Study and Implementation of A Control Algorithm

for Wind Turbine Yaw Control System

Feifei Bu, Wenxin Huang, Yuwen Hu, Yunqing Xu, Kai Shi, Qianshuang Wang
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Nanjing, China
bufeifei1984@163.com
AbstractIn order to capture the maximum wind energy and
improve the efficiency of wind generation system, the yaw control
system is researched. This system takes the initiative to windward.
According to the control algorithm proposed in this paper, yaw
angle is calculated by the DSP, and the drive signals of stepping
motor are generated. The stepping motor is controlled by the
micro-stepping control to drive the yaw mechanical device to
make the wind turbine windward. Through this way, the yaw
control system can track the wind direction automatically.
Experimental results show that based on the proposed control
algorithm and DSP control, the performance of yaw system is
great and the operation precision of stepping motor is high.
Therefore, the yaw system has the ability to track the wind
direction quickly and exactly.
KeywordsFreescale MC56F8037; micro-stepping control; wind
sensor; yaw angle; wind direction track; wind turbine
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, non-renewable energy reserves are going on
decreasing, the power supply is increasingly in short, and the
environmental pollution is gradually aggravated [1]. Those
factors significantly contribute to the development of green
renewable energy. As a renewable clean energy, the wind
energy, with its advantages of huge reserve, wide distribution
and no pollution, has been attracting more and more attention
in the world. Thus, the development and utilization of wind
energy have great progressed, and it is becoming the fastest
growing green energy [2]-[3].
The natural wind is random and its direction is always
changing. In order to improve the utilization of wind energy,
the yaw control system becomes an important part of the
horizontal axis wind turbine. It has two main functions: one is
to make the wind turbine track the changing wind direction; the
other is to unsnap the cable tangle automatically when the cable
is tangled as a result of yaw control [4-5]. For the horizontal
axis wind turbine, the impeller can be adjusted to windward in
two ways: one is the passive windward, which is the automatic
windward of the impeller under the effect of wind; the other is
active windward, which is adjusting the impeller to windward
by the yaw motor. Passive windward do not need wind
measurement or the yaw control, thus its structure is simple.
But the lifetime of the yaw mechanism will be influenced by
the frequent swing of the impeller when tracking the wind
direction automatically. Therefore, the passive windward is
generally applied in small wind turbine. In large wind turbine,
due to the larger torque, the swing effect is more serious if the
passive windward is used, so the active windward is applied
[6].The wind direction needs to be measured, then the yaw
direction is acquired according to the wind direction and the
normal direction of impeller plane. Though the structure is
complex, the windward is controllable. In this paper, in order to
improve the rapidity and accuracy of the yaw control system, a
control algorithm is proposed and studied. Based on the micro-
stepping control and DSP controller, the proposed control
algorithm is implemented validly. By this way, the yaw control
system can track the wind direction automatically. Therefore,
the efficiency of the wind generation system is improved and
the lifetime of yaw mechanism is prolonged.
II. THE PRINCIPLE OF YAWCONTROL SYSTEM
The most common structure of wind turbine is horizontal
axis, three blades and upwind. Wind turbine is mainly
composed of the impeller (including the blades and wheel),
tower, yaw mechanical device, and so on [7-8]. The impeller
transfer flowing wind energy to rotational kinetic energy. As an
essential part of wind turbine, the performance of it should be
studied firstly. According to Betz theory, the wind energy that
the wind turbine captures can be expressed as:
3
1
( , )
2
T T wind p
P A V C | = (1)
/
T T wind
R V e = (2)
Where is the output power of the wind turbine [W],
T
P
is the air density [kg/m
3
],
T
A is the area rotor swept [m
2
],
is the wind speed [m/s],
wind
V
p
C is the wind energy
productivity, is the blade top speed ratio, | is the blade
pitch angle [],
T
e is the wind wheel speed [rad/s], is the
radius of wind wheel[m] [9-10].
T
R
Equation (1) shows the wind energy captured by the wind
turbine, when the impeller is in the state of windward. Taking
the wind direction into account, the captured wind power can
be indicated as follows:
3
1
( , ) cos
2
T T wind p
P A V C
W
| u = (3)
978-1-4244-4702-2/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE
Where,
W
u is the angle between the wind direction and the
normal direction of impeller (the horizontal axis of wind
turbine), defined as the relative wind direction angle.
Obviously, when 0
W
u = , the wind energy absorbed by the
wind turbine is maximal.
The wind direction is discrete, and the turbulence from
rotating impeller has a disturbance to wind direction sensor.
Therefore, if guarantee 0
W
u = , the frequent yaw will shorten
the lifetime of the yaw mechanical device. cos
W
u changes
little if
W
u is near 0, hence,
W
u is allowed to change within a
certain range, which not only can improve the efficiency of
power generation, but also reduce the number of yaw. Thus if
the relative wind direction angle
W
u is adjusted within an
acceptable range, the windward is thought to be accurate, and
the yaw process should be stopped.
The wind sensor is installed at the top of the turbine cage
and rotating with it together. So the relative wind direction
W
u
can be measured directly. Through this way, the yaw angle
T
u ,
which is the smallest angle the wind turbine needs to yaw, can
be calculated, as shown in Fig. 1. Then, according to the
transmission ratio of the yaw mechanical device, drive signals
of the stepping motor driver is achieved by the DSP. So, the
stepping motor is enabled to drive the wind turbine rotating to
track the wind. As the yaw control system always moves in the
shortest path to windward, sometimes, as a result of the
variation of the wind direction, it may yaw to a certain
direction and cause the cable tangle. If the tangle number is
increasing beyond the limit value, it will cause damage to the
cables. Therefore, unsnapping control of the cable is essential
in the yaw control system. The diagram of yaw control system
is shown in Fig. 2.
(a) Relative position of wind turbine and sensor
W
u
T
u
(b) Vertical view
Figure 1. The installation of wind sensor
u A
T
u
+
-
DSP
Controller
Stepping
Motor
Yaw
Mechanism
Wind
Turbine
Yaw Counter
Detection of Yaw
Angle
Allowable
Error
Figure 2. Block diagram of yaw control system
III. THE YAWCONTROL ALGORITHM
In yaw process, the wind turbine turns a corresponding
angle always in the shortest path, so as to track the wind
direction quickly and improve the efficiency. The yaw angle
calculation and the stepping motor control are very important.
In horizontal axis wind turbine, the relationship between the
relative wind direction angle and the yaw angel can be divided
into four cases (these following angles are relative), as shown
in Fig. 3. As the wind sensor is installed on the top of wind
turbine, the angle measured by the wind sensor is just the
relative wind direction angle
W
u . In Fig. 3 (a) and (b), the
relative wind direction 180
W
u s , yaw angle
T W
u u = , and yaw
clockwise. In Fig. 3 (c) and (d), 180
W
u > 0
T W
, 36 u u = ,
and yaw counter-clockwise. Among these, Fig. 3 (a) and (c)
show the acute angle yaw, Fig. 3 (b) and (d) show the obtuse
angle yaw.
W
u
T
u
W
u
T
u

(a) Acute angle clockwise yaw (b) Obtuse angle clockwise yaw
W
u
T
u
W
u
T
u
(c) Acute angle counterclockwise yaw (d) Obtuse angle counterclockwise yaw
Figure 3. The determination of yaw angle and direction
Due to the uncertainty of wind direction, the yaw direction
is changing, which will cause the cable twisting when it is
rotating with the wind turbine. In order to prevent the cable
from twisting effectively, some appropriate adjustments will be
applied in the obtuse yaw process. If the direction of the obtuse
angle yaw is opposite to the last obtuse one, the yaw angle and
direction remain unchanged. If these two directions are the
same, the yaw control will take the opposite direction, and the
yaw angle is adjusted as 360
T
u . Although appropriate
adjustments of the obtuse angle yaw have been taken, the wind
turbine may still yaw in the same direction for several times
due to the uncertainty of wind direction. This will cause the
cable twisted, hanged, or even broken off, so the cable tangle
must be unsnapped. The allowed number of tangle is different
in various kinds of wind turbines. The system should unsnap
the tangle automatically when the number of tangle reaches the
limit. At the same time, the yaw stepping motor is drove to
rotate in the opposite direction of the cable twisted until the
turbine returns to the appropriate position.
When the wind is too fast and has a great impact on the
wind turbines (especially strong wind), the 90 cross-wind
method can be used to ensure safety. The wind turbine should
also turn to the 90 cross-wind point in the shortest path and
the automatic yaw command will be shielded. After the 90
cross-wind process, the yaw gate should be hold. In the mean
time, when the strong wind direction changes, it also needs 90
cross-wind yaw to ensure the safety of wind turbine.
IV. THE DESIGN OF YAWCONTROL SYSTEM
As is shown in Fig. 4, the wind power generation system
based on the dual stator winding induction generator (DWIG)
[11-12] consists of wind sensor, wind direction detection
circuit, DSP controller, yaw stepping motor, gear box, as well
as yaw mechanical device.
DC
AC
Figure 4. Yaw control system based on DSP control
Precise conductive plastic potentiometer is used in the wind
direction sensor. When the wind direction changes,
correspondingly, the output of potentiometer (resistance signal)
also changes. The resistance signal is transformed to voltage
signal (0-3.3V) through wind direction detecting circuit to
represent the angle from 0-360 .
The digital signal processer (DSP) with many desirable
characteristics such as high integration, low power,
convenience and high efficiency, is very suitable for the yaw
control system. This system is developed in the integrated
development environment --Freescale DSP56F8000
Metrowerks Code Warrior software, which includes a
visualized system of project creation and management. The
source code files and libraries can be managed
comprehensively, and the complexity of the project can be
reduced [13-14].
Stepping motor is a kind of motor which can transform
pulse signals to angular displacement or linear displacement. It
rotates in a fixed angle, and the amount of angular
displacement can be controlled by the number of pulses in
order to achieve accurate positioning. Additionally, the
stepping motor with rapid response is easy to start, stop, change
direction, and adjust speed. These features show that the
stepping motor is suitable for this particular servo system, yaw
control system [15].
In order to overcome the problems of out-of-step and low-
frequency oscillations, the micro-stepping control is adapted in
this system to enhance the performance of the stepping motor
[16-17].
In this paper, the hardware design of the yaw control
system is shown in Fig. 5. On the basis of proposed yaw
control algorithm, the flow chart of control system software is
designed and shown in Fig. 6. Mainly, the flow chart of the
automatic yaw control is shown in Fig. 7.
Freescale
DSP
56F8037
Detection
circuit
Communication
Interface circuits
DSP
Peripheral
Circuit
AD
Regulation
Circuits
Subdivision
control
Drive
Circuit
Wind Direction
Sensor
Two-phase
Hybrid Stepping
Motor
Figure 5. Hardware principle diagram of yaw control system based on DSP
control
Initialization
90Cross-Wind
Automatic Unsnap
Cable
Manual Yaw
90Cross-Wind
Program
Manual Yaw Program
Automatic Yaw
Program
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
Automatic Unsnap
Cable Program
Automatic Yaw
Figure 6. The flow diagram of main program
90
T
u >
15
T
u s
360
T
u
T
u
90
W
u <
T
u
T
u
Figure 7. The flow diagram of auto yaw program
V. EXPERIMENT RESULTS
According to the yaw control algorithm, based on the DSP
control and micro-stepping control, the yaw control system is
built. The main parameters of the system are as follows: the
transmission ratio of the yaw mechanical device of 564:1, four
micro-stepping control, two-phase hybrid stepping motor, with
the stepping angle of 1.8 and the rated current of 4.5 A .
To make a certain rotation of angle
T
u , the number of
pulses for stepping motor is 4 64 200 / 360
T
n 5 u =
1254
T
u =
125 t
, if the frequency of pulse is 1 kHz, it will
take 4 /1000 1.25 (s)
T T
u u = = to windward. Based on the
above, the time of one circle rotation is .
When the relative wind direction is within 15 angle, the
accuracy is acceptable. Experimental results are shown in
Table I:
1.25 360 450(s) t = =
TABLE I. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF YAW CONTROL SYSTEM
No.
Relative
Wind
Direction /
Yaw
Angle
/
Yaw
Direction
Number
of Pulse
Windward
Time/s
1 0 0 0 0
2 13 0 0 0
3 42 42 Clockwise 52668 53
4 145 145 Clockwise 181830 183
5 112 248
Counter-
clockwise
310992 312
6 340 20
Counter-
clockwise
25080 27
7 352 0 0 0
8 240 240 Clockwise 300960 303
9 226 134
Counter-
clockwise
168036 169
(1) In order to prevent the out-of-step and stall, as well as to
reduce the impact on the yaw mechanical device, during the
start and stop the process, the ramps are employed respectively
for acceleration and deceleration of stepping motor.
(2) Data 1, 2, 7 show that within the 15 yaw angle, the
yaw windward is considered accurate or need no yaw.
(3) If obtuse angle yaw appears first time, in accordance
with the proposed algorithm, yaw angle and direction need no
change. Such as the Data 4, the relative wind angle is 145 ,
then yaw 145 clockwise, the time to windward is 183 s with
an error of 4 which is in the acceptable range. If the obtuse
angle yaw appears again, it is needed to determine the yaw
direction of this time according to that of last time. If the yaw
directions are the same, the yaw angle is adjust to a one that
360 minus the original, and the yaw direction of this time is
reversed. As Data 5 is shown, the relative wind angle is 112 ,
it would have been yawed 112 clockwise, but the yaw
direction is the same with Data 4, so the yaw angle is 248
counter-clockwise. Similarly, Data 8 also belongs to this
circumstance. If the yaw direction is different from that of last
time, the yaw angle and direction of this time remain the same.
As Data 9 is shown, the relative wind angle of 226 , it would
have been yawed 134 counter-clockwise, but because the yaw
direction is different from the Data 8, so it remain yaw 134
counter-clockwise.
(4) As a result of the discrete feature of the wind, the error
of the wind direction sensor, the out-of-step of stepping motor,
and the interfering signal, the yaw control system has certain
errors. However, these errors are within the acceptable range,
so the control algorithm is effective.
VI. CONCLUSION
In order to improve the rapidity and accuracy of the yaw
control system, this paper introduced a yaw control algorithm
for the horizontal axis wind turbine. The relative wind direction
is detected by the wind sensor, the yaw angle is calculated by
DSP controller on the basis of the proposed control algorithm,
the micro-stepping control is adapted to control the stepping
motor, and finally the purpose of tracking the wind
automatically is achieved. The experimental results consist
with the theoretical analysis. Using DSP control, real-time
performance is great, and data processing is fast. In addition,
based on the micro-stepping control, the stepper motor can be
drove to make the windward smoothly and accurately.
However, due to its own discrete characteristics of wind, the
sensitivity of the wind direction sensor to interference, the yaw
system can only work after the stability of the sensor, which
will bring a certain error control and delay to the system.
Thereforemore study is needed to solve these problems in
the future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the National High-tech
Research and Development Program (863 Program) of China
under Award 2008AA05Z411.
REFERENCES
[1] D. Elliott, Assessing the world's wind resources, IEEE Power
Engineering Society Winter Meeting, 2002, pp. 346-347.
[2] E.A. DeMeo, 20% Electricity from wind power: An overview, IEEE
Power and Energy Society General Meeting-Conversion and Delivery of
Electrical Energy in the 21st Century, 2008, pp. 1-3.
[3] E. Denny and M. O'Malley, Wind generation, power system operation,
and emissions reduction, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 21,
pp. 341-347, Feburary 2006.
[4] H. Piao and Z. Wang, Simulative study of a new control algorithm for
yawing control system with PSCAD, in Third International Conference
on Electric Utility Deregulation and Restructuring and Power
Technologies, 2008, pp. 2734-2738.
[5] K. C. Wu, R.K. Joseph and N.K. Thupili, Evaluation of Classical and
Fuzzy Logic Controllers for Wind Turbine Yaw Control, Proceedings
of the First IEEE Regional Conference on Aerospace Control Systems,
1993, pp.254-258.
[6] F.A. Farret, L.L. Pfischer and D.P. Bernardon, Active yaw control with
sensorless wind speed and direction measurements for horizontal axis
wind turbines, Proceedings of the Third IEEE International Caracas
Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems, 2000, pp. I25/1-I25/6.
[7] H.M. Kojabadi, L. Chang and T. Boutot, Development of a novel wind
turbine simulator for wind energy conversion systems using an inverter-
controlled induction motor, IEEE Transaction on Energy Conversion,
vol. 19, pp.547-552, September 2004.
[8] E. Koutroulis and K. Kalaitzakis, Design of a maximum power tracking
system for wind-energy-conversion applications, IEEE Transactions on
Industrial Electronics, vol. 53, pp.486-494, April 2006.
[9] W. Yang, P.J. Tavner, M. Wilkinson, Wind turbine condition
monitoring and fault diagnosis using both mechanical and electrical
signatures, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced
Intelligent Mechatronics, 2008, pp.1296-1301.
[10] Y. Zhang and S. Ula, Comparison and evaluation of three main types of
wind turbines, IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution Conference
and Exposition, 2008, pp.1-6.
[11] Y. Li, Y. Hu, W. Huang, L. Liu, and Y. Zhang, The Capacity
Optimization for the Static Excitation Controller of the Dual-Stator-
Winding Induction Generator Operating in a Wide Speed Range, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 56, pp. 530-541, February
2009.
[12] D. Wang, W. Ma, F. Xiao, B. Zhang, D. Liu, and A. Hu, A novel stand-
alone dual stator-winding induction generator with static excitation
regulation, IEEE Transaction on Energy Conversion, vol. 20, pp. 826-
835, December 2005.
[13] P. Kruszynski, and S. Sobieski, How does ethernet work on freescale
MPC8555E embedded platform with FreeBSD system? 1st
International Conference on Information Technology, 2008, pp. 1-4.
[14] W.W. Su, H. Deng, and R. Dyba, Efficient Implementation of Voice
Enhancement Algorithms on Freescale Starcore SC3400 Based Digital
Signal Processor, IEEE 13th Digital Signal Processing Workshop and
5th IEEE Signal Processing Education Workshop, 2009, pp.768-773.
[15] J.D. Wale, and C. Pollock, Hybrid stepping motors and drives, Power
Engineering Journal, vol. 15, pp.5-12 February 2001.
[16] M.A.A. Freitas, D.A. Andrade, T.T. Borges, and H.R. Azevedo,
Driving the step motor with controlled phase currents, in Proceedings
of International Conference on Power Electronic Drives and Energy
Systems for Industrial Growth, 1998, pp. 493-498.
[17] S. M. Yang, F. C. Lin, and M. T. Chen, Micro-stepping control of a
two-phase linear stepping motor with three-phase VSI inverter for high-
speed applications, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol.
40, pp. 1257-1264, September-October, 2004.