Electrical & Computer Engineering, Department of

 

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

5-29-2012

Citation

Qiao, Wei "Online Nonintrusive Condition Monitoring and Fault Detection for Wind Turbines" (May 29, 2012)

Abstract

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................. iii

LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................1

1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................3

2 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................7

2.1 Motivation ................................................................................................................7

2.2 Project Goal and Objectives .....................................................................................8

2.3 Qualifications and Experience of the Project Team ................................................9

3 CURRENT-BASED WIND TURBINE CMFD TECHNOLOGIES ................................10

3.1 Modulation of Current Signals by a Wind Turbine Fault ......................................10

3.2 Current Demodulation ...........................................................................................13
3.2.1 Frequency Demodulation ...........................................................................13
3.2.2 Amplitude Demodulation ...........................................................................14
3.2.3 Benefits of Using Current Demodulation ..................................................14

3.3 1P-Invariant PSD Method ......................................................................................14

3.4 Wavelet Filter .........................................................................................................17

3.5 Impulse Detection ..................................................................................................18

4 SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION PLATFORMS .......................20

4.1 Simulation Validation Platform .............................................................................20
4.1.1 WTG Model ...............................................................................................20
4.2.2 Wind Speed Data .......................................................................................21

4.2 Experimental Validation Platform .........................................................................22

5 WIND TURBINE IMBALANCE FAULT DETECTION ................................................24

5.1 The Characteristic Frequencies of Imbalance Faults .............................................24


5.2 Simulation Study of Imbalance Fault Detection ....................................................26


5.3 Experimental Study of Imbalance Fault Detection ................................................29

5.3.1 Detection of Blade Imbalance...................................................................29
5.3.2 Detection of Bent Blades...........................................................................35
5.3.3 Detection of Aged Blade............................................................................38
5.3.4 Detection of Blade Defects........................................................................40
5.3.5 Detection of Generator Magnet Damage...................................................42

6 WIND TURBINE BEARING FAULT DETECTION ......................................................44

6.1 The Characteristic Frequencies of Single-Point Bearing Faults ............................44
6.1.1 Types of Single-Point Bearing Faults ........................................................44
6.1.2 Bearing Fault Signatures in Stator Current Signals ...................................45

6.2 Single-Point Bearing Fault Detection ....................................................................46
6.2.1 WTG with Healthy Bearings .....................................................................46
6.2.2 WTG with a Bearing Cage Broken Fault ...................................................48
6.2.3 WTG with an Out-Race Fault ....................................................................52

6.3 Incipient Bearing Fault Detection ..........................................................................54

7 ACCOMPLISHMENTS ....................................................................................................56

7.1 Publications ............................................................................................................56
7.2 Presentations ..........................................................................................................57
7.3 Patent......................................................................................................................57

8 CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................58

9 RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................60

REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................61

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