Wave energy plants: Control strategies for avoiding the stalling behaviour in the Wells turbine

This study analyzes the problem of the stalling behaviour in Wells turbines, one of the most widely used turbines in wave energy plants. For this purpose two different control strategies are presented and compared. In the first one, a rotational speed control system is employed to appropriately adapt the speed of the double-fed induction generator coupling to the turbine, according to the pressure drop entry. In the second control strategy, an airflow control regulates the power generated by the turbine generator module by means of the modulation valve avoiding the stalling behaviour. It is demonstrated that the proposed rotational speed control design adequately matches the desired relationship between the slip of the double-fed induction generator and the pressure drop input, whilst the valve control using a traditional PID controller successfully governs the flow that modulates the pressure drop across the turbine.