There is an increasing trend in the wind power sector for Wind Farm Owners (WFOs) to in-source their own Wind Turbine Conditioning Monitoring Systems (WTCMS), focusing particularly on drive train analysis. This choice stems from a number of issues with current Condition Monitoring (CM) systems (e.g.: Vibrational Analysis), primarily:
a) the system sensors are intrusive, and thus present difficulties during the installation process; such tampering also revokes the initial OEM warranty of the drive-train components,
b) CM systems are often calibrated according to the manufacturer’s machinery, and hence are not specific enough to the WFO’s turbines; the CM system often triggers false alarms or only warns the operator when the component is too close to catastrophic failure. This is best highlighted by the fact that the Probability of Detection (POD) for gearbox issues and faults is still too low, averaging at about 60% for typical power outputs.
Besides these industry-related issues with current CM systems, there is also both legislative and Quality Assurance (QA) pressure to improve such technologies.
A CM system which is accurate, reliable and tailored for the continuous analysis of wind turbine drive-trains is therefore an essential asset in order to formulate and enforce such new standards. As partners in this project, we have devised a solution which will:
• Resolve the fundamental industry problems with current CM systems
• Meet the stricter regulations which are to be imposed throughout the EU
• Offer a truly specific CM system for wind turbine machinery, to facilitate the emendation of current ISO standards for the diagnosis of wind turbines
The aim of CMDrive project was to further develop CMDrive prototype (TRL6) to take it to the commercialization stage (TRL9). CMDrive consortium has developed ACMWind, a bespoke, non-intrusive, acoustic-analysis CM system, which utilises acoustic sensors (microphones). ACMWind is currently available on Spares in Motion, a recognised ecommerce and trading platform that moves around products and services in the wind energy field.
