Posters

Abstract

Turbulence and fluctuating inflow lead to increased fatigue loads on rotor blades and the drive train of a wind energy converter (WEC). The energy yield is also not optimal. Predictive control allows mitigating these effects by pitching the blades before a gust reaches the rotor plane. Modification of the generator torque control would enable the storage of the additional energy of a gust as rotational energy of the rotor. Both concepts require a wind measurement in front of the WEC - not only when the gust has already reached the rotor. Measuring the incoming wind speed and fluctuation at about 100 m in front of the rotor delivers the time to adapt the pitch angle and generator torque to the foreseen new wind conditions. Additionally, wind farm operators ask for a simple method to verify the WECs power curve. However, conventional LiDARs are quite complex and therefore too expensive to be installed on each WEC. Advanced functions like scanning the whole wind field are not necessary for the above-sketched purposes. There is only one measurement point needed to achieve the line-of-sight wind speed in front of the WEC. And due to the frequent yawing of the WEC into the wind, the wind speed vector is assumed to be aligned to the yawing angle of the WEC. These boundary conditions allow the development of a cost-effective LiDAR module with an innovative laser control and an open-source hardware set-up.