Wind Turbine Measurements
Facts:
- The development of wind energy production has been characterized by increasingly larger plants up to multi- megawatt size, complex site terrains (i.e. offshore), and the resulting higher investment costs and increasing demands on productivity.
- In order to monitor the efficiency of wind energy plants, several sensors work to capture data that can be analyzed for wind conditions, energy yield, noise impact or shadow impact.
- Data has to be reliably and accurately captured and converted over great distances and under extreme environmental conditions.
Controlled Revolutions: Wind Turbine Measurements
Sensors installed at the wind turbine as well as the meteorological mast send signals which must be detected and converted into current and voltage signals. These must be transmitted to the data acquisition system over comparatively long distances. Isolation amplifiers are inserted in all signal lines to suppress the distorting effects of potential differences and to protect against over-voltages. In addition, the unipolar and bipolar signals from the different sensors must be converted into signals suitable for processing.
Universal isolation amplifiers such as the VariTrans P27000 from Knick have the advantage that up to 480 calibrated input and output ranges can be selected with DIP switches. This selection is digitally controlled.
Complicated readjustments are not required. The galvanic isolation of up to 1000 V AC/DC across input and output has proved successful for these measurements. It reliably protects downstream data acquisition systems and different measurement channels.
Featuring a gain error of less than 0.08 % meas. val. and a temperature coefficient below 0.005 %/K of full scale, the P 27000 ensures a constantly high transmission quality. Its accuracy exceeds all current demands of industrial measurement.
The measuring systems must be able to withstand the changing and sometimes extreme environmental conditions. The P 27000 operates in a wide temperature range at very high accuracy even at temperatures much higher than those occurring in control cabinets. Its integrated broad-range power supply allows operation at almost any supply voltage.
Thanks to intelligent circuit design, power loss is so low that the reduced development of heat keeps the enclosure cool, which extends the life of the electronics. Thanks to their compact design and 3-port isolation between input, output, and power supply in a 12.5 mm wide modular housing, up to 80 devices can be mounted on one meter of DIN rail without ventilation clearances.
Return on Investment
- Reduced maintenance intervals due to longer service life
- High flexibility thanks to only one product which can support different measurement ranges and can be operated with almost any supply voltage
- Reliable protection from over-voltages of the data capture system and measurement channels
- Accuracy of measurements beyond industrial requirements even under extreme conditions
- Low loss of power due to intelligent circuit design