scholarly journals Automated Detection of Premature Flow Transitions on Wind Turbine Blades Using Model-Based Algorithms

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8700
Author(s):  
Ann-Marie Parrey ◽  
Daniel Gleichauf ◽  
Michael Sorg ◽  
Andreas Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Turbulent Flow ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Layer Flow

Defects on rotor blade leading edges of wind turbines can lead to premature laminar–turbulent transitions, whereby the turbulent boundary layer flow forms turbulence wedges. The increased area of turbulent flow around the blade is of interest here, as it can have a negative effect on the energy production of the wind turbine. Infrared thermography is an established method to visualize the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, but the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the turbulence wedges is often too low to allow a reliable wedge detection with the existing image processing techniques. To facilitate a reliable detection, a model-based algorithm is presented that uses prior knowledge about the wedge-like shape of the premature flow transition. A verification of the algorithm with simulated thermograms and a validation with measured thermograms of a rotor blade from an operating wind turbine are performed. As a result, the proposed algorithm is able to detect turbulence wedges and to determine their area down to a CNR of 2. For turbulence wedges in a recorded thermogram on a wind turbine with CNR as low as 0.2, at least 80% of the area of the turbulence wedges is detected. Thus, the model-based algorithm is proven to be a powerful tool for the detection of turbulence wedges in thermograms of rotor blades of in-service wind turbines and for determining the resulting areas of the additional turbulent flow regions with a low measurement error.

scholarly journals A Robot-Assisted Large-Scale Inspection of Wind Turbine Blades in Manufacturing Using an Autonomous Mobile Manipulator

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9271
Author(s):  
Heiko Engemann ◽  
Patrick Cönen ◽  
Harshal Dawar ◽  
Shengzhi Du ◽  
Stephan Kallweit
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Mobile Manipulator ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
Execution Strategy

Wind energy represents the dominant share of renewable energies. The rotor blades of a wind turbine are typically made from composite material, which withstands high forces during rotation. The huge dimensions of the rotor blades complicate the inspection processes in manufacturing. The automation of inspection processes has a great potential to increase the overall productivity and to create a consistent reliable database for each individual rotor blade. The focus of this paper is set on the process of rotor blade inspection automation by utilizing an autonomous mobile manipulator. The main innovations include a novel path planning strategy for zone-based navigation, which enables an intuitive right-hand or left-hand driving behavior in a shared human–robot workspace. In addition, we introduce a new method for surface orthogonal motion planning in connection with large-scale structures. An overall execution strategy controls the navigation and manipulation processes of the long-running inspection task. The implemented concepts are evaluated in simulation and applied in a real-use case including the tip of a rotor blade form.

scholarly journals Forgószárnyas repülőgép rotorok aeroelasztikus viselkedésének vizsgálata szélturbina lapátok számára kifejelsztett eszközökkel

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-126
Author(s):  
Balázs Gáti ◽  
Tamás Gausz
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Software Package ◽  
Rotor Blade ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Rotary Wing ◽  
Multiple Analysis

Rotor blades of an autorotating helicopter or a gyrocopter work very similar to the rotor blades of a wind turbine in skew wind. In this publication we present the result of multiple analysis of a rotor blade of a rotary-wing airplane, but the analyses were performed with a software package developed for investigation of wind turbine blades. The results of several analyses seem to be valid for rotary-wing airplanes in some special, but very important cases, and can be useful for more detailed investigation. It was stated, that the fact leads to uninterpretable numerical solutions, that the angle between the undisturbed airflow and the Tip Path Plane is much lower in case of helicopters and gyrocopters than by wind turbines in most operational conditions .

scholarly journals Novel Application and Validation of a Method to Assess Visual Impacts of Rotating Wind Turbine Blades Within Woodland Areas

2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
U. Nopp-Mayr ◽  
F. Kunz ◽  
F. Suppan ◽  
E. Schöll ◽  
J. Coppes
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
Independent Field

AbstractIncreasing numbers of wind power plants (WPP) are constructed across the globe to reduce the anthropogenic contribution to global warming. There are, however, concerns on the effects of WPP on human health as well as related effects on wildlife. To address potential effects of WPP in environmental impact assessments, existing models accounting for shadow flickering and noise are widely applied. However, a standardized, yet simple and widely applicable proxy for the visibility of rotating wind turbines in woodland areas was largely lacking up to date. We combined land cover information of forest canopy extracted from orthophotos and airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) data to represent the visibility of rotating wind turbines in five woodland study sites with a high spatial resolution. Performing an in-situ validation in five study areas across Europe which resulted in a unique sample of 1738 independent field observations, we show that our approach adequately predicts from where rotating wind turbine blades are visible within woodlands or not. We thus provide strong evidence, that our approach yields a valuable proxy of the visibility of moving rotor blades with high resolution which in turn can be applied in environmental impact assessments of WPP within woodlands worldwide.

scholarly journals Sustainable End-of-Life Management of Wind Turbine Blades: Overview of Current and Coming Solutions

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1124
Author(s):  
Leon Mishnaevsky Mishnaevsky
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Natural Fiber ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Maintenance And Repair ◽  
Life Management ◽  
Large Wind

Various scenarios of end-of-life management of wind turbine blades are reviewed. “Reactive” strategies, designed to deal with already available, ageing turbines, installed in the 2000s, are discussed, among them, maintenance and repair, reuse, refurbishment and recycling. The main results and challenges of “pro-active strategies”, designed to ensure recyclability of new generations of wind turbines, are discussed. Among the main directions, the wind turbine blades with thermoplastic and recyclable thermoset composite matrices, as well as wood, bamboo and natural fiber-based composites were reviewed. It is argued that repair and reuse of wind turbine blades, and extension of the blade life has currently a number of advantages over other approaches. While new recyclable materials have been tested in laboratories, or in some cases on small or medium blades, there are remaining technological challenges for their utilization in large wind turbine blades.

scholarly journals Design and Analysis of a Wind Turbine Blade with Dimples to Enhance the Efficiency through CFD with ANSYS R16.0

2018 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 02004
Author(s):  
M. Rajaram Narayanan ◽  
S. Nallusamy ◽  
M. Ragesh Sathiyan
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Optimum Combination ◽  
Surface Topology ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Lift And Drag

In the global scenario, wind turbines and their aerodynamics are always subjected to constant research for increasing their efficiency which converts the abundant wind energy into usable electrical energy. In this research, an attempt is made to increase the efficiency through the changes in surface topology of wind turbines through computational fluid dynamics. Dimples on the other hand are very efficient in reducing air drag as is it evident from the reduction of drag and increase in lift in golf balls. The predominant factors influencing the efficiency of the wind turbines are lift and drag which are to be maximized and minimized respectively. In this research, surface of turbine blades are integrated with dimples of various sizes and arrangements and are analyzed using computational fluid dynamics to obtain an optimum combination. The analysis result shows that there is an increase in power with about 15% increase in efficiency. Hence, integration of dimples on the surface of wind turbine blades has helped in increasing the overall efficiency of the wind turbine.

Research on Wind Turbine Blade Loads and Dynamics Factors

2014 ◽  
Vol 1014 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
Zhi Qiang Xu ◽  
Jian Huang
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blade ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine Blade ◽  
Strength Analysis ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Turbine Wheel

Wind turbines consists of three key parts, namely, wind wheels (including blades, hub, etc.), cabin (including gearboxes, motors, controls, etc.) and the tower and Foundation. Wind turbine wheel is the most important part ,which is made up of blades and hubs. Blade has a good aerodynamic shape, which will produce aerodynamic in the airflow rotation, converting wind energy into mechanical energy, and then, driving the generator into electrical energy by gearbox pace. Wind turbine operates in the natural environment, their load wind turbine blades are more complex. Therefore load calculations and strength analysis for wind turbine design is very important. Wind turbine blades are core components of wind turbines, so understanding of their loads and dynamics by which the load on the wind turbine blade design is of great significance.

scholarly journals Moving Accelerometers to the Tip: Monitoring of Wind Turbine Blade Bending Using 3D Accelerometers and Model-Based Bending Shapes

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 5337
Author(s):  
Theresa Loss ◽  
Alexander Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Rotation Frequency ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Maximum Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Energy Capture ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Blade Tip ◽  
Wind Profiles

Increasing the length of wind turbine blades for maximum energy capture leads to larger loads and forces acting on the blades. In particular, alternate bending due to gravity or nonuniform wind profiles leads to increased loads and imminent fatigue. Therefore, blade monitoring in operation is needed to optimise turbine settings and, consequently, to reduce alternate bending. In our approach, an acceleration model was used to analyse periodically occurring deviations from uniform bending. By using hierarchical clustering, significant bending patterns could be extracted and patterns were analysed with regard to reference data. In a simulation of alternate bending effects, various effects were successfully represented by different bending patterns. A real data experiment with accelerometers mounted at the blade tip of turbine blades demonstrated a clear relation between the rotation frequency and the resulting bending patterns. Additionally, the markedness of bending shapes could be used to assess the amount of alternate bending of the blade in both simulations and experiment.s The results demonstrate that model-based bending shapes provide a strong indication for alternate bending and, consequently, can be used to optimise turbine settings.

scholarly journals FSI in Wind Turbines: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Yogesh Ramesh Patel
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Fluid Structure Interaction ◽  
Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Fluid Structure ◽  
Structure Interaction ◽  
Deformable Structure

This paper provides a brief overview of the research in the field of Fluid-structure interaction in Wind Turbines. Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) is the interplay of some movable or deformable structure with an internal or surrounding fluid flow. Flow brought about vibrations of two airfoils used in wind turbine blades are investigated by using a strong coupled fluid shape interplay approach. The approach is based totally on a regularly occurring Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code that solves the Navier-Stokes equations defined in Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) coordinates by way of a finite extent method. The need for the FSI in the wind Turbine system is studied and comprehensively presented.

scholarly journals Damage tolerance and structural monitoring for wind turbine blades

2015 ◽  
Vol 373 (2035) ◽  
pp. 20140077 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. McGugan ◽  
G. Pereira ◽  
B. F. Sørensen ◽  
H. Toftegaard ◽  
K. Branner
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Damage Tolerance ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Tolerance Index ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Reliable Design

The paper proposes a methodology for reliable design and maintenance of wind turbine rotor blades using a condition monitoring approach and a damage tolerance index coupling the material and structure. By improving the understanding of material properties that control damage propagation it will be possible to combine damage tolerant structural design, monitoring systems, inspection techniques and modelling to manage the life cycle of the structures. This will allow an efficient operation of the wind turbine in terms of load alleviation, limited maintenance and repair leading to a more effective exploitation of offshore wind.

In Situ Blade Deflection Monitoring of a Wind Turbine Using a Wireless Laser Displacement Sensor Device within the Tower

2013 ◽  
Vol 558 ◽  
pp. 84-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paritosh Giri ◽  
Jung Ryul Lee
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Turbine Blades ◽  
Displacement Sensor ◽  
Laser Displacement Sensor ◽  
Wind Turbine Blades ◽  
Analog To Digital ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Transceiver Module

With commercially viable global wind power potential, wind energy penetration is further expected to rise, as will the related problems. One issue is the collision of wind turbine blades with the tower during operation. Structured health monitoring is required to improve operational safety, minimize the risk of sudden failure or total breakdown, ensure reliable power generation, and reduce wind turbine life cycle costs. Large numbers of sensors such as fiber Bragg grating and piezoelectric devices have been attached to the structure, a design that is uneconomical and impractical for use in large wind turbines. This study proposes a single laser displacement sensor (LDS) system in which all of the rotating blades could be cost-effectively evaluated. Contrary to the approach of blade sensor installation, the LDS system is installed in the tower to enable noncontact blade displacement monitoring. The concept of a noncontact sensor and actuator and their energy delivery device installation in the tower will enable various approaches for wind turbine structural health monitoring. Blade bolt loosening causes deflection in the affected blade. Similarly, nacelle tilt or mass loss damage in the blade will result in changes in blade deflection, but the proposed system can identify such problems with ease. With the need of more energy, the sizes of wind blades are getting bigger and bigger. Due to the large size of wind turbine, nowadays wind turbines are installed very high above the ground or water level. It is impractical to monitor the results from LDS through wired connection in these cases. Hence, the wired connection of LDS to base (monitoring) station must be replaced by a wireless solution. This wireless solution is achieved using Zigbee technology. Zigbee operates in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands, typically 2.4 GHz, 915 MHz and 868 MHz. The output from the LDS is fed to the microcontroller which acts as an analog to digital converter. The output from the microcontroller is connected to the Zigbee transceiver module, which transmits the data and at the other end, the zigbee reads the data and displays on the PC from where user can monitor the condition of wind blades.

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