Fuzzy Controller for a Gas Turbine Plant

A novel control for a gas turbine plant using fuzzy scheme is proposed. At the inlet, the compressor in the gas turbine plant is equipped with an adjustable inlet guide vane (IGV), which is controlling the airflow to the entire turbine at all load conditions. At any load change the IGV staggering angle is adjusted such, that the change in air mass flow keeps the turbine exhaust temperature at a constant value. Fuel flow also varied with respect to change in load / speed. The existing control schemes have difficulty to cope up with inherent time delay, nonlinearity due to uncertainty of the combustion process and frequent load changes. This paper presents the design of fuzzy controllers to regulate the IGV position to maintain exhaust temperature and alter the fuel flow with respect to load/speed during all demand conditions. A lab scale experimental setup is fabricated in the laboratory and simulation studies were carried out using conventional PID and fuzzy schemes. Detailed real time data was obtained from the gas turbine plant to validate the controller´s performance. The advantages of the proposed scheme over the existing controller are highlighted.