Robert Boschgmbh

Igus-innovative Technische Systeme Gmbh

Bosch Rexroth Ag

Weidmüller Monitoring Systems Gmbh

Igus Ingenieurgemeinschaft Umweltschutz Mess- Und Verfahrenstechnik Gmbh

Peter Volkmer

Christoph Lang

Lakshmi Venkatraman

Vivek Jain

Huang Lee

Ralf Schmidt

Murat Senel

Mahito Ando

A wind turbine condition monitoring system and method are disclosed where the wind turbines include a tower, a gearbox coupled to the tower, and turbine blades coupled to the gearbox. The monitoring system includes blade sensors coupled to the blades, a hub node coupled to the gearbox and a controller. The controller is in communication with the hub node and blade sensors, and determines blade positions based on blade sensor readings. The blade sensors and hub node can include multi-axis accelerometers. The controller can wirelessly communicate with the blade sensors directly or through the hub node. Using position information, shadowing areas with obstructed communication can be avoided, node separation can be accounted for to reduce power requirements and/or interference from multiple transmitters can be avoided during node communications.

Method for robust wireless wind turbine condition monitoring

A method of operating a wind turbine includes providing a wind turbine having a plurality of blades. A respective sensor is attached to each of the blades. First measurements of a structural characteristic of each of the blades are repeatedly taken by use of the sensors. A tolerance band is established for the measurements. Signals indicative of the first measurements are wirelessly transmitted only if the first measurements are outside of the tolerance band. The transmitted signals are received at a controller. An actuator signal is sent from the controller to at least one actuator associated with the blades. The sending is in response to the receiving of the transmitted signals. At least one of the blades is actuated dependent upon the actuator signal. The actuating is performed by the at least one actuator. Second measurements of the structural characteristic of each of the blades are repeatedly taken by use of the sensors after the actuating step. The wirelessly transmitting, receiving, sending and actuating steps are repeated for the second measurements.

Energy-efficient wireless communication scheme for wind turbines

In a method for monitoring the load on rotor blades of wind energy installations by measuring acceleration on at least one rotor blade of a wind energy installation and determining load on the rotor blade from the picked-up acceleration signals, dynamic, even uncritical load states can be detected, in differentiated fashion, and combined in a suitable form for evaluation in order to influence, if possible prior to the onset of damage to the rotor blade, the mode of operation of the wind energy installation, in particular the design of the pitch control or angle setting of stall-regulated rotor blades, on the basis both of all of the rotor blades together and of a single rotor blade. Frequency of occurrence of the load values over a certain period of time is determined from amplitudes of the acceleration signal or amplitudes of selected natural oscillations of the frequency spectra are obtained by Fourier transformation.

Method for monitoring the load on rotor blades of wind energy installations

The invention relates to a method and a device for monitoring the state of rotor blades on wind power installations. According to the invention, structure-borne noise is measured by means of at least one displacement sensor arranged on the rotor blade, the output signals of said sensors determine a frequency spectrum in an evaluation unit by means of suitable methods, the frequency spectrum is compared to reference spectra corresponding to defined states of damage and other particular states and stored in the evaluation unit, and the state of the rotor blade is determined therefrom. The aim of the invention is to provide a method and a device which enable existing local inner and outer damage, and other particular damage-causing states of the rotor blades, to be rapidly identified and evaluated, in order to take into account the effect thereof on the operation of the installation in an automatic manner. To this end, structure-borne noise is measured from a sequence of individual measurements carried out directly one after the other, the beginning of each of said individual measurements being triggered according to a uniform rotational angle of the rotor blade in relation to the rotational axis of the rotor, and all of the determined frequency spectra of each individual measurements are accumulated before being compared with the reference spectra.

Method and device for monitoring the state of rotor blades on wind power installations

Growing community of inventors

Dresden, Germany

Peter Volkmer