- Category: Articles
Optimising Wind Turbine Performance and Availability with Augmented Intelligence
Recently the term ‘predictive maintenance’ has received much attention across many industries. Perhaps this is due in part to the synergies with other rapidly developing areas of technology such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the internet of things, and big data analytics.
It is certainly not all hype; in mostareas of industry where operational costs represent a significant proportion of the overall life-cycle cost of a product, a strong business case can be made for the introduction of predictive maintenance. Wind energy can certainly benefit from such innovations, and perhaps the potential reduction in the overall cost of energy would be the final push that is needed to bring the industry through grid parity and beyond. Although the use of condition monitoring in wind turbines is nothing new, recent technical innovations provide the framework that is needed for a more complete implementation of predictive maintenance.
By Christopher Gray, CEO, i4SEE TECH, Austria
- Category: Articles
Drone-Based Technology Platforms
In this article, Sulzer & Schmid Laboratories, a Swiss company developing technology solutions for the inspection of wind turbine rotor blades, explains how drone-based technology platforms suitable for large-scale, multi-gigawatt blade inspection campaigns require a specific set of characteristics that will provide the level of scalability and deployability needed to succeed.
By Tom Sulzer, CEO and Co-Founder, Sulzer & Schmid, Switzerland
- Category: Articles
Maximising Blade Performance Through Aerodynamic Optimisation
Every wind turbine blade can be optimised. This is a bold statement but it is based on a number of factors that apply in varying degrees to all turbines: surface contamination and erosion, limitations and assumptions of standard design tools, design compromises to meet time/cost deadlines, adherence to standard wind classifications, and continual development of new technology. How can we go about optimising a blade that has already been installed? This article will describe the different technical methods and solutions available to extract more energy from a rotor, enabling wind turbines to deliver more revenue to their owners and to contribute more to global carbon reduction targets.
By Nicholas Gaudern, Chief Technical Officer, Power Curve, Denmark
- Category: Articles
And the Modular Case
The wind industry is primed for precast tower foundations. The economics point to significant returns to wind farm contractors and owners as the focus changes to longevity and expanding the construction and OEM delivery season.
By David McFeeters-Krone and Chris Fernandes, RUTE Foundation Systems, USA
- Category: Articles
New Techniques Provide Value Chain Savings
New industrial connectors enable the rear mounting of interfaces for switch cabinets. Using this option, all relevant connection steps can be carried out from the inside of a cabinet. Moreover, many installation processes can be shifted to the pre-assembly stage, thus helping to save expensive technician hours in the field. The termination technique can also accelerate processing. For example, the radial cage clamp used by Han ES Press enables a tool-free connection, in addition to offering options for bridging contacts directly on the insert.
By Carsten Edler, Industry Segment Manager Wind Energy, Harting Electric, Germany
- Category: Articles
Investigating New Designs Through Wake Loss and Cable Topology Optimisation
Offshore wind energy is an emerging technology that is becoming increasingly viable as technical and scientific improvements drive down the levelised cost of electricity making it more competitive with onshore wind technology and other forms of electricity generation.
By Bryce Wade, Canada
- Category: Articles
A New Technology Developed and Optimised for Offshore Use
This article focuses on the main characteristics of two-bladed teetering hinged turbines on top of floating platforms. It highlights how the teetering hinge positively affects fatigue and loads caused by wind–wave interaction and summarises the cost-effective technological choices for the system features and installation method.
By Silvestro Caruso, Chief Technical Officer, Seawind Ocean Technology, The Netherlands
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