Wind Turbine Health Monitoring || Data Collection || Blog #4

18 Feb 2022

Data Collection

Collecting vibration and wind data at varying wind speeds and rotor blade positions is a crucial step for accurately monitoring the health of the wind turbine. The goal here is to simulate some of the environmental conditions that an actual turbine might encounter during its operation and collect the sensor data from the rotor. As collecting data from a real wind turbine is not feasible, I would be using the Wind Turbine Experimental Kit for this project. The rotor blades in this kit can be adjusted to different positions and would help us create normal and abnormal vibrations in the rotor.

{gallery}Adjustable Blades
Position 2
Position 3

{gallery}Adjustable Blades

Position 2

Position 3

For varying the wind speed and direction, I would use the old metal air cooler to pump in humid air at different speeds and angles with respect to the rotor blades. Both the wind speed sensor and accelerometer are housed on the rotor.

{gallery}Sensor Housing
Wind Sensor
Sensor Connection

{gallery}Sensor Housing

Wind Sensor

Sensor Connection

The data and power lines are connected through an ethernet cable. The cable is plugged and sealed to the ethernet plug on the sensor node enclosure. This makes a snug fit and helps in reliable data transmission even when the whole turbine vibrates with force up to 6g ( based on initial testing). The enclosure lid is kept open to connect the USB cable to the MKR and fetch data over the UART. The enclosure is tightly gripped to the turbine tower using the Hammond Mounting Brackets. The bracket is easy to install firmly holds the sensor enclosure in position. The base of the wind turbine is hammered into the ground using the holding clips that came along. Below are some snapshots and videos of the full setup and data collection process.Enjoy :)