Patent ID: 8174136
Filing Date: 2012-05-08
Classification: F03D,F05B,G05B,Y02E

Abstract:
1. An adaptive control method for use with wind turbines to better capture available wind power, comprising: for a wind turbine operating with a first pitch angle, determining captured power for a first adaptation time period; determining wind power available for the wind turbine for the first time period; determining a power coefficient for the first adaptation time period based on a ratio of the captured power to the available wind power; generating a pitch signal for use in setting a second pitch angle of blades in the wind turbine by modifying the first pitch angle by a pitch increment; determining captured power and wind power available for a second adaptation time period; determining a power coefficient for the second adaptation time period based on ratio of the captured power to the available wind power for the second adaptation time period; comparing the power coefficients for the first and second adaptation time periods; and based on the comparing, generating a pitch signal for use in setting a third pitch angle of the blades in the wind turbine by modifying the second pitch angle of the blades by the pitch increment.