Abstract
A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1–5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWB radio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally.
Highlights
The number one priority along the entire value chain in the renewable energy industry is to reduce the cost per produced unit of electricity, the Cost of Energy (CoE)
We will first focus on proposing a solution to the challenges of a UWB radio link and realizing the blade deflection sensing in the simplest case, where a tip antenna is placed outside a blade tip
This will facilitate the accurate estimation of the root-tip antenna distance and the blade deflection in the same deflection range
Summary
The number one priority along the entire value chain in the renewable energy industry is to reduce the cost per produced unit of electricity, the Cost of Energy (CoE). Sensor technologies currently used in wind turbine blades lack capabilities to measure deflection reliably. We will for the first time utilize UWB technology to sense wind turbine blade deflection for wind energy cost reduction. We will first focus on proposing a solution to the challenges of a UWB radio link and realizing the blade deflection sensing in the simplest case, where a tip antenna is placed outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To achieve this purpose, full-blade time-domain measurements will be proposed and conducted under different deflections
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