Structural Health Monitoring for Wind Turbines – Condition Monitoring of Foundation, Tower and Rotor Blades
for damage detection at an early stage, life cycle prognosis and the optimization of wind farm operations
Regardless of location, a sustainable reduction of operating costs with a simultaneous increase in yields is gaining more and more relevance. Therefore, it is more important than ever to detect structural damage and icing at an early stage in order to avoid severe damage. Structural health monitoring (SHM) of the foundation, tower and rotor blade and conventional condition monitoring (CMS) on the drive train are becoming increasingly important in this context.
"The advancing state of the art offers new opportunities to sustainably increase yields", says Dr Carsten Ebert, Head of Wind Energy at Wölfel. "Our intelligent algorithms are based on the latest technological approaches and form the basis for data analysis and direct real-time optimization."
Wölfel is the European market leader in the field of structural monitoring of offshore wind farms and has, over decades built up a unique core competence in signal analysis. We offer comprehensive and individual support ranging from expert advice, delivery and installation of turnkey monitoring systems all the way through to data evaluation.
We record the real stresses affecting the system with our sensor systems and then extract the truly relevant technical statements from the flood of data. The integrated early warning systems can even reduce the number of inspections required by the authorities within the framework of recurring inspections (e.g. underwater inspections with diving robots).
Based on the detailed system condition analysis, you can plan ahead, optimize the operation of your wind turbines and extend their lifetime – the operation of your wind farm becomes more efficient and economical.
Our services
- Development and design of turnkey monitoring systems, including coordination with authorities and certification companies
- Provision of your plants with specially developed, robust measuring equipment with direct interface to the WT control system and SCADA system
- Data acquisition and data analysis by intelligent algorithms and experienced specialist engineers
- Reporting of monitoring results with individual level of detail – for submission to authorities, for design validation and as a basis for lifetime optimization
- Development of concepts for periodic inspections in which the necessary scope of testing is optimized by integrating monitoring results

References

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.
Please contact us personally
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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.