Survey of commercially available condition monitoring systems for wind turbines.

Abstract

As wind energy assumes greater importance in remote and offshore locations, effective and reliable condition monitoring techniques are required. Failure rate and downtime studies have also highlighted a need for condition monitoring of particular wind turbine drive train components. This survey discusses the reliability of wind turbines and different monitoring configurations currently in use. The document contains a survey of commercially available condition monitoring systems for wind turbines including information on their monitoring technologies based on available literature and discussion with the companies responsible. Observations are made concerning the nature of systems that are currently available and the apparent direction of future monitoring systems.