Abstract
The control problem in wave energy continues to remain an open question. This is mainly attributed to the difficulties associated with developing effective, yet economically viable, wave energy-harnessing control strategies, such as resource irregularity, the multidisciplinary nature of the system, and dynamic model uncertainties and ambiguities. Herein, a maximum energy-capturing approach for heaving wave energy converters (WECs) using an estimator-based finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) is proposed. The proposed control strategy utilizes an elaborate nonlinear wave-to-wire model of a heaving WEC. The FCS-MPC is formulated such that a control command trajectory is not required; instead, it searches for the optimum control law - in the form of switching functions - that maximizes the WEC converted electrical energy while imposing soft constraints on the states of the power take-off (PTO) mechanism. Current transducers are deployed to measure the PTO three-phase currents and both mechanical and electrical variables required by the FCS-MPC strategy are estimated using an electrical-based extended Kalman filter (E-EKF). Simulations were performed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Results presented herein clearly show that the proposed referenceless FCS-MPC managed to produce 10%-23% more energy compared with benchmark resistive loading-based techniques with both fixed and variable wave frequency capabilities while utilizing 18%-45% less PTO resources.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 9422707 |
Pages (from-to) | 67648-67659 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | IEEE Access |
Volume | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Keywords
- Wave energy converter
- damping control
- extended Kalman filter
- finite control set
- model predictive control
- permanent magnet linear generator
- point absorber
- wave-to-wire model
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Computer Science
- General Materials Science
- General Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering