Individual Pitch Control

Abstract

With the increase in population, the needs of living a better life are demanding more energy supply. Moreover, environment and safety are important factors in development of any energy producing system. That's why renewable energy systems are most reliable if they are developed with qualitative and quantitative research. The wind energy converters are heavy machines used to convert wind energy to electrical power. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has set different targets till 2020-30 to get more energy from renewable sources as well as wind energy converters. This thesis work is to develop the basic concept of individual pitch control of wind energy converter to get maximum possible value of power coefficient. For this purpose, reliable and efficient sensor, sensing bending moment, stresses and strains caused by wind, gravitational and centrifugal forces at the root of the blade, are very important. A simple model of the blade with analysis of the moments generated by the wind and the gravity of each blade, when the blade is rotating is provided and is checked by the real values measured by fiber Bragg grating sensors of Fos4x German Company.