Optimization of Heat Dissipation and Control Scheme for Wind Turbine Gearbox Based on FloMaster-Simulink co-Simulation

Abstract

Due to favorable wind conditions and steadily rising temperatures, the demand for heat dissipation for the gearbox of wind turbines rises every spring and summer, and the energy consumption of the heat dissipation system rises as well. In cases where the gearbox oil temperature is excessively high due to poor heat dissipation, the wind turbine unit may only operate at a limited load or shut down. This article suggests a restoration strategy that uses seawater to cool the gearbox lubrication system, based on the operation of the gearbox cooling system of wind turbines. The original wind turbine gearbox cooling system and the enhanced seawater cooling system simulation models are built at the same time, and dynamic working conditions simulation research is done by utilizing the FloMaster simulation platform. To achieve automatic management of the gearbox temperature, we alter the fan or pump’s speed by the oil temperature at the gearbox’s outlet. We design a control scheme based on the working principle and use the FloMaster-Simulink co-simulation to calculate the operating characteristics of the system under dynamic working conditions. The results show that by simultaneously controlling the speed of the pump and the speed of the fan, the cooling system has the best control effect and the lowest energy consumption, providing a reference for the development of the gearbox cooling system of wind turbines.