Preventing Wind Turbine Disasters with IoT

As the global energy landscape shifts toward renewable sources, wind farms are a key part of global energy production, providing 8% of the world’s power in 2022. However, the force that drives wind turbines, the wind itself, can pose a significant risk. Severe gusts and gales have the potential to cause extensive damage to wind turbines, resulting in expensive repairs, operational disruptions, and catastrophic failures.

Mitigating these risks is crucial, and due to the scale of modern wind farms, the industry is now turning to more connected and intelligent solutions, harnessing the Internet of Things (IoT).

Wind Turbine Designs and Key Systems

Wind turbines (Figure 1) have a working window whereby the energy provided by the wind drives the internal components within their tolerances. Several features equip the turbines to maintain safety and optimize performance. These include the following:

• Yaw control, which allows them to align with or divert from the wind
  
• Pitch control to adjust the angle of the turbine blades
  
• Rotor brakes that assist with halting their rotation in emergencies. Estimates suggest that wind turbines encounter emergency stops approximately 500 to 1000 times during their lifespan.

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The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) IEC 61400-1 standard, which outlines design requirements for wind turbines, specifies that modern wind turbine construction must allow endurance of sustained winds of 112 mph and peak three-second gusts of 156 mph. However, wind turbines are not indestructible (Figure 2). Instances of catastrophic failure can arise when wind turbines face winds of higher speeds, encounter extreme gusts, hurricanes, or even during normal wind conditions if already compromised by existing damage.

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Technologies Powering IoT in Wind Turbines

IoT technology has helped to move wind turbine and disaster management from a single standalone and reactive process to a wider, more intelligent, proactive approach. The success of IoT in wind disaster prevention relies on perception, communication, and analytical technologies, all of which play critical roles in guaranteeing the efficiency of monitoring and maintenance systems.

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) IEC 61400-1 standard specifies that modern wind turbines must endure sustained winds of 112 mph and peak three-second gusts of 156 mph, outlining essential design requirements for wind turbines.

Advancements in sensor technology, such as the miniaturization of components and the development of more energy-efficient designs, have made it possible to deploy sensors in even the most remote and challenging wind turbine environments. Furthermore, the integration of energy-harvesting technologies allows standalone sensors to operate autonomously for extended periods, reducing the need for frequent maintenance.

Communication Networks

Once the turbine sensors collect the data, they must transmit it to a central location for analysis. This is where advanced communication technologies come into play. Because wind turbines are often in remote locations, the technologies used in their IoT systems are usually cellular LTE/5G and LoRaWAN. With its higher data rates and low latency, 5G enables real-time monitoring and swift transmission of large data volumes, ensuring prompt resolution of sensor-detected issues while minimizing the risk of failure.

5G excels in high-speed data transmission, while LoRaWAN offers long-range communication, making it ideal for remote wind farms (such as offshore deployments) where 5G infrastructure may be impractical. In some particularly remote regions, satellite communication is also being used to ensure a reliable connection.

AI and ML

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques has helped to bring intelligence to data harnessed by wind turbine IoT systems. This enables companies to build real-time solutions that can invoke critical intervention methods for both maintenance measures and deploying sophisticated farm-wide activities that can help to prevent wind turbine damage in extreme weather conditions.

Enhancing Turbine Resilience with IoT

Nordic Semiconductor’s 2023 "Connect for Good" design challenge, sponsored by Mouser Electronics, pushed engineers to demonstrate the potential of low-power wireless technology to tackle global sustainability issues.

Challenge participant Pratyush Mallick developed a low-power, remote monitoring system using a compact and integrated system-in-package (SiP). The system offers low-power LTE communication for various single-device, low-power cellular IoT designs and integrates a wide range of sensors. The project utilized a model wind turbine to simulate real-world conditions, providing valuable insights into the resilience and failure points of wind energy systems.

By simulating different wind conditions and monitoring the turbines’ response, Mallick’s project demonstrated how IoT could improve the resilience of wind turbines against extreme weather. This innovative approach not only enhances the reliability of wind energy systems but also contributes to broader disaster prevention efforts, ensuring that turbines remain operational, even in adverse conditions.

Similar techniques are also being used in many of today’s wind farms. Siemens Gamesa uses IoT and AI to monitor wind turbine conditions in real-time. Besides analyzing data from turbine sensors to predict potential failures, their platform uses drones to capture approximately 400 images of a turbine’s three blades in just 20 minutes. By utilizing Microsoft’s Azure AI services, the images are carefully examined to differentiate between cracks or surface dirt, offering a detailed overview of blade condition and required repairs. The proactive strategy has been successful in improving turbine reliability and efficiency, demonstrating the effectiveness of IoT in wind turbine disaster prevention.

Conclusion

As IoT technology evolves, its role in wind turbine disaster prevention is expected to increase. Future advancements may feature more advanced AI algorithms for precise predictions and improved sensors for in-depth monitoring.

As energy networks push for greater sustainability, IoT and AI will enable us to increase the fusion of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, helping to ensure a reliable and sustainable grid network even in the face of extreme weather events.