Remote Wind Park Control via Virtual Computing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wind parks face high costs and complexities due to the need for physical hardware upgrades and maintenance in remote or offshore locations, leading to increased mean time to repair and recovery, especially in offshore settings where access is difficult and costly.
Innovation Solution
A remote computing environment is established to manage and control wind turbines, eliminating the need for physical devices in turbines and substations by providing a virtual environment for complete control functionality, allowing communication and control from a remote location using virtual supervisory controllers and communication means like IP-based channels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If physical hardware components are installed in wind turbines for control functionality, then control and operation can be performed locally, but hardware upgrades and maintenance require expensive physical presence in wind turbines leading to high mean time to repair and recovery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of control hardware components in a remote computing environment. Instead of physical controllers in each wind turbine, virtual controller instances are deployed remotely, allowing maintenance personnel to access and repair systems remotely without physical presence at the wind turbine site, thereby reducing mean time to repair and maintenance costs
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a remote computing environment as an intermediary between operators and wind turbines. This intermediary hosts virtual control systems that can be accessed and maintained remotely, eliminating the need for direct physical access to wind turbine hardware for maintenance activities
2Adaptability or versatility
If new functionality is required in wind turbines, then new hardware must be installed in the wind turbine or substation, but this increases installation costs and complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic control system where functionality is not fixed in hardware but can be dynamically added, modified, or removed through software updates in the remote computing environment. New control functions can be deployed as virtual instances without any physical hardware installation at the wind turbine site
Solution Approach 2:
The remote computing environment serves multiple functions: it acts as the control system, the maintenance platform, the upgrade mechanism, and the monitoring system all in one universal infrastructure, eliminating the need for separate hardware installations for each function
3Reliability
If industrial grade PCs are used for wind turbine control, then reliable control functionality is achieved, but the system requires physical end devices in wind turbines and substations increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate control devices (wind turbine controllers, interface computers, measurement systems) into a single consolidated remote computing environment. Instead of having distributed physical devices at each wind turbine and substation, all control functions are combined in one remote location, reducing the number of physical devices while maintaining reliability through virtualization
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention describes a control system (1) for a wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3), wherein the wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3) comprises a number of wind turbines (1A, ..., 3n) for generating electrical power and a substation (16) for feeding the electrical power into a grid, which control system (1) comprises a remote computing environment (10, 20, 30), which remote computing environment (10, 20, 30) is realised at a location remote from the wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3) and comprises an essentially complete control functionality for the wind turbines (1A, ..., 3n) of the wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3); and a communication means (14, 140) for communication between an operator at a remote location and a wind turbine (1A, ..., 3n) of the wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3). The invention also describes a remote computing environment (10, 20, 30) for controlling a remote wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3) from a location remote from the wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3); a wind turbine (1A, ..., 3n) for use in a wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3) controlled by such a control system (1); a wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3) comprising such a control system (1); and a method of controlling a wind park (WP1, WP2, WP3).