Fault diagnosis of an advanced wind turbine benchmark using interval-based ARRs and observers

This paper proposes a model-based fault diagnosis (FD) approach for wind turbines and its application to a realistic wind turbine FD benchmark. The proposed FD approach combines the use of analytical redundancy relations (ARRs) and interval observers. Interval observers consider an unknown but bounded description of the model parametric uncertainty and noise using the the so-called set-membership approach. This approach leads to formulate the fault detection test by means of checking if the measurements fall inside the estimated output interval, obtained from the mathematical model of the wind turbine and noise/parameter uncertainty bounds. Fault isolation is based on considering a set of ARRs obtained from the structural analysis of the wind turbine model and a fault signature matrix that considers the relation of ARRs and faults. The proposed FD approach has been validated on a 5-MW wind turbine using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory FAST simulator. The obtained results are presented and compared with that of other approaches proposed in the literature.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Active actuator fault-tolerant control of a wind turbine benchmark model

This paper describes the design of an active fault-tolerant control scheme that is applied to the actuator of a wind turbine benchmark. The methodology is based on adaptive filters obtained via the nonlinear geometric approach, which allows to obtain interesting decoupling property with respect to uncertainty affecting the wind turbine system. The controller accommodation scheme exploits the on-line estimate of the actuator fault signal generated by the adaptive filters. The nonlinearity of the wind turbine model is described by the mapping to the power conversion ratio from tip-speed ratio and blade pitch angles. This mapping represents the aerodynamic uncertainty, and usually is not known in analytical form, but in general represented by approximated two-dimensional maps (i.e. look-up tables). Therefore, this paper suggests a scheme to estimate this power conversion ratio in an analytical form by means of a two-dimensional polynomial, which is subsequently used for designing the active fault-tolerant control scheme. The wind turbine power generating unit of a grid is considered as a benchmark to show the design procedure, including the aspects of the nonlinear disturbance decoupling method, as well as the viability of the proposed approach. Extensive simulations of the benchmark process are practical tools for assessing experimentally the features of the developed actuator fault-tolerant control scheme, in the presence of modelling and measurement errors. Comparisons with different fault-tolerant schemes serve to highlight the advantages and drawbacks of the proposed methodology

A Markovian jump system approach for the estimation and adaptive diagnosis of decreased power generation in wind farms

In this study, a Markovian jump model of the power generation system of a wind turbine is proposed and the authors present a closed-loop model-based observer to estimate the faults related to energy losses. The observer is designed through an H∞-based optimisation problem that optimally fixes the trade-off between the observer fault sensitivity and robustness. The fault estimates are then used in data-based decision mechanisms for achieving fault detection and isolation. The performance of the strategy is then ameliorated in a wind farm (WF) level scheme that uses a bank of the aforementioned observers and decision mechanisms. Finally, the proposed approach is tested using a well-known benchmark in the context of WF fault diagnosis

An interval NLPV parity equations approach for fault detection and isolation of a wind farm

In this paper, the problem of fault diagnosis of a wind farm is addressed using interval nonlinear parameter-varying (NLPV) parity equations. Fault detection is based on the use of parity equations assuming unknown but bounded description of the noise and modeling errors. The fault detection test is based on checking the consistency between the measurements and the model, by finding if the formers are inside the interval prediction bounds. The fault isolation algorithm is based on analyzing the observed fault signatures online and matching them with the theoretical ones obtained using structural analysis. Finally, the proposed approach is tested using the wind farm benchmark proposed in the context of the wind farm faultdetection-and-isolation/fault-tolerant-control competition.This work has been funded by the Spanish MINECO through the project CYCYT SHERECS (ref. DPI2011-26243), by the European Commission through contract i-Sense (ref. FP7-ICT-2009-6-270428), by AGAUR through the contracts FI-DGR 2013 (ref. 2013FIB00218) and FI-DGR 2014 (ref. 2014FI B1 00172) and by the DGR of Generalitat de Catalunya (SAC group Ref. 2014/SGR/374).Peer Reviewe

Fault diagnosis of a wind farm using interval parity equations

Trabajo presentado al 19th IFAC World Congress celebrado del 24 al 29 de agosto de 2014 en Cape Town (Sudafrica).In this paper, the problem of fault diagnosis of a wind farm is addressed using interval parity equations. Fault detection is based on the use of parity equations and unknown but bounded description of the noise and modeling errors. The fault detection test is based on checking the consistency between the measurements and the model by finding if the formers are inside the interval prediction bounds. The fault isolation algorithm is based on analyzing the observed fault signatures on-line, and matching them with the theoretical ones obtained using structural analysis. Finally, the proposed approach is tested using the wind farm benchmark proposed in the context of the wind farm FDI/FTC competition.This work has been funded by the Spanish MINECO through the project CYCYT SHERECS (ref. DPI2011-26243), by the European Commission through contract i-Sense (ref. FP7-ICT-2009-6-270428) and by AGAUR through the contract FI-DGR 2013 (ref. 2013FIB00218).Peer Reviewe

Fault detection and isolation for a wind turbine benchmark using a mixed Bayesian/Set-membership approach

This paper addresses the problem of fault detection and isolation of wind turbines using a mixed Bayesian/Set-membership approach. Modeling errors are assumed to be unknown but bounded, following the set-membership approach. On the other hand, measurement noise is also assumed to be bounded, but following a statistical distribution inside the bounds. To avoid false alarms, the fault detection problem is formulated in a set-membership context. Regarding fault isolation, a new fault isolation scheme that is inspired on the Bayesian fault isolation framework is developed. Faults are isolated by matching the fault detection test results, enhanced by a complementary consistency index that measures the certainty of not being in a fault situation, with the structural information about the faults stored in the theoretical fault signature matrix. The main difference with respect to the classical Bayesian approach is that only models of fault-free behavior are used. Finally, the proposed FDI method is assessed against the wind turbine FDI benchmark proposed in the literature, where a set of realistic fault scenarios in wind turbines are proposed.Peer Reviewe

Fault detection and isolation of pitch actuator faults in a floating wind turbine

In this work, the problem of detection and isolation of pitch actuator faults in wind turbines (WTs) is addressed. First, interval observers are used by means of the Luenberger observer to obtain an upper and a lower estimated bounds. The main advantage of this approach is that the new bounds enclose the real output measurement within a bounded interval in a guaranteed way under consideration of the uncertainties (in this case noise in the pitch measurement). Finally, residual signals are obtained and processed to detect and isolate the different faults. The efficiency of the proposed approach is demonstrated through simulation with the 5MW floating offshore (barge) WT benchmark model given by the aero-lastic wind turbine simulator-FAST. This software is designed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is widely used in research and industry.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Prognostics and health aware model predictive control of wind turbines

Wind turbines components are subject to considerable stresses and fatigue due to extreme environmental conditions to which they are exposed, especially those located offshore. Also, the most common faults present in wind turbine components have been investigated for years by the research community and that has led to propose a fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control wind turbine benchmark which include a set of faults that affect the sensors and actuators of several wind turbine components. This thesis presents some contributions to the fields of fault diagnosis, fault-tolerant control, prognostics and its integration with wind turbine control which leads to proposing a control approach called health-aware model predictive control (HAMPC). The contributions are summarized below: - Model-based fault diagnosis: to perform fault detection and isolation interval-based observers together with a set of analytical redundant relations (ARRs) are obtained based on a structural analysis and the fault signature matrix that relates the ARRs with the faults. - Fault tolerant control: it is proposed a fault tolerant control scheme that integrates fault detection and an algorithm for fault accommodation. The scheme has the objective to avoid the increment of blades and tower loads when a fault in the rotor azimuth angle sensor occurs using the individual pitch control technique (IPC). - Wind turbine blades fatigue prognostics and degradation: fatigue is assessed using the rainflow counting algorithm which is used to estimate the accumulated damage and for degradation, it is used a stiffness degradation model of blades material which is used to make predictions of remaining useful life (RUL). - Wind turbines health control: the module for the health of the system based on fatigue damage estimation and RUL predictions is integrated with model predictive control (MPC) leading to the proposed control approach (HAMPC). The contributions presented in this thesis have been validated on a wind turbine study case that uses a 5MW wind turbine reference model implemented in a high fidelity wind turbine simulator (FAST).Els components dels aerogeneradors estan sotmesos a considerable estrès i fatiga, degut a les condicions ambientals extremes a les quals estan exposats, especialment els localitzats en alta mar. Per aquest motiu, al comunitat científica durant els últims anys ha investigat les averies més comunes presents en els aerogeneradors, fet que ha portat a proposar un cas d'estudi de diagnosi i control tolerant de fallades que inclou un conjunt de fallades que afecten a diversos components dels aerogeneradors. Aquesta tesi presenta algunes contribucions en els camps de la diagnosi de fallades, el control tolerant de fallades i la prognosi, així com la seva integració amb el control d'aerogeneradors, fet que ha portat a proposar una tècnica de control anomenada control predictiu basada en models conscients de la salut del sistema (HAMPC). Concretament les aportacions es poden resumir en: - Diagnosi de fallades basada en models: per a la detecció s'utilitzen observadors intervalars i l'aïllament de la fallada es fa en base el conjunt d'ARRs obtinguts de l'anàlisi estructural i de la matriu de signatures de fallades que relaciona les ARRs amb les fallades. - Control tolerant de fallades: es proposa un esquema de control tolerant a fallades que integra la detecció de fallades i algoritme d'acomodació de fallades, i té per objectiu evitar l'augment de càrregues en la pala i la torre quan es produeix una fallada en el sensor azimuth quan es fa un control individual de la inclinació de les pales (IPC). - Prognosi de la fatiga i la degradació de les pales: la fatiga s'avalua amb un algorisme denominat "rainflow counting" amb el qual es fa estimació del dany acumulat i per a la degradació es fa servir un model de degradació de la rigidesa del material amb el qual es fan prediccions de la vida útil restant (RUL). - Control de la salut d'aerogeneradors: s'ha integrat la gestió de la salut del sistema basat en danys per fatiga o prediccions de RUL amb control predictiu basat en models (MPC) donant lloc al control que anomenem HAMPC. Les contribucions presentades en aquesta tesi han sigut validades en un cas d'estudi d'aerogeneradors basat en un aerogenerador de referència de 5MW de potència implementat en el simulador d'aerogeneradors d'alta fidelitat conegut amb el nom de FAST.Postprint (published version

ANFIS Models for Fault Detection and Isolation in the Drive Train of a Wind Turbine

The paper aims to improve the fault detection and isolation process in wind turbine systems by developing intelligent systems that can effectively identify and isolate faults. Specifically, the paper focuses on the drive train part of a horizontal axis wind turbine machine. The proposed fault diagnostic strategy is designed using an adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), which is a type of artificial neural network that combines the advantages of both fuzzy logic and neural networks. The ANFIS is used to generate residuals that occur after faults have been detected, and to determine the appropriate thresholds needed to correctly detect faults. The simulation results show that the proposed fault diagnostic strategy is effective in detecting faults in the drive train part of the wind turbine system. By using intelligent systems such as ANFIS, the fault detection process can be automated and streamlined, potentially reducing maintenance costs and improving the overall performance and efficiency of wind turbine systems