Experimental Validation of a Nonlinear MPC Strategy for a Wave Energy Converter Prototype

• Published in: Volume 6: Ocean Space Utilization; Ocean Renewable Energy
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Hoaï-Nam, Sabiron, Guillaume, Tona, Paolino, Kramer, Morten, Vidal Sanchez, Enrique
• Other Authors: IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), Aalborg University Denmark (AAU), Wave Star A/S
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: wave energy converters; model predictive control; wave force estimation; wave force prediction; point absorbers; [INFO.INFO-AU]Computer Science [cs]/Automatic Control Engineering; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal-ifp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01443837; https://hal-ifp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01443837/document; https://hal-ifp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01443837/file/OMAE_Nguyen_et_al_HAL.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1115/OMAE2016-54455

International audience One of the major limitations to the development of advancedwave energy converters (WECs) control strategies are the associatedcomputational costs. For instance, model predictive control(MPC) strategies have the potential to obtain almost optimalperformance, provided that the imperfect power conversion inthe power take-off (PTO) system is correctly taken into accountin the optimization criterion and that the incoming wave forcecan be estimated and forecast. However, demanding computationalrequirements as well as the unresolved issue of wave forceestimation have so far prevented real-time implementation andvalidation of such MPC strategies. In this paper, we present thesuccessful experimental results obtained on a scaled-down prototypeof the well-known Wavestar machine. Performance comparisonsare provided for nonlinear MPC versus a reference PIcontroller.