Extremum seeking for maximizing wind energy generation

New method for maximization of the energy transformation efficiency of wind energy systems is developed. The maximization is assumed to be equivalent to the maximization of the the energy transformation efficiency from the wind energy to the blades rotational energy. Extremum seeking control is applied to wind energy systems in the face of aerodynamic uncertainties. In the existing methods, maximization is achieved by adding periodic external signals to the input signal. We develop a control algorithm that achieves the maximization of the energy transformation efficiency by utilizing the periodic fluctuation of the rotational speed of the blades with the tower shadow effect as an external periodic signal. A numerical simulation result is provided to show efficacy of the proposed approach.