Comparative Study of MPPT and Pitch Angle Control Strategies for a Wind Energy Conversion System

Abstract

In this work, comparative analysis between various maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control schemes and pitch angle control methodologies are presented. In first place, proportional integral (PI), Sliding mode (SMC), Backstepping (BS) and Fuzzy logic (FLC) control strategies applied for MPPT to maximize the power during the wind energy conversion are developed. Then, the blades pitch angle control using PI and FLC controllers in order to limit the output power of the wind turbine (WT) are presented. The systems performances were simulated and compared using Matlab/Simulink environment. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies compared to the PI one, regarding reference tracking, inaccessibility of turbine parameters and sensibility to high variations of wind speed.