Development and validation of real time load estimator on Goldwind 6 MW wind turbine

Abstract

Modern wind turbines have access to highly reliable measurements of important control input signals, such as generator speed and nacelle acceleration. They also have high fidelity numerical models such as in Bladed, which can be used to estimate structural loads under simulated normal and extreme operating conditions. However, if we want to know the structural loads that occurred in a time period on the real turbine, presently this requires instrumentation with strain gauges. These sensors can be unreliable and expensive to install, calibrate and maintain. The price of reliable sensors is unlikely to drop to an affordable level for onshore wind in the near future. This paper describes a method of fusing the control input signals with the turbine numerical model to estimate structural loads online in real time. The estimator is validated in Bladed simulations of a Goldwind 6 MW turbine.