) controllers. Simulation experiments are carried out on the NREL 5 MW reference wind turbines. The results are very promising.