The structural integrity of wind turbine generators (WTGs) must be ensured in particular by the two supporting structures, the tower and the foundation. Damage to these structures poses a considerable risk to the stability of the WTG and the safety of people. For this reason, they must be detected at an early stage and permanently monitored with a suitable system.
Risk-Based Inspections can optimize inspection cost through prioritisation of high-risk failures and adaption of inspection intervals for low-risk failures. Find out more in our White Paper.
Does your WT have service life reserves? This question cannot be answered adequately based on historical wind data, because the actual load of the individual wind turbines varies considerably. Find out in our white paper how you can use Structural Intelligence to make technically sound decisions about further operation based on real fatigue loads.
In our White Paper, you can find out why it is worth going beyond the minimum standard for structural monitoring. Using three scenarios, we show how you can significantly reduce operating costs with intelligent and comprehensive structural health monitoring.
If ice forms on the rotor blades of a wind energy plant, it must be shut down in accordance with official regulations in order to protect the surroundings from ice being shed. Critical ice build-up must therefore be reliably detected using technical measures. A meteorological sensor for ice detection was installed in the Hamwiede wind farm from the very beginning. However, it became apparent already in the first winter that the shutdown due to ice was very imprecise. False alarms and unnecessary shutdowns became more frequent. The potential of the wind farm could therefore not be fully exploited in the particularly high-yield winter months. Discover in our case study how downtimes at the Hamwiede wind farm were significantly and reliably reduced with the help of IDD.Blade from Wölfel.
Up to now, lifetime extension reports have usually been based on historical operating and wind data as well as turbulence reports. Due to conservative load assumptions and insufficient consideration of the wind direction, however, the potential for continued operation for as long as possible is often significantly underestimated. Based on the accelerations measured in the tower, SHM.Tower calculates the real occurring loads distributed over the tower cross section and thus allows an exact statement about the actual lifetime consumption. The lifetime extension can be maximized and the entire yield potential can be tapped. This methodology has now been successfully evaluated by Deutsche WindGuard. In our White Paper, you can find out everything about how it works, the validation project and the areas of application.
Structural Intelligence in wind turbines allows for the monitoring and evaluating of the lifetime of the towers during operation. The data collected serves as the basis for lifetime extension assessments: The measured fatigue loads show the actually consumed lifetime of the towers.
A wind turbine is one of the industrial structures with the highest vibration loads within its lifetime. It has to withstand up to 250 million load cycles within approximately 20 years. The vibration loads of wind turbines vary considerably depending on the location and operational mode of the wind turbine.
Even two wind turbines in the same wind farm may differ significantly in their vibration loads. In the design phase, these loads can only roughly be determined leading to potential reserves of turbine’s lifetime during operation.
Arkona is the most efficient wind farm to date in the Baltic Sea: off the coast of the island of Rügen, 60 wind turbines are located on an area of 39 square kilometers and have a total output of 385 megawatts. An individual structural health monitoring concept developed by Wölfel is designed to ensure that the wind turbines feed into the grid as continuously and efficiently as possible, incur the lowest possible costs for operation and maintenance and meet the requirements of the authorities.
Substructures of offshore wind turbines have to reliably withstand environmental conditions, operational and extreme loads during their design lifetime that may exceed the time period of 25 years. Within their lifetime, they may experience damage and structural changes. This study proposes a novel, data-driven approach for the quantification of probability of detection (POD) for the structural change due to scour on a monopile substructure. To achieve this aim, numerical analyses with finite elements are combined with real measured vibration data from an offshore wind farm.
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We would be pleased to support you in solving your problem concerning "Wind turbine vibrations" and advise you on questions regarding our system and service offerings in the areas of structural health monitoring, vibration reduction, sound and noise as well as structural design.
Industrial engineering in dual study programme, Osnabrück University of Cooperative Education
Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.)
Let the wind do its job!
A family business of colleagues with such deep expertise that we can work at eye level with the leading international OEMs in the wind industry.
Very broad field of work with the opportunity to tackle and implement things.
Great colleagues with fun and joy.
Cool location in Hamburg :-)
Civil Engineering, TU Berlin
Dipl.-Ing.
WAB e.V.
"Paths are created by walking them." (Franz Kafka)
Working independently in a flexible, highly innovative company that makes a little contribution to the energy transition.
Applied Foreign Languages and Business Administration, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
Diploma Business Anglicist / Romance Studies
Work hard, be yourself and have fun.
The wind energy sector is very inspiring. My motivation is to support the world and customers with our products.
Industrial engineering in dual study programme, Osnabrück University of Cooperative Education
Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.)
Let the wind do its job!
A family business of colleagues with such deep expertise that we can work at eye level with the leading international OEMs in the wind industry.
Very broad field of work with the opportunity to tackle and implement things.
Great colleagues with fun and joy.
Cool location in Hamburg :-)
Civil Engineering, TU Berlin
Dipl.-Ing.
WAB e.V.
"Paths are created by walking them." (Franz Kafka)
Working independently in a flexible, highly innovative company that makes a little contribution to the energy transition.
Applied Foreign Languages and Business Administration, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
Diploma Business Anglicist / Romance Studies
Work hard, be yourself and have fun.
The wind energy sector is very inspiring. My motivation is to support the world and customers with our products.