scholarly journals Condition Monitoring for the Roller Bearings of Wind Turbines under Variable Working Conditions Based on the Fisher Score and Permutation Entropy

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 3085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Fu ◽  
Tiantian Zhu ◽  
Kai Zhu ◽  
Yiling Yang

Condition monitoring is used to assess the reliability and equipment efficiency of wind turbines. Feature extraction is an essential preprocessing step to achieve a high level of performance in condition monitoring. However, the fluctuating conditions of wind turbines usually cause sudden variations in the monitored features, which may lead to an inaccurate prediction and maintenance schedule. In this scenario, this article proposed a novel methodology to detect the multiple levels of faults of rolling bearings in variable operating conditions. First, signal decomposition was carried out by variational mode decomposition (VMD). Second, the statistical features were calculated and extracted in the time domain. Meanwhile, a permutation entropy analysis was conducted to estimate the complexity of the vibrational signal in the time series. Next, feature selection techniques were applied to achieve improved identification accuracy and reduce the computational burden. Finally, the ranked feature vectors were fed into machine learning algorithms for the classification of the bearing defect status. In particular, the proposed method was performed over a wide range of working regions to simulate the operational conditions of wind turbines. Comprehensive experimental investigations were employed to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed method.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junyu Qi ◽  
Alexandre Mauricio ◽  
Konstantinos Gryllias

Abstract As a renewable, unlimited and free resource, wind energy has been intensively deployed in the past to generate electricity. However, the maintenance of Wind Turbines (WTs) can be challengeable. On the one hand, most wind farms operate in remote areas and on the other hand, the dimension of WTs’ tip/hub/rotor are usually enormous. In order to prevent abrupt breakdowns of WTs, a number of Condition Monitoring (CM) methods have been proposed. Focusing on bearing diagnostics, Squared Envelope Spectrum is one of the most common techniques. Moreover in order to identify the optimum demodulation frequency band, fast Kurtogram, Infogram and Sparsogram are nowadays popular tools evaluating respectively the Kurtosis, the Negentropy and the Sparsity. The analysis of WTs usually requires high effort due to the complexity of the drivetrain and the varying operating conditions and therefore there is still need for research on effective and reliable CM techniques for WT monitoring. Thus the purpose of this paper is to investigate a blind and effective CM approach based on the Scattering Transform. Through the comparison with state of the art techniques, the proposed methodology is found more powerful to detect a fault on six validated WT datasets.


Author(s):  
Junyu Qi ◽  
Alexandre Mauricio ◽  
Konstantinos Gryllias

Abstract Under the pressure of climate change, renewable energy gradually replaces fossil fuels and plays nowadays a significant role in energy production. The O&M costs of wind turbines may easily reach up to 25% of the total leverised cost per kWh produced over the lifetime of the turbine for a new unit. Manufacturers and operators try to reduce O&M by developing new turbine designs and by adopting condition monitoring approaches. One of the most critical assembly of wind turbines is the gearbox. Gearboxes are designed to last till the end of asset's lifetime, according to the IEC 61400-4 standards but a recent study indicated that gearboxes might have to be replaced as early as 6.5 years. A plethora of sensor types and signal processing methodologies have been proposed in order to accurately detect and diagnose the presence of a fault but often the gearbox is equipped with a limited number of sensors and a simple global diagnostic indicator is demanded, being capable to detect globally various faults of different components. The scope of this paper is the application and comparison of a number of blind global diagnostic indicators which are based on Entropy, on Negentropy, on Sparsity and on Statistics. The performance of the indicators is evaluated on a wind turbine data set with two different bearing faults. Among the different diagnostic indicators Permutation entropy, Approximate entropy, Samples entropy, Fuzzy entropy, Conditional entropy and Wiener entropy achieve the best results detecting blindly the two failure events.


Author(s):  
Marek Dzida ◽  
Krzysztof Kosowski

In bibliography we can find many methods of determining pressure drop in the combustion chambers of gas turbines, but there is only very few data of experimental results. This article presents the experimental investigations of pressure drop in the combustion chamber over a wide range of part-load performances (from minimal power up to take-off power). Our research was carried out on an aircraft gas turbine of small output. The experimental results have proved that relative pressure drop changes with respect to fuel flow over the whole range of operating conditions. The results were then compared with theoretical methods.


Inventions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zine Aidoun ◽  
Khaled Ameur ◽  
Mehdi Falsafioon ◽  
Messaoud Badache

Two-phase ejectors play a major role as refrigerant expansion devices in vapor compression systems and can find potential applications in many other industrial processes. As a result, they have become a focus of attention for the last few decades from the scientific community, not only for the expansion work recovery in a wide range of refrigeration and heat pump cycles but also in industrial processes as entrainment and mixing enhancement agents. This review provides relevant findings and trends, characterizing the design, operation and performance of the two-phase ejector as a component. Effects of geometry, operating conditions and the main developments in terms of theoretical and experimental approaches, rating methods and applications are discussed in detail. Ejector expansion refrigeration cycles (EERC) as well as the related theoretical and experimental research are reported. New and other relevant cycle combinations proposed in the recent literature are organized under theoretical and experimental headings by refrigerant types and/or by chronology whenever appropriate and systematically commented. This review brings out the fact that theoretical ejector and cycle studies outnumber experimental investigations and data generation. More emerging numerical studies of two-phase ejectors are a positive step, which has to be further supported by more validation work.


Author(s):  
Vesa Ho¨ltta¨ ◽  
Matti Repo ◽  
Lauri Palmroth ◽  
Aki Putkonen

Real-time performance assessment and condition monitoring are potential new features in mobile working machines that have to run in a wide range of operating conditions. Condition monitoring and performance assessment are needed to be able to proactively correct impending faults before severe failures or machine stoppage occur. This paper presents a data-driven approach for machine performance assessment and condition monitoring based on indices representing the performance of a subsystem. Instead of adding new sensors, the indices are computed using existing data from the machine control system. Metrics for machine performance follow-up are derived from these multidimensional data, which have strong nonlinear correlations in certain measurement variables. Although the indices describe primarily the technical performance of the machine, they have proven to be valuable also in terms of condition monitoring of various machine functions. The indices summarize in a concise and easily comprehensible manner changes in performance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junyu Qi ◽  
Alexandre Mauricio ◽  
Konstantinos Gryllias

Abstract Under the pressure of climate change, renewable energy gradually replaces fossil fuels and plays nowadays a significant role in energy production. Among different types of energy sources, wind power covered 14% of the EU’s electricity demand in 2018. The Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs of wind turbines may easily reach up to 20–25% of the total leverised cost per kWh produced over the lifetime of the turbine for a new unit. According to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables (WMPR) onshore wind farm operators are expected to spend nearly $15 billion on O&M services in 2019. Manufacturers and operators try to reduce O&M on one hand by developing new turbine designs and on the other hand by adopting condition monitoring approaches. One of the most critical and rather complex assembly of wind turbines is the gearbox. Gearboxes are designed to last till the end of asset’s lifetime, according to the IEC 61400-4 standards. On the other hand, a recent study over approximately 350 offshore wind turbines indicated that gearboxes might have to be replaced as early as 6.5 years. Therefore a plethora of sensor types and signal processing methodologies have been proposed in order to accurately detect and diagnose the presence of a fault. Among others, Envelope Analysis is one of the most important methodologies, where an envelope of the vibration signal is estimated, usually after filtering around a selected frequency band excited by impacts due to the fault. Sometimes the gearbox is equipped with many acceleration sensors and its kinematics is clearly known. In these cases Cyclostationary Analysis and the corresponding methodologies, i.e. the Cyclic Spectral Correlation and the Cyclic Spectral Coherence, have been proposed as powerful tools. On the other hand often the gearbox is equipped with a limited number of sensors and a simple global diagnostic indicator is demanded, being capable to detect globally various faults of different components. The scope of this paper is the application and comparison of a number of blind global diagnostic indicators which are based on Entropy (Permutation entropy, Approximate entropy, Samples entropy, Fuzzy entropy, Conditional entropy and Wiener entropy), on Negentropy (Infogram), on Sparsity (Sparse-L2/L1, Sparse-L1/L0, Sparse-Gini index) and on Statistics (Mean, Standard deviation, Kurtosis, etc.). The performance of the indicators is evaluated and compared on a wind turbine data set, consisted of vibration data captured by one accelerometer mounted on six 2.5 MW wind turbines, located in a wind park in northern Sweden, where two different bearing faults have been filed, for one wind turbine, during a period of 46 months. Among the different diagnostic indicators Permutation entropy, Approximate entropy, Samples entropy, Fuzzy entropy, Conditional entropy and Wiener entropy achieve the best results detecting blindly the two failure events.


Author(s):  
E. Pinton ◽  
Y. Fourneron ◽  
S. Rosini ◽  
L. Antoni

Ice/frost formation in a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) operating under sub-zero temperatures can lead to its shutdown during start up. Isothermal potentiostatic and galvanostatic tests were performed on 220 cm2 single cells under a wide range of operating conditions in order to investigate the “cold start” behaviour. Different parameters have been investigated: the initial water contained in the membrane, the operating voltage, the cell temperature and current. An optimal wetting level of the fuel cell (FC) core for which cumulated heat generated by the electrochemical reaction is maximal, has been observed. Water management analysis from the membrane coupled with cell resistance measurement allowed to formulating a phenomenological interpretation of the overall performance evolution of the FC. FC starving is not only due to ice formation in the cathode layer pores, thus hindering oxygen transport. It is also due to ice formation in active reaction sites increasing the electrical resistance of the cell. Both factors dramatically reduce FC performance under load. The relative balance of each effect has been assessed.


Author(s):  
Henry Z. Graham ◽  
Meagan Hubbell ◽  
Chad Panther ◽  
Jay Wilhelm ◽  
Gerald M. Angle ◽  
...  

Wind turbines are a source of renewable energy with an endless supply. The most efficient types of wind turbines operate by utilizing the lift force of its blades to create a rotational force. The power capabilities of a wind turbine are tied to the blades’ ability to convert the aerodynamic forces into rotational energy. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT), unlike the more common horizontal axis (HAWT) type, do not need to be directed into the wind and can place the transmission and electrical power generation components at the bottom of the turbine shaft, near the ground. Currently VAWTs cannot feather or pitch the blades, in the same fashion as a HAWT, for a lift change to control power generation and/or rotational speed at different or changing wind speeds. A method of increasing the lift of a blade without physically moving the blade is to use circulation control (CC), via a blowing slot over a rounded trailing edge. The CC air flow entrains the air around the blade to create more lift. Adding an actuated valve for the blowing slot allows a CC-VAWT to control the amount of lift generated, as well as the location of the augmentation relative to the wind direction, resulting in augmented power generation. In order to study the performance capabilities of a CC-VAWT, a NACA0018 blade was modified to incorporate circulation control. This modified shape was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics at two Reynolds numbers and a wide range of angles of attack. The lift to drag ratio of the CC-VAWT blade shows benefits at low Reynolds numbers over a NACA0018 blade for post stall angles of attack, but there is a decrease in the lift to drag before stall due to a significant increase in drag of the circulation control models. Further CFD refinement and experimental investigations are recommended to validate the predicted effects circulation control will have on the performance of a VAWT.


1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Cook ◽  
C. A. Rau ◽  
E. Smith

Many high strength alloys that are developed for arduous operating conditions have essentially a two-phase microstructure that is produced by a precipitation-hardening procedure. However, alloys that are heat-treated to have maximum hardness, often have poor monotonic and poor fatigue fracture characteristics when these are assessed in relation to their high yield strengths, and this imposes limits to their use for service applications. Experimental investigations covering a wide range of precipitation-hardened alloys have shown that the inferior fracture properties are due to plastic deformation being concentrated within narrow zones. Against this background, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft is undertaking a comprehensive theoretical investigation based on the representation of flow concentration by appropriate theoretical models. The general objective is to provide a quantitative understanding of flow concentration, both with respect to its causes and consequences, in terms of both material and externally imposed parameters such as, for example, the state of loading. The aim of the present paper is not to survey the complete problem of flow concentration in the light of the research undertaken to date, but to provide a limited number of examples that illustrate how specific aspects of the problem have been considered using appropriate models to describe the operative physical processes. With the Conference’s objectives in mind, the paper’s general intention is therefore to provide further evidence that micromechanical modeling can be successfully used to relate mechanical behavior with metallurgical parameters, and thereby add further support for the view that such work forms an integral part of any balanced materials research and development program.


1969 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Powe ◽  
C. T. Carley ◽  
E. H. Bishop

The results of all available experimental investigations into the characteristics of free convective flow of air between horizontal isothermal concentric cylinders are reviewed and several discrepancies are pointed out. An experimental study is described which was directed at resolving these discrepancies and categorizing the several flow patterns which have been observed. Using six different cylinder sets and varying both the annulus pressure and temperature difference between the cylinder surfaces, a range of Grashof numbers (based on annulus width) from 300 to 3.4 × 106 was achieved. The resulting air flow patterns were made visible with the use of tobacco smoke and are documented by written descriptions, photographs, motion pictures, and quantitative data. One steady and three unsteady flow patterns were observed and comparison with the results of other investigators is presented. A chart is presented which allows prediction of the type of unsteady flow that will occur for a wide range of cylinder combinations and annulus operating conditions. A comparison with cylinders in forced cross-flow is used to satisfactorily predict the onset of one of the unsteady flow patterns. Also, the flow patterns observed experimentally are compared to those predicted by an available analytical solution.


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