Telemonitoring of wind turbines

– for your condition based maintenance –

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magazine
’antriebstechnik’
May 2008

Dr. Edwin Becker,

PRÜFTECHNIK Condition Monitoring

PRÜFTECHNIK Condition Monitoring GmbH • 85737 Ismaning, Germany • eMail: info@pruftechnik.com • www.pruftechnik.com
A member of the PRÜFTECHNIK Group
 Renewable Energy Special

Telemonitoring
of wind turbines
Experience with condition-based maintenance of wind turbines

maintenance. It is the experience of

PRÜFTECHNIK and others that drive train
faults are easy to identify in the high speed
drive train field by evaluating the vibra-
tion signatures. Vibration-prone compo-
nents or influences can be identified in
this way as well, and it is even possible to
track their failure mode using TeleMoni-
toring. In contrast, however, this type of
monitoring cannot be used for low speed
drive train components, such as to assess
their remaining service life. This task re-
lies on a high level of knowledge and
experience:
Knowledge and information regarding
the functional and structural configura-
tion of the wind turbine and its compo-
Fig. 1: Permissible evaluation velocity
nents.
Knowledge and information regarding
the interaction of the individual wind
Dr. Edwin Becker
turbine subassemblies being monitored.
Knowledge and experience regarding
Condition-based maintenance on wind turbines not only involves the diagnosis parameters typical of wind
maintenance, but also encompasses servicing, inspection, measure- turbines, their tolerance ranges and ex-
clusion limit values.
ment and evaluation of the current condition of the unit. As a condi- Information and experience regarding
tion-based maintenance tool, Condition Monitoring is a component of the possible faults in and damage to the
individual machine subassemblies that
long-term service packages offered by some wind turbine vendors and
can arise during operation and their
essential for operating offshore wind farms. Several thousand wind impact.
turbines are presently equipped with Condition Monitoring systems Knowledge about the operational and
machine-related vibration effects, the
(CMSs). CMSs record the running and operating conditions of a wind applicable diagnosis procedures, and
turbine and send the measurement data to a certified monitoring cen- the diagnosis conditions that need to be
adhered to and their limit values.
ter, e.g. as an eMail. The center monitors changes in the running and
operating behavior of the unit (TeleMonitoring, Level 1), identifies the
causes of changes (TeleDiagnosis, Level 2), makes statements on the
machine condition (Level 3), and looks for opportunities for improve-
ment.
The goal of Condition Monitoring is to
make a functional diagnosis or a damage
diagnosis. The functional diagnosis in-
volves the measurement of the functional
and operating parameters necessary for
rotating machinery to operate correctly
and efficiently. Damage diagnosis is the
determination of the damage condition of
machines and machine components. In-
depth diagnosis examines the condition of
machine subassemblies or individual com-
ponents. Thus, it refers to machine moni-
Dr. rer. nat. Edwin Becker is toring with a high degree of detail and is
Head of Service & Diagnostic Cen-
ter at PRÜFTECHNIK Condition used in the wind energy sector for defect
Fig. 2: Piezoelectric accelerometers in-
Monitoring, Germany. localization and to define the scope of stalled on the gear.

1
 Special Renewable Energy

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A question of balance
The experts at the PRÜFTECHNIK Service and Diagnostic Center can support you
with their know-how in complying with the vibration and balancing regulations
that apply to your wind turbines. Talk to us!

From left to right:

– Vibration measurement with
VIBXPERT®
– Mounting of trial weights on the ba-
lancing belt
– Balancing weights on rotor blades in
the evening sun.

Service & Diagnostic Center

Wind turbines are often complex and require professional
testing expertise in all phases – from installation to mainte-
nance. An increasing number are being equipped with
Condition Monitoring Systems to provide the operator with
data on the condition of the wind turbine on a running
basis. Innovative testing equipment and methods achieve
greater geometric precision and enable vibration analyses
that can significantly increase machine availability, promote
early damage detection, abbreviate the troubleshooting
phase and thus save on costs.

VIBXPERT® – Two-chan- VIBROWEB® XP – a CM

nel FFT data collector,
signal analyzer, balancer
and data recorder.
system certified by Ger-
manische Lloyd (optionally
extendable for offshore
use, etc.)
 Renewable Energy Special

Signal
5
7 7
6 2
6
Amplitude
4 6 8 4 1
6 1
5
2
3 7
6
2 1
5 5 2
8 8

1 5 1
3 7 3
1 5
6 8
1 2
3 7

8
8 2 2 4 4
1
2 4
3 3 7 8 4

7 3
Frequency
Signal Time

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Amplitude
6 4
2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 42 4

1 5 1 5 1 5 1 51 51 51 51 51 5

6 8 6 8 6 8 6 8 6 8 6 8 6 86 8 6

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Order
Time
Fig. 3: Automatic CMS, mounted under a 2.5 Fig. 4: Resampling procedure, illustrated for an acceleration process. Top: time
MW generator. synchronous; bottom: torque angle synchronous

Condition Monitoring systems
Figure 2 shows a piezoelectrical acceler-
ometer installed on a wind turbine gear.
This type of sensor is used to record low
frequency vibrations beginning at 0.1 Hz
and high frequency vibrations up to
45,000 Hz. The measurement require-
ments for Condition Monitoring on wind
turbines are defined in [1]. The necessary
measurement results are recorded in two
operating states, a process that is triggered
by the autonomous CMS. The results are
then prepared in advance, the time traces
and spectra are stored temporarily, and
the conditions are partially prediagnosed
in the CMS for issuing alarms. The results
are automatically sent to the monitoring
center by eMail over the Intranet/Internet.
Figure 3 shows a CMS mounted under the
2,500 kW generator on the base frame of a
wind turbine of type N80.
Early on it became clear [2] that ade- Control, VIBROWEB XP and VIBGUARD
quate measurement quality could only be with 64 MB memory since as early as
reached if the CMS allowed for wind 2003. Because a gust of wind bears a high
fluctuations by extending the measure- amount of energy, new higher perfor-
ment times and if it eliminated speed mance wind turbines are not only being
fluctuations by means of resampling operated at variable speeds but more dy-
(torque angle synchronous frequency namically as well. The dynamic speed
analysis). This is the only way to obtain fluctuations are disadvantageous to Con-
amplitude and envelope spectra with a dition Monitoring in that they have an
high resolution that are reproducible and even greater impact on the amplitude
truly representative. At least 20 vibration spectra over long measurement times.
events should be measured to obtain a Consequently, frequencies become
stable frequency value. One hundred “blurred” and amplitudes “delayed”. Spec-
events are ideal for stable amplitudes. For tra with a clearly defined excitation fre-
low speed drive train components and quency (order) and a clearly defined am-
planetary stages, such as in a 1.5 MW plitude can be obtained if the torque angle
plant, measurement times of approx. 60 s synchronous frequency analysis (resam-
should be planned for stable frequency/ pling) is already applied in the CMS.
orders and approx. 300 s for stable ampli- Resampling means that the vibration and
tudes. For this reason, PRÜFTECHNIK has
been equipping its certified CMS, WinT-

Certified Monitoring Center

– Processes –

Installation & Commissioning

of CMS
Commissioning service
A (3 months per WEA)

Telemonitoring & Diagnosis

B

Consulting & Analysis

C
Fig. 6: Processes that take place in a certi-
fied monitoring center.

Fig. 5: Amplitude spectra, measured simultaneously. Top: order analysis

(torque angle synchronous frequency analysis); bottom: frequency analysis. Fig. 7: Machine code.

2

Fig. 8: Increase in characteristic vibration values to the point where generator dam-
age occurs.
Fig. 9: Configuration menu in OMNITREND®.
Fig. 10: Machine spectrum with alignment errors.
RPM signals are measured at the same
time, and the sampling rate is matched to
the current RPM. The principle is illustrat-
ed in Figure 4 for an acceleration process.
Figure 5 shows how RPM fluctuations
influence amplitudes. While the resam-
pled order spectrum results in amplitudes
of 4 mm/s, the frequency spectrum mea-
sured at the same time only exhibits am-
plitudes of 0.2 mm/s. Note that these
measurements are simultaneous! Resam-
Special
pling is essential in systems with high
speed variability and long measurement
times, and is state of the art in
PRÜFTECHNIK equipment. Experience in
the Condition Monitoring of wind turbines
has shown that certified CMSs and new
diagnosis procedures alone are not
enough. The result stands or falls with the
right installation, parameterization and
startup of the CMS, and the rapid and
correct response to indicated changes in
3
Renewable Energy
condition. Figure 6 illustrates the process-
es that must be followed in a certified
Monitoring Center according to [1] to
achieve a successful diagnosis. In fact, the
performance of the database software only
becomes apparent when hundreds of wind
turbines are remotely monitored [3].
PRÜFTECHNIK carries out this service for
the Nordex wind turbine vendor and con-
tinuously optimizes its own software to
automate as many routine tasks as possi-
ble. In the wind sector, it is also possible,
with suitable hardware and software, to
simplify the monitoring process by moni-
toring comparable wind turbines based on
vibration and diagnosis characteristic val-
ues. This procedure is described below.
TeleMonitoring of
drive train components
Before beginning with TeleMonitoring,
the drive train components are divided
into their main components, as shown in
Figure 7. Then, by means of FMECA, the
most important components and subas-
semblies are associated with potential
faults, and diagnosis procedures, frequen-
cy bands, warning and alarm thresholds
and evaluation strategies are defined. In
TeleMonitoring, PRÜFTECHNIK differenti-
ates between the remote monitoring of
characteristic vibration values and the re-
mote monitoring of characteristic diagno-
sis values. The evaluation pertains to the
trends in these values.
TeleMonitoring on the basis
of overall vibration values
In machines and industrial plants, the
use of vibration values according to ISO-
10816-3 to monitor the general vibration
condition is a preferred method. However,
the use of this standard for wind turbines
is explicitly prohibited. For this reason, the
VDI 3834 [4] standard was established. It
is based on a statistical analysis of vibra-
tion measurement results on more than
450 wind turbines and defines threshold
values in terms of vibration velocity in
mm/s and acceleration in m/s² for the
drive train components generator, gear,
main bearing and for the nacelle/tower
(Figure 1). The component-specific fre-
quency bands are defined in VDI 3834 and
recommendations are made for warning
and alarm values. Because of the natural
fluctuations in wind loads, VDI 3834 de-
mands extended measurement times of 1
to 10 minutes and even requires a root
mean square to obtain stable and mean-
ingful vibration values, even for low speed
components. PRÜFTECHNIK participated
in developing this standard and has been
employing these characteristic overall vi-
bration values in TeleMonitoring for quite
some time. The characteristic overall vi-
bration values serve as guidelines and can
be used to compare similarly built wind
turbines. They can also be used for the
 Renewable Energy
Fig. 11: Aerodynamic imbalances due to blade angle fault.
TeleMonitoring of trends over a period of
weeks, months and years. Figure 8 shows
the trend of a generator in which the first
signs of a machine fault appeared several
weeks prior to the incident. Note, howev-
er, that vibration changes like these only
arise if the affected drive train component
is dominant in the frequency band.
Characteristic overall vibration values
do not exhibit an increase if damage in the
amplitude spectra does not result in domi-
nant vibrations.
TeleMonitoring on the basis of
characteristic diagnosis values
Vibration specialists usually make use of
amplitude spectra, envelope spectra, time
signals and/or Cepstra to detect unusual
vibration signals, identify dominant exci-
tations and evaluate trends via waterfall
spectra in terms of changes. In mobile
machine diagnosis and problem analysis,
this is not a problem and is well within the
command of experienced vibration spe-
cialists. However, “surfing” through thou-
sands of measurement signals day after
day can be tiring even for specialists, and
is also prone to error. It is less tiresome
when vibration exciters are defined in the
software and band-specific characteristic
values are already remotely monitored as
a trend by the CMS. Figure 9 shows a
configuration menu from the OMNI-
TREND software in which the characteris-
tic bands and limit values in the amplitude
spectra can be defined and described. A
few examples are presented here:
Deviations in the machine alignment:
Figure 10 shows a frequency spectrum
in which the double rotational frequen-
cy is dominant in addition to the single
rotational frequency. Machine spectra
such as these can be used to check the
quality of the machine alignment and
verify it. If these frequencies are moni-
tored as a trend, the fatigue process in
the elastic elements can be tracked and
alignment targets can be adjusted ac-
cordingly [5].
Rotor blade imbalances: Imbalance
leads to rotational excitations. Rotor
blades have very low rotational frequen-
Special
Fig. 12: Trend of roller bearing damage in a gear.
cies due to their low RPMs and require
long measurement times. With online
CMS, these low frequency vibrations
can be tracked at different wind speeds.
It is even possible to distinguish mass
imbalances from aerodynamic environ-
mental influences. Figure 11 shows vi-
bration velocities with an aerodynamic
imbalance due to a blade angle fault.
This results in wind-dependent ampli-
tudes of up to 100 mm/s. Resampled
amplitudes were used as a characteristic
diagnosis value.
Insufficient lubrication in generator
bearing: Resonant excitations in the ac-
celeration spectra of greased bearings
are often indicators of insufficient lubri-
cation. Usually in the range of several
kHz, broadband peaks arise that in-
crease with increasing lubricant defi-
ciency and can therefore be monitored
as an overall trend value. When the
component is relubricated, these distur-
bance excitations are reduced if in fact
they were caused by insufficient lubrica-
tion. If not, the excitations are a sign of
bearing damage.
Gear fault: Typical gear frequencies and
gear disturbance frequencies are calcu-
lated by the vibration specialist and
derived from diagnoses of the frequency
distributions and amplitude heights [2].
Experience such as this is also used in
trend monitoring. This becomes a chal-
lenge when, for example, the tooth
frequency of the planetary stage, the
rotational frequency of the output pinion
and the bearing frequencies are very
close together for constructional reasons
and modulations arise within the gear.
Roller bearing faults: Envelope spectra
can be evaluated to identify damage in
roller bearings. In this way, it becomes
possible to track damage trends based
on diagnosis characteristic values and to
postpone maintenance to periods of low
wind – despite the associated failure
risks. In highly stressed roller bearings,
it may occur that damage increases very
rapidly, reducing the warning period to
only a few days (Figure 12).
4
Outlook
These five examples alone illustrate that
Condition Monitoring becomes manage-
able when component-specific characteris-
tic diagnosis values are selected in the
monitoring process and the band-specific
amplitudes are then checked for changes.
PRÜFTECHNIK monitors characteristic vi-
bration and diagnosis values during
TeleMonitoring, basing these on long-term
and resampled signals. If changes occur
and/or limit values are exceeded during
TeleMonitoring, the vibration specialist
can start an in-depth diagnosis of specific
components. With this additional informa-
tion, it becomes possible to define new
characteristic diagnosis values and depen-
dencies with clear fault messages. Thus,
the specialist becomes more familiar with
the damage behavior, and can apply the
experience gained in this way to make the
most of the machine’s remaining service
live.
Bibliography::
[1] Richtlinie für die Zertifizierung von Condition
Monitoring Systemen für Windenergieanlagen.
Germanischer Lloyd Industrial Services GmbH,
Geschäftsbereich Windenergie, 2007.
[2] Becker, E.: Condition Monitoring an Wind-
kraftanlagen. Windkraftjournal, 04/2001, p. 38-
40.
[3] www.telediagnose.com. Prüftechnik Service
Magazine, Heft 12, 09/2007.
[4] VDI 3834, Sheet 1:Messung und Beurteilung
der mechanischen Schwingungen von Windener-
gieanlagen und deren Komponenten-Windener-
gieanlagen mit Getrieben. Draft 02/2008.
[5] Becker E.; Holstein O.: Ausrichtvorgaben für
Triebstränge in Windenergieanlagen ermitteln.
Erneuerbare Energien, 10/2007, p. 35-37.
Visit us at www.pruftechnik.com
PRÜFTECHNIK
Condition Monitoring GmbH
Oskar-Messter-Straße 19-21
85737 Ismaning, Germany
www.pruftechnik.com
Tel: +49 89 99616-0
Fax: +49 89 99616-300
eMail: info@pruftechnik.com
Productive maintenance technology