Distributed Wind Turbine Control for Seamless Leadership
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wind farm control systems face challenges in efficiently managing reactive and active power generation, particularly in large wind farms, as they often require additional equipment and can be prone to discontinuities in leadership transitions and errors in reactive power control when central control fails.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where at least two wind turbine generators can operate in leader or subject modes, with seamless leadership transitions and collective control of reactive and active power generation through local controllers connected via a computing network, eliminating the need for additional control units and ensuring coordinated control without equipment redundancy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a central control unit is used to control global magnitudes in the wind farm, then the correct integration into the wind farm network is guaranteed, but additional equipment is required and the system becomes vulnerable to failures
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the control function from a dedicated central control unit and distributes it to the local controllers of individual wind turbine generators. Each generator's local controller can assume the role of central control, eliminating the need for separate central control equipment and reducing system vulnerability to single-point failures.
Solution Approach 2:
The local controllers of wind turbine generators are designed to perform multiple functions: they control their own generators and can also serve as central control units for the entire wind farm. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for dedicated central control equipment and enhances system reliability through functional redundancy.
2Device complexity
If individual control is implemented in each wind turbine generator, then the cost of additional control equipment is avoided, but the magnitudes are not controlled at the wind farm level leading to network requirement breaches
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between individual control mode and collective control mode. Each local controller can operate independently when needed, but can also assume central control functions when required, allowing the system to adapt to different operational requirements without additional equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The wind turbine generators themselves provide the central control function through their local controllers, rather than requiring separate dedicated control equipment. The generators serve their own collective control needs, eliminating the need for additional control infrastructure.
3Ease of operation
If a central control unit is located in the electrical substation, then global magnitudes can be controlled, but the system requires additional equipment and becomes vulnerable to central control failures
Solution Approach 1:
The central control function is extracted from the electrical substation and distributed to the wind turbine generators themselves. This eliminates the need for additional control equipment in the substation and distributes the control capability across multiple independent units, reducing vulnerability to central control failures.
4Reliability
If leadership transitions are implemented in the wind farm control system, then continuous control is maintained, but discontinuities can occur during transitions
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes a predetermined hierarchical order among wind turbine generators before any failure occurs. This preliminary arrangement ensures that when a leader fails, the next generator in the hierarchy can immediately assume control without discontinuities or delays, maintaining both reliability and operational smoothness during transitions.
Data Source
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AI summary
WIND FARM The invention relates to a wind farm consisting of a plurality of wind turbines comprising a rotor, a generator, a control unit, and means for connecting to the computer network of the wind farm to which they belong, in such a way that at least two of the wind turbines forming part of the park can take on the leadership of the wind farm and access the operation data of the rest of the wind turbines, calculating and sending instructions to the rest of the wind turbines forming part of the wind farm, and the wind turbines under the leadership of the wind turbine in the role of leader receive and follow the instructions of the wind turbine in the role of the leader of the wind farm.