Wind Turbine Drive Redundancy for Continuous Operation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wind turbines experience increased downtime and reduced annual energy production (AEP) due to failures in the systems responsible for rotating components like the nacelle or rotor blades.
Innovation Solution
A method is implemented to continue operating a wind turbine using N-1 drives instead of N drives, with the damaged drive being permanently disabled, allowing for continued energy production until general maintenance can occur.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the wind turbine is stopped for maintenance of a damaged drive, then the damaged drive can be repaired, but the downtime increases and annual energy production decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The wind turbine continues to operate with N-1 drives instead of shutting down completely. The control system automatically detects the damaged drive and redistributes the operational load to the remaining functional drives, allowing energy production to continue uninterrupted while the damaged drive is repaired during scheduled maintenance periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system changes operational parameters by disabling the damaged drive and adjusting the torque distribution among the remaining N-1 drives. This parameter change allows the system to adapt to the reduced number of functional drives while maintaining continuous operation and avoiding complete shutdown.
2Productivity
If the wind turbine continues operating with N-1 drives, then annual energy production is maintained, but the operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system automatically detects drive damage, identifies the failed component, and reconfigures the operational parameters without human intervention. The system self-manages the transition from N-drive to N-1-drive operation, eliminating the need for complex manual reconfiguration and reducing operational complexity despite the changed operating conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system continuously monitors drive status and automatically adjusts operational parameters based on real-time feedback about drive health. This closed-loop control simplifies the management of N-1 drive operation by automatically detecting failures and adapting the control strategy without requiring complex manual intervention.
3Measurement precision
If all N drives are used to control the rotatable component, then the control precision is optimized, but the system vulnerability to drive failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system segments the operational load among multiple drives and is designed to function with any subset of N-1 drives. By distributing the control function across multiple independent drives rather than relying on all N drives simultaneously, the system maintains position control capability even when one drive fails, thus improving reliability without sacrificing control precision.
Data Source
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AI summary
According to an embodiment, the method is for operating a wind turbine (100) having a rotatable component (1 to 4) and N drives for rotating the rotatable component by exerting torques, wherein N ≥ 2. The method comprises a step of providing first information (I1) which is representative of whether one of the drives is damaged. If this is the case, a first measure (M1) is executed. The first measure is configured to cause a change of the operation of the wind turbine from a first operation mode in which the N drives are used to control the position of the rotatable component into a second operation mode in which the damaged drive is permanently disabled and only the remaining N-1 drives are used to control the position of the rotatable component.