WindTwin

The project and solutions

ESI Group
11th February, 2020
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Group, 2019.
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rights reserved.
2019. All rights reserved.
Contents

• Project aims
• Application overview
• Use cases
• Key achievements
• Demonstration
• Next steps
• Summary

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WindTwin
Project aims

• WindTwin: Project to develop enhanced condition monitoring system for wind energy
stakeholders, funded by InnovateUK
• WindTwin software application integrates contributions of all consortium partners:
• Prediction methods based on sensor data  ESI, Brunel Innovation Centre
• Wind turbine nominal and faulted simulation models  ESI
• Sensor hardware and data collection infrastructure  Dashboard Ltd
• 3D visualisation monitoring interface  Agility3
• Integrated software platform and user interface  ESI

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WindTwin
Application Overview

• WindTwin designed to provide added value to wind energy stakeholders:

• Condition monitoring tool for instrumented wind turbines
• Enhanced representation of key SCADA alarm modes
• Predict and detect faults using variety of predictive methods
• Conduct virtual tests of hypotheses using simulation of physical models
• WindTwin facilitates integration of:
• Simulation models and their execution
• Predictive methods
• Sensor data ingestion, storage and retrieval
• Data analysis and visualisation
• Outcome of project: demonstrable, prototypical version of WindTwin software
application

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WindTwin
Use cases

• Compare operational performance of different turbines by comparing outputs of

corresponding sensors
• Explore causal relationships between different sensors on the same turbines
• Compare real sensor data and the results of simulations to test hypotheses as to what
might have caused faults

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Key achievements
Integration of disciplines

Data Data-driven
ingestion methods

Simulation Data
methods visualisation

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Key achievements
Turbine
Simulation methods sensor data
Estimation Turbine health
Simulation method estimate
• Development of methods for model of
estimating turbine functional and turbine
fault parameters

• Development of key turbine and

component (simulation) models
• Generator, gearbox, aerodynamic
• Models have been validated
against historical wind turbine data

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 Model Development: Component models
• Variable-speed and fixed-speed turbines have been modelled and simulated using
SimulationX.
• Models include hardware detail:
‣ Doubly-fed generator
‣ Flux oriented control
‣ Speed control
‣ Yaw system
‣ Pitch system Generator
‣ Aerodynamics
‣ Soft starter
‣ Power train Soft Starter
‣ Electronic components

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Model Development: Variable-Speed Wind Turbine Model

Wind Turbine Model in SimulationX

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 Model Development: Fixed-Speed Turbine
• Investigating historical data from Westmill Wind Farm, in particular rotor and
generator speeds establishes that the Westmill turbine is a fixed-speed turbine.
• For this kind of the wind turbine, the generator rotates at its synchronous speed

Fixed Speed

Westmill Model

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 Model Development: Fixed-Speed Turbine
• Westmill Farm turbines have two generators (small and large) that only work at their
synchronous speeds.
• The generator used depends on the wind speed. :
‣ At low wind speeds, the small generator is connected to the grid.
‣ At high wind speeds the small generator is disconnected and the large generator is connected.
• Control system controls blade angle and brake system to regulate shaft speed
Shaft Speed
19 rpm
Electricity

Large
No Electricity

12 rpm Electricity
Small
No Electricity

0 rpm

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 Model Development: Aerodynamics Model
• Aerodynamic model of the wind turbine was developed using SimulationX.
• It maps the relationship between the wind speed, rotor speed, pitch angle of the blades
and the mechanical torque.
Estimating the active power:

Inputs:
name database
1- wind Speed (Wind) wtc_AcWindSp_mean
2- Shaft Speed (Wr) wtc_MainSRpm_mean
3- Pitch angle (Pitch) wtc_PitcPosA_mean

Outputs:
1- Active Power (Pact) wtc_ActPower_mean

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Estimators: Calibrating Thermal Models using SCADA Data
• Parameter estimation methods have been implemented that calibrate physics-
based models using SCADA sensor data.
• An uncalibrated physics-based model has been developed using SimulationX.
• System identification is performed off-line using historical SCADA data.
• The tuned simulated model provides a good estimator for the gearbox
temperature.

Losses in the generator Losses in the generator

f(x)
f(x)

f(x) f(x)
Measured
SimulationX
Rotor
Generator

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 Estimators: State Estimator
• Discrepancies between sensor data and simulation outputs can be used to trigger
recalibration of the model.
• The estimator dynamically calibrates the model parameter (friction) until the simulation
output matches the sensor data
• This scheme can be used to identify and quantify faults or degradation of the
instrumented subsystem

fmu

State
Classifier
estimator

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Key achievements
Data-driven methods

• Development of two data-driven

models (cointegration and
smartThresholder) for detecting
anomalies in turbine thermal data

• Development of data-driven method

for computing key turbine
performance indicator (“data-driven
power curves”)

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Key achievements
Data ingestion

• Data-ingestion interfaces for:

• Westmill wind farm (historical) SCADA data source
• Real-time data ingestion interface for partner-developed accelerometer
• Data transformation, storage and retrieval
• Storage in canonical format, independent of data source
• Retrievable via standard web-based mechanism (REST)

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Key achievements
Data visualisation

• Intuitive tab-based user interface

• 3D immersive holistic view of wind farm
• Early, visual indication of turbine health
• Easy navigation to faulting components
• “2D” interactive view
• Time-series plotting for analysis of recent and
historical data
• Easy comparison of different turbine sensors
• Comparison of real and simulated data

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Key achievements
Integration

• WindTwin software application integrates key functionality:

• Data ingestion, transformation, storage and retrieval
• Data-driven methods
• Extensible framework for easy integration of custom classification algorithms
• Simulation methods
• Tool-agnostic simulation engine supports dynamic models conformant to FMI standard
• Data visualisation
• 3D immersive
• 2D interactive
• Target usage and deployment:
• Remotely-hosted (either private or public cloud) application, accessible on any device that
supports a web browser.
• No need for configuration or installation on the user's device.

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 WindTwin Application
Demonstration

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Monitoring 2D

• Real-time, streamed
view of outputs of key
sensor signals.

• Predictive methods
identify anomalies in
signals or
subsystems.

• Traffic lights
representation gives
quick overview of
anomalous behaviour.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Exploration: Correlation

• Analyse historical
sensor data and
simulation results.

• Explore datasets in
depth.

• Can correlate signals,

examine turbine
operational
performance.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Exploration: Comparison
• Compare corresponding
sensor signals on
different turbines.

• Investigate historical
occurrences of predicted
anomalies.

• Can select results of

individual or all
predictive methods.

• Signal/subsystem
anomalies separated for
easy interpretation.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
SCADA Alarms/Messages
• Enhanced display of
SCADA alarm and
information logs
available on all views.

• Colour-coding
scheme for different
types of SCADA
alarms (alarms and
events).

• Translation of alarm
codes to human-
readable messages.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Performance: Filtered alarms

• Raw SCADA
alarm/information logs
difficult to analyse for
operators
• Filtering functionality
allows to filter by:
• Turbine
• Period
• Selected alarm
code(s)
• Alarm/information
categorisation

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Performance: Data-driven power curves
• Power curve one of most
important KPIs for wind farm
operators.
• Critical metric for maintenance
and reporting.
• Turbine manufacturers provide
theoretical power curve for
reference.
• However, installation conditions,
geometrical and meteorological
conditions make every turbine
behave very differently.
• Data-driven power curve is
trained using machine learning
methods, based on historical
power generation data.
• Performance of the wind turbine
is continuously monitored and
compared with respect to the
data-driven power curve.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Diagnosis
• In-depth view of performance of
configured predictive methods.

• Predictive algorithms are used to

estimate the health of turbine
components.
• This tab shows results of
different predictive algorithms as
well as common metrics related
to their performance.
• Simple tabulated layout:
• Left-hand column shows
textual description of this
method
• Middle column gives current
prediction and the associated
confidence and a colour-coded
criticality.
• Right-hand column shows
metrics about overall
performance of this algorithm.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Simulation
• Simulation tab allows virtual
testing of hypotheses that
might explain the causes of
anomalous behaviour.

• Can run virtual tests using

models of whole turbine or
individual subsystems.

• Screen dynamically
configured based on choice
of model.

• Archive of previously-run
simulations allow easy
navigation of stored results.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Simulation
• Simulations are
configured by
choosing values for
model parameters

• System parameters
allow configuration of
physical properties
that affect turbine or
subsystem behaviour.

• Fault parameters
allow the user to "turn
on" faults in individual
subsystems.

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Simulation

• Operating conditions
allow specification of
time-varying
environmental
conditions e.g. wind
speed, ambient
temperature

• Sensor data from

individual turbines can
be used as inputs to
the simulation

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WindTwin Application Demonstration
Simulation vs sensor comparison

• Directly compare
simulation results with
real sensor data to
validate (or not)
hypotheses

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WindTwin Application
Future development

• Enhanced IoT connectivity

• Interface to proprietary/common industry tools and platforms

• Simplified configuration of application to facilitate customisation to other

problem domains

• Integration of fault-estimation methods

• Deployment and scalability using ESI VDSS platform

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WindTwin Application
Summary

• Wind turbine asset monitoring with real-time updates.

• System health estimation happens in real-time (condition monitoring).

• Metrics for understanding reliability of predictions (health estimation).

• Virtually test hypotheses of potential faults using simulation.

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 Thanks!

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