Abstract:
A method of estimating an amount of undesired loading experienced by at least a portion of a structure (100) is provided. The structure (100) may be, for example, a wind turbine generator (WTG) and the portion for which undesired loading is estimated may be, for example, a rotor (130) of the WTG. The method includes receiving a first signal characterizing instantaneous stress experienced by a component (140) of the structure (100) and filtering out at least a portion of the received first signal that corresponds to the desired loading experienced by the component to produce a first filtered signal. The amount of undesired loading experienced by the at least a portion of the structure (100) is estimated based at least partially on the first filtered signal.
Abstract:
The rotor blades of a wind turbine each have a plurality of fiber-optic pressure variation sensors which can detect the onset of a stall condition. The output of the stall condition sensors is input to a stall count circuit which increases a stall count signal each time a stall indication is received. The stall count signal is decayed exponentially over time and the current signal is summed with the decayed signal from a previous sampling period to form a value from which a stall margin is determined. An λ:θ curve of tip speed to wind speed ratio λ against pitch angle reference θ is then determined from the stall margin.
Abstract:
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to wind turbine generators, and more specifically to the deactivation of wind turbines in a wind turbine park. A wind park controller may be configured to retrieve data indicating fatigue experienced by each wind turbine of the wind turbine park, and deactivate those turbines determined to be the most fatigued, thereby increasing the lifetime of turbines in the wind turbine park.