A fault detection technique for variable-speed wind turbines using vibrations and electrical measurements

Abstract

A technique for detecting faults in variable speed wind turbines with permanent magnet synchronous generators is proposed. The proposal consist on sampling and process vibration signals at constant position intervals, in order to obtain a speed independent vibration spectrum. The angular position information is obtained using a reduced order observer which allows estimating rotor position using voltage and current measurements, without the need of a position sensor. The estimated position is used for resampling vibration signals at constant position intervals with a high number of samples per revolution. Experimental results including a rotor imbalance fault are presented to validate the proposal.