Integrating Systems Health Management with Adaptive Contingency Control for Wind Turbines

Increasing turbine up-time and reducing maintenance costs are key technology drivers for wind turbine operators. Components within wind turbines are subject to considerable stresses due to unpredictable environmental conditions resulting from rapidly changing local dynamics. Systems health management has the aim to assess the state-of-health of components within a wind turbine, to estimate remaining life, and to aid in autonomous decision-making to minimize damage to the turbine. Advanced adaptive contingency control can provide the mechanism to enable safe and efficient turbine operation and provide enabling technology for Systems Health Management goals. The work reported herein explores the integration of condition monitoring of wind turbine blades with contingency control to balance the trade-offs between system health and energy capture. Results are demonstrated using a high fidelity simulator of a utility-scale wind turbine.

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