Condition monitoring solutions for the wind turbines

Presented at CMVA 2009 Vancouver

Objectives
Explain the wind turbine problems , and their failure modes Explain how QPS would solve these problems Explain the technology behind our solutions Explain ~ Fiber Grating technology ~ VibroFibre TM ~ Two Wave Mixing
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QPS Expertise and history

Invented The Phase Mask Technology Pioneered in Fiber Gratings technology , product and process development for the telecom industry , first volume supplier Providing OEM products and solutions using fiber Bragg gratings technology In 2006 Peter Kung invented and patented a Fibre Bragg Grating structure VibroFibre to measure vibration

A Wind turbine with a broken blade

Early problems, things are certainly getting better now

Failure Modes
Wind turbine are rated to last 20 years Problems start to appear in the first 5 years in gear box and drive train bearings After 10 years , the supporting structure and the blade would age and accidents might start to occur if the wind becomes stronger than expected , extreme temperature cycles , in fact they are working in a very hostile environment
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Problems with the Gear Box

Gearboxes located inside the casings perched on top of the tower often have short operating lives. They are known to fail within only five years. Problem might not be caused by poor quality components and poor maintenance: Rapid changes in wind speed and direction have passed on extraordinary stresses onto the gear box

Other Important problems

Fractures form along the rotors, fractures in the foundation We have proof that strong vibration is facilitated by looseness inside the generator, they cause the insulating layer to rub and deteriorate, resulting in windings shorts, arcing , and partial discharge . High arcing current would cause local heating and eventually , fire can occur like the previous slide.

We are now helping customers to avoid this

Other important issues

Continuous Non-destructive testing of the installed blades providing long term trending , along with info on structural health and diagnostics. Use Wireless to transfer the test data from each wind turbine, a mesh network links all turbines to a central and distributed database

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Hostile environment add to our risks Strong wind can generate excess forces on the gear box, the blades and the tower Corrosion can gradually affect the strength of the tower Excessive wind speed can cause torsional strain and distort the blades , previous cases showed the blade could even bend and hit the tower , causing it to collapse
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Failure mechanism with the blades

The blades are made of fiber glass impregnated with resin . They have good mechanical strength and have reduced weight . However, they are brittle: resin ages and layers peel , sudden impacts (like birds, bats and lightning ) can cause delamination and fiber breaks It would be hard to visually inspect the blades during operation (even if you stop it from turning), it is hard to physically observe the process of delamination and fiber breakage underneath the surface. Ultrasound would be too time- consuming and expensive

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Fiber breakage
Localized Fiber strands can get broken during small impacts, causing the shape of the blade to change, further weakening the structure so that it cannot cope with sudden changes in wind speed and direction. Why not provide real time feedback of these rapid changes so that pitch control and YAW control can react and ease the stress

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Technology behind QPS solution

Advanced VibroFibreTM technology Each sensor is a fiber laser Up to 30 sensors can be on the same fiber and each sensor is self identifying Real time response : DC to 300Khz Support both dynamic strain measurement impact events and vibration measurement One system (with up to 16 channels) can support 480 sensors
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Key Benefits
FBG is small in size and light in weight Long operating life, guaranteed 25 years Can connect sensors in series making it low cost and Ideal for remote and distributed sensing FBG sensor is passive, draws 0 power Immune to RFI and EMI Work well in hostile environment, like frequent temperature cycles, corrosive environment

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How these would be installed

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Installation is done by rolling out the tape on an handle

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NDT automation, a Key concept

Two Wave Mixing (TWM) Use surface waves to do the detective work for defects in the composites Two very different frequencies can be coupled onto each blade from its base with a small shaker, with 1X and 10X mixed frequencies , they will propagate along the blade and arrive at the VibroFibre sensor at the tip or along a string of sensors mounted on the blade

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What is this TWM method?

It is a hybrid method, a small shaker will be sending two vastly different frequencies , A and B . VibroFibre is used to detect the output ( for example 400Hz and 8KHz) because it is low loss despite long length If there is no defects, we will detect the same two distinct frequencies , no mixing If there are defects, we will observe mixing of A and B plus harmonics on the lower frequency , sensitivity is 100 times that of ultrasound

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Normal effect of acoustics

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Theory of TWM

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Benefits-early warning of defect and you decide when to react

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Two wave Mixing shaker waveform

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Detecting delamination and fiber breaks

By scanning the frequencies, you can identify the resonant frequency of each type of defect. A defect signature library based on the characteristics of blade design and the material can be created. QPS can work with each Manufacturer to develop a Defect Library becoming Intellectual Property specific to them.
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TWM response from good and bad fiber glass coupons in a feasibility test

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Monitoring the blades with Advanced VibroFibre array to do dynamic strain ,vibration , impacts and continuous TWM

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The same architecture can monitor the tower and its foundation

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Many vibration sensors can be installed at low cost

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Our objective is to make a most costeffective solution on a single system For more information Please contact Peter Kung Telephone 1-514-697-4728 Cell phone 1-514-578-6766 Email peter@qpscom.com SKYPE: peter.kung.qps

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