Semiactive vibration control of a Wind turbine tower using an MR damper

摘要

For fatigue vibration reduction modern wind turbines are installed with different kind of passive systems such as a tuned mass damper or a tuned liquid damper. However, passive control systems are limited because they cannot adapt to broadbanded loading conditions, i.e. they perform well for the load conditions dominated by a single frequency at which the device is tuned. However, wind turbine dynamics is dominated by the lowest tower frequency and the frequency 3Ω, where Ω is the rotor shaft speed. Therefore, for a wind turbine which operates under different load conditions an active control or semiactive system for reducing the fatigue will be more optimal than a passive control system. This paper presents a numerically and experimentally investigation of semiactive vibration control of wind turbine tower vibrations by using a magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper. Numerical simulations as well as experimental laboratory results indicate that the MR damper approach is superior to a traditional tuned mass damper for reducing the vibration of wind turbine towers.