scholarly journals Exploring the Causes of Power-Converter Failure in Wind Turbines based on Comprehensive Field-Data and Damage Analysis

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Fischer ◽  
Karoline Pelka ◽  
Sebastian Puls ◽  
Max-Hermann Poech ◽  
Axel Mertens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Power Converter ◽  
Damage Analysis ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Die Attach ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Maintenance Service

Power converters are among the most frequently failing components of wind turbines. Despite their massive economic impact, the actual causes and mechanisms underlying these failures have remained in the dark for many years. In view of this situation, a large consortium of three research institutes and 16 companies, including wind-turbine and component manufacturers, operators and maintenance-service providers has joined forces to identify the main causes and driving factors of the power-converter failures in wind turbines to create a basis for effective remedial measures. The present paper summarizes and discusses the results of this research initiative, which have been achieved through the evaluation of converter-specific failure and operating data of a large and diverse worldwide wind-turbine fleet, field measurements as well as post-mortem investigation of returned converter components. A key conclusion of the work is that the thermal-cycling induced fatigue of bond-chip contacts and die-attach solder, which is a known issue in other fields of power-electronics applications and which has been widely assumed to be the principle damage mechanisms also in wind turbines, is no relevant contributor to the observed converter failures in this application. Instead, the results indicate that environmental factors such as humidity and contamination but also design and quality issues as well as human errors play an important part in the incidence of these failures.

Performance Characterization of a Wind Turbine Simulator for Grid Connected and Islanded Wind Turbine Operation

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Zimmerle ◽  
Oliver Pacific ◽  
Nathan Howard
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
State University ◽  
Electrical Networks ◽  
Transmission Grid ◽  
Colorado State University ◽  
Grid Simulation ◽  
Field Information ◽  
The Individual

To better understand the effect of significant wind power production on distributed electrical networks, a Wind Turbine Simulator (WTS) was incorporated into the Grid Simulation Laboratory (GSL) at Colorado State University. This paper discusses the development of the engine controls, gain tuning and response matching to field measurements of wind turbines. Response was characterized while connected to the transmission grid, similar to the field information, using a series of transient events gleaned from field information. Transients caused by breaker events, which emulate connecting or disconnecting the individual wind turbines, were also considered. While overall correlation between commanded and actual power output was strong, several limitations were identified and are described.

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Wake Interference on the Performances of Wind Turbines Over Complex Terrains

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Hu ◽  
Ahmet Ozbay ◽  
Wei Tian ◽  
Zifeng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Wake Interference ◽  
Baseline Case ◽  
Power Yield ◽  
Power Outputs

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the interferences of wind turbines sited over hilly terrains in order to elucidate underlying physics to explore/optimize design paradigms of wind turbines sited over complex terrains for higher power yield and better durability. The experiments were conducted in a large wind tunnel with of wind turbine models sited over a flat terrain (baseline case) and a 2D-ridge with non-homogenous atmospheric boundary layer winds. In addition to measuring dynamic wind loads (both forces and moments) and the power outputs of the wind turbine models, a high-resolution digital Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system was used to conduct detailed flow field measurements to quantify the flow characteristics of the surface winds and wake interferences among multiple wind turbines over flat (baseline case) and complex terrains. The detailed flow field measurements were correlated with the wind load measurements and power outputs of the wind turbine models to elucidate the underlying physics associated with turbine power generation and fatigue loads acting on the wind turbines.

scholarly journals Efficient wind energy generation within Arctic latitudes

2019 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 11005
Author(s):  
Sergei Kryltcov ◽  
Sergei Solovev
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Power Quality ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Energy Generation ◽  
Power Converter ◽  
Wind Energy Generation ◽  
Simulink Model ◽  
Free Current

The paper addresses approaches to increasing the efficiency of wind turbines operating in autonomous mode in Arctic regions. Such type of wind turbine operation is related to fluctuations of the generated power, that negatively affects grid power quality. The increase of wind turbines efficiency is achieved by the utilization of current reserve of power converter, which is a necessary part of megawatts-sized wind energy generation unit. The developed Simulink model of the wind turbines, built according to two of the most suitable for megawatts-level power generation topologies, was used to determine their power output depending on the wind turbine’s rotor speed and the wind speed. Obtained power profile was then used to determine the amount of free current reserve depending on the wind speed, which has verified the ability of both wind turbine topologies to efficiently improve grid power quality, therefore leading to reduction or absence of the necessity to install additional power equipment for the compensation purpose.

Effect of Flow Inclination on Wind Turbine Performance

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Tsalicoglou ◽  
S. Barber ◽  
N. Chokani ◽  
R. S. Abhari
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Wake Flow ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Power Coefficient ◽  
Incoming Flow ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Blade Element

This work examines the effect of flow inclination on the performance of a stand-alone wind turbine and of wind turbines operating in the wakes of upstream turbines. The experimental portion of this work, which includes performance and flow-field measurements, is conducted in the ETH dynamically-scaled wind turbine test facility, with a wind turbine model that can be inclined relative to the incoming flow. The performance of the wind turbine is measured with an in-line torque-meter and a 5-hole steady-state probe is used to detail the inflow and wake flow of the turbine. Measurements show that over a range of tip-speed ratios of 4–7.5, the power coefficient of a wind turbine with an incoming flow of 15-degrees inclination decreases on average by 7% relative to the power coefficient of a wind turbine with a non-inclined incoming flow. Flowfield measurements show that the wake of a turbine with an inclined incoming flow is deflected; the deflection angle is approximately 6-degrees for an incoming flow with 15-degrees inclination. The measured wake profiles are used as inflow profiles for a Blade Element Momentum code in order to quantify the impact of flow inclination on the performance of downstream wind turbines. In comparison to the case without inclination in the incoming flow, the combined power output of two aligned turbines with incoming inclined flow decreases by 1%, showing that flow inclination in complex terrain does not significantly reduce the energy production.

scholarly journals A Text-Mining Approach to Assess the Failure Condition of Wind Turbines Using Maintenance Service History

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Blanco-M. ◽  
Pere Marti-Puig ◽  
Karina Gibert ◽  
Jordi Cusidó ◽  
Jordi Solé-Casals
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Failure Condition ◽  
Training Set ◽  
Human Expert ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Maintenance Service ◽  
Unknown Status ◽  
Condition Monitoring System

Detecting and determining which systems or subsystems of a wind turbine have more failures is essential to improve their design, which will reduce the costs of generating wind power. Two of the most critical failures, the generator and gearbox, are analyzed and characterized with four metrics. This failure analysis usually begins with the identification of the turbine’s condition, a process normally performed by an expert examining the wind turbine’s service history. This is a time-consuming task, as a human expert has to examine each service entry. To automate this process, a new methodology is presented here, which is based on a set of steps to preprocess and decompose the service history to find relevant words and sentences that discriminate an unhealthy wind turbine period from a healthy one. This is achieved by means of two classifiers fed with the matrix of terms from the decomposed document of the training wind turbines. The classifiers can extract essential words and determine the conditions of new turbines of unknown status using the text from the service history, emulating what a human expert manually does when labelling the training set. Experimental results are promising, with accuracy and F-score above 90% in some cases. Condition monitoring system can be improved and automated using this system, which helps the expert in the tedious task of identifying the relevant words from the turbine service history. In addition, the system can be retrained when new knowledge becomes available and may therefore always be as accurate as a human expert. With this new tool, the expert can focus on identifying which systems or subsystems can be redesigned to increase the efficiency of wind turbines.

scholarly journals A multi-purpose lifting-line flow solver for arbitrary wind energy concepts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Branlard ◽  
Ian Brownstein ◽  
Benjamin Strom ◽  
Jason Jonkman ◽  
Scott Dana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine ◽  
Flow Solver ◽  
Wind Turbine Aerodynamics ◽  
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines ◽  
Lifting Surfaces

Abstract. In this work, we extend the AeroDyn module of OpenFAST to be able to support arbitrary collections of wings, rotors and towers. The new standalone AeroDyn driver supports arbitrary motions of the lifting-surfaces and complex turbulent inflows. We describe the features and updates necessary for the implementation of the new AeroDyn driver. We present different case studies of the driver to illustrate its application to concepts such as: multi-rotors, kites, or vertical axis wind turbines. We perform verification and validation of some of the new features using the following test cases: an elliptical wing, a horizontal axis wind turbine, and a 2D and 3D vertical axis wind turbines. The wind turbine simulations are compared to field measurements. We use this opportunity to point out some limitations of current models and highlight areas which we think should be the focus of future research in wind turbine aerodynamics.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Reactive Power Support Capability of Wind Turbines

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5211-5216 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. D. Chung
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Reactive Power ◽  
Power Converter ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Normal Operation ◽  
Variable Speed ◽  
Static Synchronous Compensator ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
Variable Speed Wind Turbine

Reactive power plays an important role in the operation of power systems, especially in the case of wind energy integration. This paper aims to evaluate the reactive power support capability of wind turbines in both normal and voltage sag conditions. The three 2MW wind turbines studied are a fixed speed wind turbine and two variable speed wind turbines with full-scale and power-scale power converters. Comparison results indicate that at normal operation, the fixed speed wind turbine with a static synchronous compensator is able to consume the highest reactive power, while the variable speed wind turbine with full-scale power converter can supply the highest reactive power. In case of low voltage, the fixed speed wind turbine with the static synchronous compensator can support the highest reactive power if the static synchronous compensator’s capacity is similar to the wind turbine’s capacity, while if its capacity is equal to 25% of the generator’s capacity, the variable speed wind turbine with full-scale power converter has the best performance.

EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDIES OF VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES

2018 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
B. P. Khozyainov
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Flow Velocity ◽  
Wind Power ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Power Efficiency ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Geometrical Parameters ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Analytical Studies ◽  
Air Flow Velocity

The article carries out the experimental and analytical studies of three-blade wind power installation and gives the technique for measurements of angular rate of wind turbine rotation depending on the wind speeds, the rotating moment and its power. We have made the comparison of the calculation results according to the formulas offered with the indicators of the wind turbine tests executed in natural conditions. The tests were carried out at wind speeds from 0.709 m/s to 6.427 m/s. The wind power efficiency (WPE) for ideal traditional installation is known to be 0.45. According to the analytical calculations, wind power efficiency of the wind turbine with 3-bladed and 6 wind guide screens at wind speedsfrom 0.709 to 6.427 is equal to 0.317, and in the range of speed from 0.709 to 4.5 m/s – 0.351, but the experimental coefficient is much higher. The analysis of WPE variations shows that the work with the wind guide screens at insignificant average air flow velocity during the set period of time appears to be more effective, than the work without them. If the air flow velocity increases, the wind power efficiency gradually decreases. Such a good fit between experimental data and analytical calculations is confirmed by comparison of F-test design criterion with its tabular values. In the design of wind turbines, it allows determining the wind turbine power, setting the geometrical parameters and mass of all details for their efficient performance.

SHAPING OF AN AUTONOMOUS POWER SYSTEM FOR GUARANTEED POWER SUPPLY WITH THE PREDOMINANCE WIND ENERGY

2018 ◽  
pp. 28-50
Author(s):  
S. G. Ignatiev ◽  
S. V. Kiseleva
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Diesel Generator ◽  
Average Wind Speed ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Average Wind

Optimization of the autonomous wind-diesel plants composition and of their power for guaranteed energy supply, despite the long history of research, the diversity of approaches and methods, is an urgent problem. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the wind energy characteristics is proposed to shape an autonomous power system for a guaranteed power supply with predominance wind energy. The analysis was carried out on the basis of wind speed measurements in the south of the European part of Russia during 8 months at different heights with a discreteness of 10 minutes. As a result, we have obtained a sequence of average daily wind speeds and the sequences constructed by arbitrary variations in the distribution of average daily wind speeds in this interval. These sequences have been used to calculate energy balances in systems (wind turbines + diesel generator + consumer with constant and limited daily energy demand) and (wind turbines + diesel generator + consumer with constant and limited daily energy demand + energy storage). In order to maximize the use of wind energy, the wind turbine integrally for the period in question is assumed to produce the required amount of energy. For the generality of consideration, we have introduced the relative values of the required energy, relative energy produced by the wind turbine and the diesel generator and relative storage capacity by normalizing them to the swept area of the wind wheel. The paper shows the effect of the average wind speed over the period on the energy characteristics of the system (wind turbine + diesel generator + consumer). It was found that the wind turbine energy produced, wind turbine energy used by the consumer, fuel consumption, and fuel economy depend (close to cubic dependence) upon the specified average wind speed. It was found that, for the same system with a limited amount of required energy and high average wind speed over the period, the wind turbines with lower generator power and smaller wind wheel radius use wind energy more efficiently than the wind turbines with higher generator power and larger wind wheel radius at less average wind speed. For the system (wind turbine + diesel generator + energy storage + consumer) with increasing average speed for a given amount of energy required, which in general is covered by the energy production of wind turbines for the period, the maximum size capacity of the storage device decreases. With decreasing the energy storage capacity, the influence of the random nature of the change in wind speed decreases, and at some values of the relative capacity, it can be neglected.

scholarly journals Monitoring Wind Turbine Gearbox with Echo State Network Modeling and Dynamic Threshold Using SCADA Vibration Data

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Wu ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
Guoqian Jiang ◽  
Ping Xie ◽  
Xiaoli Li
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Dynamic Threshold ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Echo State Network ◽  
Monitoring Method ◽  
Vibration Data ◽  
Static Monitoring ◽  
Threshold Monitoring

Health monitoring of wind turbine gearboxes has gained considerable attention as wind turbines become larger in size and move to more inaccessible locations. To improve the reliability, extend the lifetime of the turbines, and reduce the operation and maintenance cost caused by the gearbox faults, data-driven condition motoring techniques have been widely investigated, where various sensor monitoring data (such as power, temperature, and pressure, etc.) have been modeled and analyzed. However, wind turbines often work in complex and dynamic operating conditions, such as variable speeds and loads, thus the traditional static monitoring method relying on a certain fixed threshold will lead to unsatisfactory monitoring performance, typically high false alarms and missed detections. To address this issue, this paper proposes a reliable monitoring model for wind turbine gearboxes based on echo state network (ESN) modeling and the dynamic threshold scheme, with a focus on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) vibration data. The aim of the proposed approach is to build the turbine normal behavior model only using normal SCADA vibration data, and then to analyze the unseen SCADA vibration data to detect potential faults based on the model residual evaluation and the dynamic threshold setting. To better capture temporal information inherent in monitored sensor data, the echo state network (ESN) is used to model the complex vibration data due to its simple and fast training ability and powerful learning capability. Additionally, a dynamic threshold monitoring scheme with a sliding window technique is designed to determine dynamic control limits to address the issue of the low detection accuracy and poor adaptability caused by the traditional static monitoring methods. The effectiveness of the proposed monitoring method is verified using the collected SCADA vibration data from a wind farm located at Inner Mongolia in China. The results demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve improved detection accuracy and reliability compared with the traditional static threshold monitoring method.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document