Research on the impact of inverter control on the dynamic behavior of wind turbine drivetrain during transmission system failures

• Developed a detailed model of the WT drivetrain that incorporates gear system faults. • Designed a new control strategy for inverters that can be used to address gear system faults. • Studied the dynamic characteristics of the WT drivetrain under gear system faults. As the wind power industry continues to expand, the total capacity of wind turbines (WTs) has increased, along with the economic losses resulting from WT failures. This study focuses on minimizing damage by reducing vibrations in WT drivetrain system components, addressing the increasing economic losses caused by WT failures. A detailed electromechanical model of the WT drivetrain system was developed, along with a fault model of the mechanical transmission chain, to analyze the dynamic behavior of WT’s key components under various fault conditions. A novel inverter control strategy was proposed, and simulation experiments were conducted using a model built in MATLAB/Simulink. The results indicate that this control method significantly reduces lateral vibrations in planetary gears (PGs) by up to 70% in the frequency domain during mechanical faults. This demonstrates that the control strategy stabilizes the dynamic characteristics of the transmission system (TS) under localized gear faults, prevents extreme oscillations, and thereby reduces severe damage and downtime. Furthermore, the proposed strategy enables a more rapid restoration of system stability following fault clearance, improving overall operational reliability. These findings present an innovative approach to minimizing operational losses, decreasing downtime, preventing further mechanical damage, and optimizing the economic efficiency of WT systems.