Adaptive back-stepping pitch angle control for wind turbine based on a new electro-hydraulic pitch system

A new electro-hydraulic pitch system is proposed to smooth the output power and drive-train torque fluctuations for wind turbine. This new pitch system employs a servo-valve-controlled hydraulic motor to enhance pitch control performances. This pitch system is represented by a state-space model with parametric uncertainties and nonlinearities. An adaptive back-stepping pitch angle controller is synthesised based on this state-space model to accurately achieve the desired pitch angle control regardless of such uncertainties and nonlinearities. This pitch angle controller includes a back-stepping procedure and an adaption law to deal with such uncertainties and nonlinearities and hence to improve the final pitch control performances. The proposed pitch system and the designed pitch angle controller have been validated for achievable and efficient power and torque regulation performances by comparative experimental results under various operating conditions.