Reliable wind turbine condition monitoring with the aid of a non-dimensional criterion

Increasing deployment of large wind turbines (WTs) offshore and in remote areas requires reliable and efficient condition monitoring (CM) techniques to ensure the high availability and the anticipated economic return from these giants. However, the WTs are subject to constantly varying loads, which bring significant negative influence on the reliability of CM results. To tackle this issue, an innovative load-independent CM technique is researched in this paper by taking advantage of non-dimensional criteria. Experiment has shown that the proposed technique is less dependent on the loads and the operational conditions of the WTs. It is efficient in detecting both the mechanical and electrical faults occurring in the WTs. Moreover, it provides a reliable indicator for determining the optimal time for conducting the maintenance of defective WT components and subassemblies.