Long-Range WindScanner System

Nikola Vasiljević,Michael Courtney,Guillaume Lea,Jakob Mann,Jean-Pierre Cariou,Torben Mikkelsen

doi:10.3390/rs8110896

Abstract

The technical aspects of a multi-Doppler LiDAR instrument, the long-range WindScanner system, are presented accompanied by an overview of the results from several field campaigns. The long-range WindScanner system consists of three spatially-separated, scanning coherent Doppler LiDARs and a remote master computer that coordinates them. The LiDARs were carefully engineered to perform user-defined and time-controlled scanning trajectories. Their wireless coordination via the master computer allows achieving and maintaining the LiDARs’ synchronization within ten milliseconds. The long-range WindScanner system measures the wind field by emitting and directing three laser beams to intersect, and then scanning the beam intersection over a region of interest. The long-range WindScanner system was developed to tackle the need for high-quality observations of wind fields on scales of modern wind turbine and wind farms. It has been in operation since 2013.

Highlights

Measurements of the wind velocity in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) provide the means for improving our understanding of a diverse range of flow phenomena and wind conditions, which play an important role in wind energy
Wind measurements were typically acquired using the well-established in situ techniques with sensors, such as cup anemometers [1], mounted on a meteorological mast at heights usually occupied by the lower half of the wind turbine rotor swept area [2,3]
The measurements from at least one meteorological mast are necessary for wind turbine power curve estimation [2], while for field campaigns focused on improvement of wind energy flow models, the number of meteorological masts can be up to ten or more [4,5]

Summary

Introduction

Measurements of the wind velocity in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) provide the means for improving our understanding of a diverse range of flow phenomena and wind conditions, which play an important role in wind energy. Wind measurements were typically acquired using the well-established in situ techniques with sensors, such as cup anemometers [1], mounted on a meteorological mast at heights usually occupied by the lower half of the wind turbine rotor swept area [2,3]. The number of meteorological masts employed to collect the information on the wind flow greatly depends on the application of the wind measurements. The measurements from at least one meteorological mast are necessary for wind turbine power curve estimation [2], while for field campaigns focused on improvement of wind energy flow models, the number of meteorological masts can be up to ten or more [4,5]. Due to the increased availability of fiber-optic components, it became economically and practically feasible to build Coherent

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion