Wind Farm Cascaded Turbine Shutdown for Grid Fault Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wind farm control systems are inadequate in handling internal faults, leading to potential grid instability and power fluctuations when errors occur in the central control unit or data bus, as they often result in simultaneous shutdown of all turbines, disrupting the energy supply.
Innovation Solution
A wind farm control system with a central control unit and data bus that allows wind turbines to switch to a default operating mode and shut down in a cascaded manner, with predetermined time intervals between each turbine's shutdown, enabling independent operation and controlled shutdown of wind energy installations in case of errors, thereby preventing simultaneous disconnection from the energy supply.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fault occurs in the central wind farm control unit or data bus, then all wind turbines must be shut down for safety, but simultaneous shutdown of all turbines causes grid instability and power fluctuations
Solution Approach 1:
The shutdown process is segmented into sequential steps with predetermined time intervals between each turbine's shutdown. Instead of simultaneous shutdown, turbines are divided into groups that shut down at different times, reducing the impact on grid stability while maintaining safety requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit determines and prepares a predetermined time interval for each wind turbine before the actual fault occurs. This preliminary planning allows the system to execute a controlled sequential shutdown rather than a sudden simultaneous disconnection, mitigating grid instability.
2Speed
If wind turbines are shut down simultaneously for safety, then the wind farm responds quickly to faults, but the entire wind farm is disconnected from the power grid all at once causing power fluctuations
Solution Approach 1:
The shutdown action is segmented across multiple turbines at different times. Each turbine receives a predetermined shutdown time interval from the control unit, creating a staggered shutdown sequence that maintains power supply stability while still responding quickly to faults.
Solution Approach 2:
The shutdown process is made dynamic through the use of predetermined time intervals that can be adjusted for each turbine. This allows the system to adapt the shutdown sequence to minimize power fluctuations while maintaining fast response to faults.
3Ease of operation
If a centralized control system is used to manage all wind turbines, then coordination is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to single points of failure
Solution Approach 1:
The control function is segmented between the central control unit and individual wind turbine control units. Each turbine has its own control unit that can independently execute shutdown commands, reducing the vulnerability to single points of failure while maintaining centralized coordination for normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The data bus serves as an intermediary communication channel between the central control unit and individual turbine control units. This allows coordinated control during normal operation while enabling independent turbine response when communication fails, balancing centralized coordination with distributed reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A wind park is provided having a central wind park control unit (200), a plurality of wind turbines (100) and a data bus (210, 220) for coupling said central wind park control unit (200) to the plurality of wind turbines (100). Each of the wind turbines (100) has a control unit (120) which is designed to control the operation of the wind turbine (100) independently of the central wind park control unit (200) if an error occurs in the central wind park control unit (200) and/or an error occurs in the data bus (210, 220). The control unit (120) is designed to switch off the respective wind turbines (100) one after the other.