Wind power plant with highly reliable real-time power control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10078312-B2
Application number	US-201214008721-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2012
Priority date	Mar 30, 2011
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

The present invention relates to a fault-tolerant control system for a wind power plant comprising a plurality of power units, the control system comprising control means for generating a replica of essentially concurrent power unit set-point values, a data communication network for transmitting the essentially concurrent power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units and a plurality of decentralised voting means being arranged so that a decentralised voting means is assigned to each power unit, each decentralised voting means being adapted to select one power unit set-point value out of the replica of power unit set-points. The present invention further relates to an associated method.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A real-time fault-tolerant control system for a wind power plant comprising a plurality of power units, the control system comprising:
control means for generating a plurality of power unit set-point values for each power unit of the plurality of power units, wherein the plurality of power unit set-point values correspond to a same control parameter for each power unit of the plurality of power units,
a data communication network for transmitting the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units, wherein the data communication network forms a plurality of multidirectional paths between the plurality of power units wherein each multidirectional path of the plurality of multidirectional paths transmits one value of the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units such that when a given power unit of the plurality of power units loses connectivity to the data communication network, remaining power units of the plurality of power units remain able to receive the plurality of power unit set-point values via the data communication network, and such that when a given multidirectional path of the plurality of multidirectional paths loses connectivity to the plurality of power units, remaining multidirectional paths of the plurality of multidirectional paths are able to transmit remaining values of the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units,
a plurality of decentralized voting means being arranged so that a respective decentralized voting means is assigned to each power unit of the plurality of power units receiving the plurality of power unit set-point values, wherein each decentralized voting means of the plurality of decentralized voting means is adapted to determine two comparable but different valid power unit set-point values out of the plurality of power unit set-point values using a two-out-of-three (2OO3) voting scheme where a deviation among the plurality of power unit set-point values is used to determine the two comparable but different valid power unit set-point values and one invalid power unit set-point value in the plurality of power unit set-point values, and wherein the plurality of decentralized voting means is adapted to select one valid power unit set-point value from the two comparable but different valid power unit set-point values.

2. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 1 , further comprising centralized main controller means adapted to generate reference signals for the control means for generating the plurality of power unit set-point values.

3. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 1 , further comprising a fault-tolerant sensor system comprising a plurality of sensors.

4. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of sensors are arranged in a redundant manner.

5. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of sensors are adapted to measure at least one electrical parameter at or near a point of common coupling.

6. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 1 , wherein the data communication network comprises a real-time communication network.

7. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 6 , wherein the real-time communication network comprises a time-triggered Ethernet providing synchronization of data communication.

8. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 7 , wherein the time-triggered Ethernet communication network is implemented as a single fault-tolerant network.

9. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 7 , wherein the time triggered Ethernet communication network is implemented as a double fault-tolerant network.

10. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 6 , wherein the real-time communication network supports safety-related communication of data.

11. The real-time fault-tolerant control system according to claim 1 , further comprising means for establishing a global time.

12. A wind power plant comprising:
a plurality of power units; and
a real-time fault-tolerant control system, comprising:
control means for generating a plurality of power unit set-point values of a same control parameter for each of the plurality of power units,
a data communication network for transmitting the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units, wherein the data communication network forms a plurality of multidirectional paths between the plurality of power units wherein each multidirectional path of the plurality of multidirectional paths transmits one value of the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units such that when a given power unit of the plurality of power units loses connectivity to the data communication network, remaining power units of the plurality of power units remain able to receive the plurality of power unit set-point values via the data communication network, and such that when a given multidirectional path of the plurality of multidirectional paths loses connectivity to the plurality of power units, remaining multidirectional paths of the plurality of multidirectional paths are able to transmit remaining values of the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units, and
a plurality of decentralized voting means being arranged so that a respective decentralized voting means is assigned to each of the plurality of power units receiving the plurality of power unit set-point values, wherein each of the plurality of decentralized voting means is adapted to determine two comparable but different valid power unit set-point values out of the plurality of power unit set-point values using a two-out-of-three (2OO3) voting scheme where a deviation among the plurality of power unit set-point values is used to determine the two comparable but different valid power unit set-point values and one invalid power unit set-point value in the plurality of power unit set-point values, and wherein the plurality of decentralized voting means is adapted to select one valid power unit set-point value from the two comparable but different valid power unit set-point values.

13. The wind power plant according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of power units comprise one or more wind turbines.

14. The wind power plant according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of power units comprise one or more energy storage units.

15. A method for controlling, in real-time, a wind power plant comprising a plurality of power units, the method comprising:
generating a plurality of power unit set-point values of a same control parameter for each of the plurality of power units,
transmitting the plurality of power unit set-point values to the power units in the wind power plant via a data communication network, wherein the data communication network forms a plurality of multidirectional paths between the plurality of power units wherein each multidirectional path of the plurality of multidirectional paths transmits one value of the plurality of power unit set-point values to the plurality of power units such that when a given power unit of the plurality of power units loses connectivity to the data communication network, remaining power units of the plurality of power units remain able to receive the plurality of power unit set-point values via the data communication network, and such that when a given multidirectional path of the plurality of multidirectional paths loses connectivity to the

Assignees

• Bengtson John
• Danielsen Niels Erik
• Vestas Wind Sys As

Inventors

• Bengtson John
• Danielsen Niels Erik

Classifications

• G05B9/03 Primary

  with multiple-channel loop, i.e. redundant control systems · CPC title