Demonstration of a fault impact reduction control module for wind turbines

Anderson, Benjamin; Baring-Gould, Edward

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1753-2022

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1753-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1753-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

Research article

|

24 Aug 2022

Research article |

| 24 Aug 2022

Demonstration of a fault impact reduction control module for wind turbines

Benjamin Anderson and Edward Baring-Gould

Download

Final revised paper (published on 24 Aug 2022)
Preprint (discussion started on 09 May 2022)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on wes-2022-27', Stefan Loew, 18 Jun 2022

You can find the review in the attached PDF. Please let me know if any of my comments are unclear.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2022-27-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Benjamin Anderson, 06 Jul 2022
  
  Thank you for your throughtful review. Our responses are in the attached pdf file.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2022-27-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on wes-2022-27', Peter Odgaard, 01 Jul 2022

An interesting paper on fault impact reduction control where it shares potential shut downs with the grid, and make a control actions to support the grid.

The approach in essence requires that shutdown criteria in question can be predicted from alert to alarm state. It is as well events which are due to combinations of internal faults and external events. The over heating events describes are good examples on this. On the other hand it would not necessarily benefit from shutdowns due to overspeed or high structural acceleration levels.

On the other hand including an alert level in the controller would realtively easy to do, also WTC runs to two layers alarm systems, one internal in the controller and a safety system, which respond to the highest thresholds but with emergency shutdowns.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2022-27-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Benjamin Anderson, 06 Jul 2022
  
  Thank you for your comments. The idea of the FIRC module is to create another safety layer that surrounds the existing fault safety checks, but does not supersede them. This allows the wind turbine to take proactive action to prevent faults, and notify the turbine operator that a fault and shutdown may soon occur. The idea is to demonstrate a control module that would be applicable to a wide variety of wind turbines. In determining the sensors to check and their respective warning modes for this specific wind turbine (CART3), I worked with the senior wind turbine operator/researchers and the existing control programs that they had created. This process will yield different results for different wind turbines. For each machine, the sensors to check and appropriate warning modes to enter may vary based on its physical characteristic and power system application. I have added some language to section 2.3 to this effect.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2022-27-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Benjamin Anderson on behalf of the Authors (27 Jul 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (28 Jul 2022) by Amir R. Nejad

ED: Publish as is (29 Jul 2022) by Paul Fleming (Chief editor)

AR by Benjamin Anderson on behalf of the Authors (02 Aug 2022)

Short summary

Our article proposes an easy-to-integrate wind turbine control module which mitigates wind turbine fault conditions and sends predictive information to the grid operator, all while maximizing power production. This gives the grid operator more time to react to faults with its dispatch decisions, easing the transition between different generators. This study aims to illustrate the controller’s functionality under various types of faults and highlight potential wind turbine and grid benefits.