Researchers from Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have developed a new method for wind turbine monitoring and fault diagnosis.
DTU Electrical Engineering’s associate professor Henrik Niemann and his research team have developed a new method to monitor the wind turbine and find the location of any wear or fault and nature of the fault.
The monitoring will be carried out using the symmetry created by the wind turbine when the blades rotate.
The new method will offer measurements that include the information about the fault of wind turbine, as well as location and nature of the fault.
According to DTU, the new method will be generous in terms of both wind turbine monitoring, as it helps to know in advance where errors and wear and tear are about to occur.
Researchers have perfectly tested the new method in the laboratory, and are now planning to test in the field. They are dealing with various wind turbine manufacturers to conduct the test.
Niemann said: “We use data from sensors positioned at the point where the wind turbine blade is attached to the axis. There are two torque sensors on each blade. These are sensors which are already found on newer wind turbines in order to monitor the blade load.
“A wind turbine has three blades, so this provides three sets of measurements in total. We collect the data and then conduct a simple signal analysis.
“We were working on a project in which we developed a traditional model for monitoring wind turbines. However, when one researcher was replaced by another in the course of the project, some of the previous data had to be looked at afresh.”
Image: The new method will be conducted by using the symmetry created by the wind turbine when the blades rotate. Photo: courtesy of Technical University of Denmark.