Reliawind Limited – Study, assessment and proof of market potentials and economics of a new condition monitoring technology for wind turbine applications

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Reliability and cost reduction are vital to the growth of the wind industry, especially offshore,and to realise the UK's targets for 2020 and beyond. A recent study by Electric PowerResearch Institute (EPRI) shows that a reduction of 67% can be achieved in the maintenancecosts of offshore wind turbines (WTs) if preventive maintenance is adopted, enabled bycondition monitoring systems (CMSs). Reliawind, spun out from Cambridge UniversityEngineering Department, has developed a novel and patent-pending CMS technology for WTdrivetrains, which is 60% cheaper and substantially easier to install than its rival products inthe market, and has greater fault detection precision and diagnosis.The unique feature of ReliaWind is the use of electrical measurements, already available inWTs, to detect and diagnose mechanical and electrical faults in WT drivetrains. Hence, thehardware and its installation are significantly simpler than existing CMS products. In addition,Reliawind algorithms are based on the analysis of complex electro-magnetic (EM) fields inthe generator, derived from the voltage and current measurements, which have shown to giveenhanced precision in fault detection. The technology is proven on laboratory-scale prototypesand is being developed for site testing in real wind turbines. This project aims to study, assessand prove the commercial feasibility of Reliawind for on- and offshore wind applications andset the foundation for commercialisation operation to move to the next phase