Fault Analysis and Condition Monitoring of the Wind Turbine Gearbox

• Published in: IEEE transactions on energy conversion Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 526 - 535
• Main Authors: Zijun Zhang, Verma, A., Kusiak, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.06.2012; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Acceleration; Correlation; Data mining; failure component identification; fast Fourier; Frequency domain analysis; jerk; Monitoring; Sensors; transformation with time windows; vibration excitement monitoring; Vibrations; wind turbine gearbox; Wind turbines
• ISSN: 0885-8969; 1558-0059
• DOI: 10.1109/TEC.2012.2189887

Data mining algorithms and statistical methods are applied to analyze the jerk data obtained from monitoring the gearbox of a wind turbine. Two types of analyses are performed-failure component identification and monitoring vibration excitement. In failure component identification, the failed stages of the gearbox are identified in time-domain analysis and frequency-domain analysis. In the time domain, correlation coefficient and clustering analysis are applied. The fast Fourier transformation with time windows is utilized to analyze the frequency data. To monitor the vibration excitement of the gearbox in its high-speed stage, data mining algorithms and statistical quality control theory are combined to develop a monitoring model. The capability of the monitoring model to detect changes in the gearbox vibration excitement is validated by the collected data.