A Model for Dynamic Optimization of Pitch-Regulated Wind Turbines with Application

With the growing demand for cost-effective wind energy, optimization of wind turbine components has been gaining increasing attention for its acknowledged contributions made to design enhancement, especially in early stages of product development. One of the major design goals is the accurate determination of structural dynamics and control, which is di‐ rectly related to fatigue life and cost of energy production: a major design goal in exploiting wind energy. Modern wind turbines are designed with pitch-regulated rotor blades, which have to be able to turn around their longitudinal axis several times per second in order to face the rapidly changing wind direction. This fact emphasizes the need to improve the de‐ sign of pitch mechanisms using optimization techniques in order to increase availability of the turbines and reduce their maintenance overheads. (Florin et al., 2004; Jason et al. 2005) demonstrated the different tools for performing the analysis of the interaction between the mechanical system of the wind turbine and the electrical grid as well as the calculation of the dynamic loads on the turbine structure. In case of stronger winds it is necessary to waste part of the excess energy of the wind in order to avoid damaging the wind turbine. All wind turbines are therefore designed with some sort of power control. There are different ways of doing this safely on modern wind turbines: pitch, active stall and passive stall controlled wind turbines.