MOOG TO PRESENT TWO TECHNICAL PAPERS ON WIND TURBINE BLADE LOAD MEASUREMENT AND PITCH SYSTEM MODELS AT EWEA 2011

East Aurora, New York, USA, 14 March 2011 – Engineers from Moog are scheduled to present two papers at Poster Sessions on Wednesday March 16 at 16.00 and 17.30 at EWEA, Europe’s premier wind energy event that takes place this year in Brussels. Topics are “A pitch system model for more realistic load simulations of wind turbines,” and “How to increase turbine payback with blade load measurement.” Moog, a leader in providing blade pitch control, slip ring and rotor monitoring solutions for the wind energy industry has been a frequent presenter at previous global wind events.

The first paper, co-authored by Steffen Adelt and Tobias Rösmann from Moog in Germany, discusses a new model for pitch system that considers non-linear as well as linear behaviors which is critical as the wind turbine application differs from many common load simulations. “The pitch system of wind turbines serves as the actuator in the rotor speed control loop and as an emergency brake under failure conditions,” says Adelt. “For large wind turbines, control algorithms to reduce fatigue loads are developed using the pitch system as an actuator too, but these control loops are often designed without taking the real behavior of the pitch system into account. With the new model, final load simulation is more realistic offering benefits to OEMs and operators of more reliable system performance.”

The paper also addresses some key benefits of the new Moog pitch system model. The Pitch System Control Software is written in C++ programming language so that it can be integrated into different simulation tools and it is compiled as a dynamic link library (DLL) that can be easily linked with common turbine load calculation software such as GH Bladed or Flex5.

Edward Wilkinson from Moog in the UK co-authored the second paper with Mark Osborne, Glynn Lloyd, Toby King and Paul Bridges. At the EWEA Poster Sessions, Paul Bridges will present real-life case studies to show how blade load monitoring can be used to quickly diagnose losses and shorten payback times. “Even the most sophisticated wind turbines do not always run efficiently. Differences in manufacturing processes, installation and commissioning, as well as damage during travel and service, can cause inefficiencies and imbalances. Most condition monitoring systems on the market monitor the effect of faults rather than the cause,” says Bridges.

When discussing the paper to be presented, Bridges commented, “A large number of turbines have a significance blade mass imbalance, and even more have a pitch angle imbalance that exceeds the critical threshold. Until recently, it has not been possible to directly measure these loads and diagnose the problem, because wind turbines do not have reliable sensors measuring the contribution of each blade individually. We will show that blade load monitoring can be used to optimize energy output and detect damaging loads before they cause damage to the rest of the turbine.”

The authors of both presentations will be on hand to answer questions and provide details on these technical topics as well as information on how Moog solutions can provide added value to wind turbine operations.

At booth No. 7428, Hall 7 at EWEA 2011, Moog will offer a realistic demonstration of pitch control and rotor monitoring that visitors can control as well as displays of the latest products and technologies. Moog is also celebrating the achievement of more than 20,000 onshore and offshore wind turbines installed worldwide.

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