IGOR EGAÑA
CEO Maxwind
Do you know…?
Maxwind Technologies is a spin-off company of Hispavista Labs, which is part of the RVCT (Basque Science and Technology Network). We are specialized in developing advanced software solutions in the cloud for different customer needs.
3 years ago we started the Pitch Adjustment project in order to attend the demands of different customers related to the renewable wind energy, specially focused in future offshore needs.
The result of these years of hard work is a triple A patent. The calculation and measurement of the pitch angle in a mounted blade of a wind turbine. The patent has been tested and excellent results are being obtained in different wind farms.
PITCH ADJUSTMENT
Calibration and adjustment of the pitch in wind turbines
Technical concepts
- Relative pitch adjustment between wind turbine blades is a very important factor in the aerodynamic rotor imbalance. It is also a cause of loss of performance in the wind turbine. (Small deviations of more than 0,5º can cause a significant output power loss).
- The relative angle differences between blades are a cause of harmful increase of the vibration levels that have serious side effects on the yaw, multiplier, bearings, low speed shaft, etc. due to aerodynamic imbalance. All this also leads to a significant decrease in wind turbine availability and extra repair costs.
- The wrong adjustment consequences can be noticed in the power output from 0,5º of deviations between blades or between the global pitch angle settings. The CP (Power Coefficient) of the wind turbine is very much dependent of the pitch values.
- The power losses due to wrong pitch adjustment, are produced especially in the 3-14 m/s wind ranges. Need not to say that this is normally the most important part of any wind histogram and where most of the power production is produced.
Measurement methodology
The main objective of the patented method of calculation is to obtain the necessary measurements (with laser technology) of different parts of the wind turbine in order to be able to calculate the angle of the blade chord (pitch) with respect to the rotation plane of the blades.
Relative Adjustments between blades
Once the control system of the wind turbine sends the signal to set the blades at a certain angle, the 3 blades must have the same pitch angle. If this doesn’t happen then there is a relative angle maladjustment between blade, and depending on the severeness immediate action is recommended.Absolute pitch angle of the blades
The optimum angle setting: is obtained out of the best in class wind turbines of the wind farm. There are always a set of wind turbine that have an excelling power curve. Our method is based on calculating the angles of these best class turbines and copying their angle settings to the rest of worst class turbines (from a power curve point of view).
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Proyecto cofinanciado tanto por el Gobierno Vasco con cargo al presupuesto de gastos del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Competitividad y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional FEDER dentro de la convocatoria NETS 2014.
