System and method for monitoring health state of offshore wind power wind turbine and sound waves of sea waves

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11965480-B2
Application number	US-202117797724-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2021
Priority date	Feb 10, 2020
Publication date	Apr 23, 2024
Grant date	Apr 23, 2024

Abstract

An acoustic monitoring system and method for the health status of an offshore wind turbine and an ocean wave are provided. The acoustic monitoring system includes a first laser transmitter, a second laser transmitter, a telephoto camera provided at a hub, a vibration detection sensor provided on a tower of a wind turbine, and four acoustic detection sensors arranged at an interval of 90° along the circumference of the tower. The first and second laser transmitters are arranged at the bottom of a nacelle of the wind turbine and emit laser lights vertically downward. The first laser transmitter, the second laser transmitter, the telephoto camera, the vibration detection sensor, and the acoustic detection sensors are connected to a data acquisition and conversion module through a transmission module. The acoustic monitoring system combines laser light detection with acoustic signal feature detection to improve stability and safety of the offshore wind turbine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An acoustic monitoring system for a health status of an offshore wind turbine and an ocean wave, the system comprising:
a first laser transmitter;
a second laser transmitter;
a telephoto camera provided at a hub;
a vibration detection sensor provided on a tower of a wind turbine; and
four first acoustic detection sensors arranged at an interval of 90° along a circumference of the tower,
wherein the first laser transmitter and the second laser transmitter are arranged at a bottom of a nacelle of the wind turbine and emit laser lights vertically downward; the first laser transmitter, the second laser transmitter, the telephoto camera, the vibration detection sensor, and the four first acoustic detection sensors are connected to a data acquisition and conversion module through a transmission module; a controller is connected to the data acquisition and conversion module and is configured to control operations of the first laser transmitter, the second laser transmitter, the telephoto camera, the vibration detection sensor, and the four first acoustic detection sensors; and a data display terminal is connected to the controller.

2. The acoustic monitoring system for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 1 , wherein a distance between a laser light emitted by the first laser transmitter and the tower of the wind turbine is 6 m, and a distance between a laser light emitted by the second laser transmitter and the tower of the wind turbine is 3 m.

3. The acoustic monitoring system for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 2 , wherein blade tips of the wind turbine are coated with different color coatings.

4. The acoustic monitoring system for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 3 , wherein the four first acoustic detection sensors are micro-signal stethoscopes.

5. The acoustic monitoring system for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 4 , wherein four second acoustic detection sensors are further arranged at an interval of 90° along a circumference of a pile foundation of the wind turbine, and the four second acoustic detection sensors employ the micro-signal stethoscopes.

6. The acoustic monitoring system for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 5 , the system further comprising:
a first acoustic emission apparatus provided at a position where projection of the blade tip of the wind turbine is located on the tower, wherein the first acoustic emission apparatus is connected to a remote control center through a central processing unit and an execution device, the first acoustic emission apparatus comprises an acoustic emission sensor and an acoustic wave sensor; and the central processing unit comprises an acquisition and operation module and a safety monitoring module.

7. An acoustic monitoring method for a health status of an offshore wind turbine and an ocean wave using the acoustic monitoring system according to claim 6 , the method comprising:
when a blade touches the laser light of the first laser transmitter during an operation of the wind turbine, activating, by the controller, the micro-signal stethoscopes to acquire and send an acoustic signal of blade movement to the controller;
when the blade is increasingly deformed and touches the laser light of the second laser transmitter, activating, by the controller, the telephoto camera to shoot a shape of the blade, and determining whether the wind turbine needs to be shut down to protect the blade according to a level of damage to the blade;
the acoustic monitoring method further comprises: determining the blade with a large deformation by the laser lights, wherein the laser lights are emitted by the first laser transmitter and the second laser transmitter and reflected with different color spectra by the different smooth color coatings at the blade tips; and
the acoustic monitoring method further comprises: detecting, by the vibration detection sensor, a vibration signal of the tower of the wind turbine, transmitting the vibration signal to the controller in real time, and triggering an alarm to stop the wind turbine when a vibration distance of the tower exceeds a set value.

8. The acoustic monitoring method for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 7 , wherein
a movement of the blade tip in a measurement zone is observed; corresponding distances from the blade tip to various positions of the tower and corresponding acoustic signals generated by the movement of the blade tip are acquired;
a distance is selected as a minimum safe distance from various distances;
an acoustic signal corresponding to the minimum safe distance is taken as a first warning acoustic value; the first acoustic emission apparatus detects a real-time acoustic signal generated when the blade tip moves to the measurement zone during the operation of the wind turbine;
an operational safety status of the wind turbine is monitored based on the real-time acoustic signal and the first warning acoustic value;
when the real-time acoustic signal is greater than the first warning acoustic value, a warning signal is sent to the remote control center and the execution device of the wind turbine;
when the real-time acoustic signal is less than or equal to the first warning acoustic value, the blade does not collide with the tower, hitting of an ocean wave on the pile foundation after breaking has a pre-determined effect on a load, and hitting of an ocean current has a pre-determined effect on the pile foundation.

9. The acoustic monitoring method for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 8 , wherein
a movement of the ocean wave on a sea surface where the wind turbine is located is observed;
hitting and breaking acoustic signals generated by the ocean wave at the tower and the sea surface after hitting the pile foundation are acquired;
an acoustic signal corresponding to a maximum load generated when a maximum ocean wave hits the pile foundation is selected as a second warning acoustic value;
a buoy-type acoustic emission apparatus is mounted at the sea surface; and
a load operational safety status of the pile foundation of the wind turbine is monitored based on the real-time acoustic signal and the second warning acoustic value.

10. The acoustic monitoring method for the health status of the offshore wind turbine and the ocean wave according to claim 9 , wherein
a movement of the ocean current below the sea surface where the wind turbine is located is observed, and an acoustic signal of the pile foundation is acquired;
an acoustic signal corresponding to a maximum load generated when a maximum ocean current flows through the pile foundation is selected as a third warning acoustic value;
a second acoustic emission apparatus is mounted at a corresponding position below the sea surface; and
the load operational safety status of the pile foundation of the wind turbine is monitored based on the real-time acoustic signal and the third warning acoustic value.

Assignees

• Ocean Univ China

Inventors

• Xue Sidney Yu
• Cui Yuanzhen
• Zhang Yang

Classifications

• F03D17/00 Primary

  Monitoring or testing of wind motors, e.g. diagnostics (testing during commissioning of wind motors F03D13/30) · CPC title

• F05B2270/334

  Vibration measurements · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F05B2270/33

  Proximity of blade to tower · CPC title

• F05B2270/8042

  Lidar systems · CPC title