Estimation of Mechanical Parameters and Tidal Current Velocity for a Tidal Turbine

This paper presents a novel methods for the estimation of the mechanical parameters and the tidal current velocity in a Tidal Energy Conversion System. The first method is based on a Luenberger Observer including the mechanical equation of the system, and the measurement of the electric current induced by the electrical machine. Then, the estimation of the tidal stream velocity is obtained by solving the hydrodynamic power equation by the Newton-Rasphone method with a prediction model as initial condition. Numerical simulations were carried out with two scenarios: a tidal current velocity step and a real tidal current velocity, in order to validate the performance and the effectiveness of these estimation methods. These proposed estimators aim to eliminate the drawbacks of mechanical sensors.