Condition Monitoring for Roller Bearings of Wind Turbines Based on Health Evaluation under Variable Operating States

Lei Fu, Yanding Wei, Sheng Fang, Xiaojun Zhou and Junqiang Lou
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Lei Fu: The State Key Lab of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Yanding Wei: The State Key Lab of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Sheng Fang: Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Xiaojun Zhou: Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Junqiang Lou: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-21

Abstract: Condition monitoring (CM) is used to assess the health status of wind turbines (WT) by detecting turbine failure and predicting maintenance needs. However, fluctuating operating conditions cause variations in monitored features, therefore increasing the difficulty of CM, for example, the frequency-domain analysis may lead to an inaccurate or even incorrect prediction when evaluating the health of the WT components. In light of this challenge, this paper proposed a method for the health evaluation of WT components based on vibration signals. The proposed approach aimed to reduce the evaluation error caused by the impact of the variable operating condition. First, the vibration signal was decomposed into a set of sub-signals using variational mode decomposition (VMD). Next, the sub-signal energy and the probability distribution were obtained and normalized. Finally, the concept of entropy was introduced to evaluate the health condition of a monitored object to provide an effective guide for maintenance. In particular, the health evaluation for CM was based on a performance review over a range of operating conditions, rather than at a certain single operating condition. Experimental investigations were performed which verified the efficiency of the evaluation method, as well as a comparison with the previous method.

Keywords: condition monitoring; wind turbine; variable operating states; variational mode decomposition; Renyi entropy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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