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

可靠性和成本降低对风电行业的增长至关重要，尤其是对海上风电行业，以及实现英国2020年及以后的目标至关重要。电力研究所(EPRI)最近的一项研究表明，如果采用预防性维护，并启用状态监测系统(CMS)，海上风力涡轮机(WTS)的维护成本可以减少67%。从剑桥大学工程系剥离出来的ReliaWind开发了一种用于WTT传动系的新型CMS技术，该技术正在申请专利，比市场上的竞争产品便宜60%，安装非常容易，并且具有更高的故障检测和诊断精度。ReliaWind的独特功能是使用WTS中已有的电气测量来检测和诊断WT传动系的机械和电气故障。因此，硬件及其安装比现有的CMS产品要简单得多。此外，ReliaWind算法基于对发电机内复杂电磁场(EM)的分析，这些磁场来自电压和电流测量，这已显示出提高了故障检测的精度。这项技术在实验室规模的原型上得到了验证，并正在开发用于在真实风力涡轮机上进行现场测试。该项目旨在研究、评估和证明ReliaWind用于陆上和海上风能应用的商业可行性，并为商业化运营进入下一阶段奠定基础

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