Portable network analyzer and mobile app based small wind turbine condition monitoring

Abstract

Improved fault diagnostic techniques in wind turbines is a field of growing interest, given the negative impact that unexpected breakdowns have on the profitability of wind farms. Traditional and new diagnostic techniques mainly based, respectively, on vibration and generator current monitoring cannot be applied easily to small wind groups due to the very restrictive cost limitations. This paper proposes a fault diagnosis technique based on monitoring generator voltage, current and power suitable for small wind groups based on permanent magnet synchronous generators which aims to offer an affordable solution that provides easy to understand information even for users lacking technologic training, helping them decide when to ask for specialized assistance. This proposal is based on data provided by a commercial monitoring system installed between the generator and the regenerative inverter and processed and displayed in a mobile device (smartphone or tablet-PC) App running either Android or iOS, thus greatly contributing to a very cost-effective solution. The actual performance of an off-the-shelf small wind group has been measured both off-line and on-line (by the diagnosis App during the training stage) with good agreement and confirms the suitability of the method to detect demagnetization faults.