Abstracts Category : Other

Development of an Integrated Generator Power Take-of Strategy usingModel Predictive Control (MPC) for Ocean Wave Energy Conversion

by Srinivasan Subhash Sundaram

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has previously been investigated on ocean waveenergy converters (WEC) to improve the amount of power captured, while respectingthe system constraints. Previous research done in the same area, focused onbuilding a control scheme by using the knowledge of the past & current statesof the system and predicting the future states of the system based on which thecontrol action was taken for the power-take-o (PTO) to maximize power capture.This was done by maximizing the product of force and velocity and at the sametime, staying under the permissible limits of both force and velocity (constraints).Our research attempts investigate if an integrated approach for power maximizationis possible by trying to modify the way power maximization is done. Thisis made possible by integrating a state-space generator model with a state-spaceWEC model. This combined generator-WEC model is then used with an MPCcontroller. So rather than having PTO-force as the input for the wave energy converter,dq reference frame voltages are used as inputs and the product of voltagesand currents for the d and q axes (i.e. the electrical power) is maximized.Advisors/Committee Members: Brekken, Ted (advisor), Albertani, Roberto (committee member).