Vestas

About: Vestas is a company organization based out in Aarhus, Denmark. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Turbine & Wind power. The organization has 1075 authors who have published 1519 publications receiving 23285 citations. The organization is also known as: Vestas Wind Systems & Vestas Wind Systems A/S.

A method of determining individual set points in a power plant controller, and a power plant controller

Abstract: This invention relates to a method and a power plant controller arranged to carry out the method. The method is on an intelligent dispatching of the power production to wind turbines and optional compensation equipment of a wind power plant, as the power producing units of a wind power plant. The invention relates to a case where the requested produced power is less than the total capacity of the power plant, and the invention relates to utilizing this situation to dispatch set points to the wind turbines and the compensation equipment in a flexible way. This flexibility may increase the wind turbines' life time, help in scheduling maintenance and expand the electrical operating range of the wind power plant. The determination of the set points on active and reactive power is a combined determination of both set points for each of the energy producing units of the wind power plant.

Lifting Equipment For Handling A Wind Turbine Component And A Method For Handling A Wind Turbine Component

Abstract: The invention relates to a lifting equipment (12) for handling a wind turbine component (3) in connection with lifting means. The equipment (12) comprises a base frame (13, 14, 15) with at least one attachment area (21), and at least two attachment points (16a-18a, 16b-18b, 19) for said wind turbine component (3). The at least one of said attachment points (16a-18a, 16b-18b, 19) are adjustable mounted in relation to said base frame (13, 14, 15). The invention also relates to a method for handling a wind turbine component.

Electro-thermal modeling for junction temperature cycling-based lifetime prediction of a press-pack IGBT 3L-NPC-VSC applied to large wind turbines

Abstract: Reliability is a critical criterion for multi-MW wind turbines, which are being employed with increasing numbers in wind power plants, since they operate under harsh conditions and have high maintenance cost due to their remote locations. In this study, the wind turbine grid-side converter reliability is investigated regarding IGBT lifetime based on junction temperature cycling for the grid-side press-pack IGBT 3L-NPC-VSC, which is a state-of-the art high reliability solution. In order to acquire IGBT junction temperatures for given wind power profiles and to use them in IGBT lifetime prediction, the converter electro-thermal model including electrical, power loss, and dynamical thermal models is developed with the main focus on the thermal modeling regarding converter topology, switch technology, and physical structure. Moreover, these models are simplified for their practical implementation in computation platforms. Finally, the converter lifetimes for wind power profiles are predicted using the IGBT lifetime model available. Hence, the developed electro-thermal model's suitability for the lifetime predictions is shown.

Model Predictive Control of Trailing Edge Flaps on a wind turbine blade

Abstract: Trailing Edge Flaps on wind turbine blades have been studied in order to achieve fatigue load reduction on the turbine components. We show in this paper how Model Predictive Control can be used to do frequency weighted control of the trailing edge flaps in order to reduce fatigue damage on the blade root. The design model is based on a modal model of the blade structure and a steady state aerodynamic model of the blade airfoils. Depending on the output filter, loads within different frequency range are decreased. A fine tuning of the Kalman filter and of the cost function allows to decrease significantly the blade root loads without damaging excessively the trailing edge flap actuators.

Wind turbine integrated structural and LPV control design for improved closed-loop performance

Abstract: An iterative redesign algorithm is proposed to integrate the design of the structural parameters and a linear parameter-varying (LPV) controller for a three-bladed horizontal-axis wind turbine. The LPV controller is designed for an eighth-order lumped model of the wind turbine consisting of blades, drive-train and the tower. The lumped model response is matched with detailed open-loop numerical simulations using the Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures and Turbulence (FAST) code. The controller is scheduled in real-time based on the mean wind speed to account for the varying system dynamics. The objective is to track the operating trajectory meanwhile minimise the H ∞ performance index from the wind turbulence to the controlled output vector consisting of pitch angle, blade tip deflection, and the generator speed and torque. Sensitivity analysis of the closed-loop performance index with respect to the structural parameters of the system is examined. The integrated design problem is formulated as an iterative...