Risk Assessment of a Wind Turbine: A New FMECA-Based Tool With RPN Threshold Estimation

A wind turbine is a complex system used to convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. During the turbine design phase, a risk assessment is mandatory to reduce the machine downtime and the Operation & Maintenance cost and to ensure service continuity. This paper proposes a procedure based on Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis to take into account every possible criticality that could lead to a turbine shutdown. Currently, a standard procedure to be applied for evaluation of the risk priority number threshold is still not available. Trying to fill this need, this paper proposes a new approach for the Risk Priority Number (RPN) prioritization based on a statistical analysis and compares the proposed method with the only three quantitative prioritization techniques found in literature. The proposed procedure was applied to the electrical and electronic components included in a Spanish 2 MW on-shore wind turbine.

[1]  Salman Kahrobaee,et al.  Risk-based Failure Mode and Effect Analysis for wind turbines (RB-FMEA) , 2011, 2011 North American Power Symposium.

[2]  Zigmund Bluvband,et al.  Failure analysis of FMEA , 2009, 2009 Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium.

[3]  Yung-Chia Chang,et al.  Applying the concept of exponential approach to enhance the assessment capability of FMEA , 2014, J. Intell. Manuf..

[4]  Hong-Hee Lee,et al.  Power Management Approach to Minimize Battery Capacity in Wind Energy Conversion Systems , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[5]  Peter Tavner,et al.  Using an FMEA method to compare prospective wind turbine design reliabilities , 2010 .

[6]  Nan Liu,et al.  Risk evaluation in failure mode and effects analysis with extended VIKOR method under fuzzy environment , 2012, Expert Syst. Appl..

[7]  H.Arabian-Hoseynabadi,et al.  Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for Wind Turbines , 2011 .

[8]  Peng Qian,et al.  Data-Driven Condition Monitoring Approaches to Improving Power Output of Wind Turbines , 2019, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[9]  Mehdi Tavakolan,et al.  Construction project risk assessment using combined fuzzy and FMEA , 2013, 2013 Joint IFSA World Congress and NAFIPS Annual Meeting (IFSA/NAFIPS).

[10]  Duicu Simona,et al.  Researches concerning risk assessing using Pareto diagram for design process of technological processes , 2011 .

[11]  Mehta Gauravkumar Bharatbhai.  Failure Mode and Effect Analysis of Repower 5M Wind Turbine , 2015 .

[12]  Antonella Certa,et al.  ELECTRE TRI-based approach to the failure modes classification on the basis of risk parameters: An alternative to the risk priority number , 2017, Comput. Ind. Eng..

[13]  Neng Wan,et al.  Risk Assessment in Intelligent Manufacturing Process: A Case Study of an Optical Cable Automatic Arranging Robot , 2019, IEEE Access.

[14]  Mahmood Shafiee,et al.  An FMEA-Based Risk Assessment Approach for Wind Turbine Systems: A Comparative Study of Onshore and Offshore , 2014 .

[15]  Joseph Kuitche,et al.  Determination of Dominant Failure Modes Using FMECA on the Field Deployed c-Si Modules Under Hot-Dry Desert Climate , 2015, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.

[16]  Lorenzo Ciani,et al.  A Critical Comparison of Alternative Risk Priority Numbers in Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis , 2019, IEEE Access.

[17]  Xiang Gong,et al.  Current-Based Mechanical Fault Detection for Direct-Drive Wind Turbines via Synchronous Sampling and Impulse Detection , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[18]  Z. Blivband,et al.  Expanded FMEA (EFMEA) , 2004, Annual Symposium Reliability and Maintainability, 2004 - RAMS.

[19]  Yulong Li,et al.  A Hybrid Multilevel FTA-FMEA Method for a Flexible Manufacturing Cell Based on Meta-Action and TOPSIS , 2019, IEEE Access.

[20]  Hongzhong Huang,et al.  Fuzzy criticality assessment of FMECA for the SADA based on modified FWGM algorithm & centroid deffuzzification , 2011, 2011 International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering.

[21]  John Alexander Steel,et al.  A progressive study into offshore wind farm maintenance optimisation using risk based failure analysis , 2015 .

[22]  Mahmood Shafiee,et al.  A Fuzzy-FMEA Risk Assessment Approach for Offshore Wind Turbines , 2020, International Journal of Prognostics and Health Management.

[23]  Khadija Tahera,et al.  Framework for continuous improvement of production processes , 2015 .

[24]  Peng Guo,et al.  Condition Monitoring of Wind Turbine Gearbox Bearing Based on Deep Learning Model , 2019, IEEE Access.

[25]  Ibsen Chivatá Cárdenas,et al.  Towards analysing risks to public safety from wind turbines , 2018, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[26]  Roger Ray Hill,et al.  Wind turbine reliability database update. , 2009 .

[27]  Chee Peng Lim,et al.  Application of a Genetic-Fuzzy FMEA to Rainfed Lowland Rice Production in Sarawak: Environmental, Health, and Safety Perspectives , 2018, IEEE Access.

[28]  David He,et al.  On the Use of a Single Piezoelectric Strain Sensor for Wind Turbine Planetary Gearbox Fault Diagnosis , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[29]  Dyadem Press.  Guidelines for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), for Automotive, Aerospace, and General Manufacturing Industries , 2003 .

[30]  Marcantonio Catelani,et al.  Failure modes, mechanisms and effect analysis on temperature redundant sensor stage , 2018, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[31]  Felix T. S. Chan,et al.  AMWRPN: Ambiguity Measure Weighted Risk Priority Number Model for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis , 2018, IEEE Access.

[32]  Bo Wan,et al.  An improved cost-based method of Risk Priority Number , 2012, Proceedings of the IEEE 2012 Prognostics and System Health Management Conference (PHM-2012 Beijing).

[33]  Kamran Najafi,et al.  The Effect of Integrated Management System on Risk Priority Number of Environmental Assessment by FMEA Method in Yazd Persepolis Tile Factory , 2018 .

[34]  Subhash Chandra Panja,et al.  Expert-based FMEA of wind turbine system , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management.

[35]  J. B. Bowles,et al.  The new SAE FMECA standard , 1998, Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium. 1998 Proceedings. International Symposium on Product Quality and Integrity.

[36]  Alexandros A. Taflanidis,et al.  Offshore wind turbine risk quantification/evaluation under extreme environmental conditions , 2013, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[37]  John Dalsgaard Sørensen,et al.  On risk-based operation and maintenance of offshore wind turbine components , 2011, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..