A novel method of drive train damping for large wind turbines

Abstract

Based on actual damage to shaft couplings and elastic supporting caused by drive train vibration which occurred in a low wind speed mountainous wind farm in China, this paper proposes a novel drive train damping method. Instead of a common lead compensator, a delay compensator is used for phase correction. Features of both methods are analysed and compared. Compared to common dampers, the proposed one is only effective at centre frequency of damping, and will not magnify responses at other frequencies, especially high frequencies. Simulations with different configurations were implemented to verify effects of the proposed method. A field test has been implemented on Shanghai Electric 2MW wind turbine. The test result shows that the proposed method is effective to solve drive train vibration, and can be extended to large-rotor turbines located in slow-speed and mountainous areas in China.