A review of fault diagnosis and prediction methods for wind turbine pitch systems

ABSTRACT

Pitch system is an essential subsystem of a wind turbine, which is to efficiently capture and maximize the utilization of wind energy by controlling the rotation of the blades. Its safety and stability directly affect the operation of wind farm, but the complex internal mechanics and control system makes pitch system very susceptible to failure. This paper first summarized fault diagnosis and fault prediction about pitch system of wind turbine. We were briefly introduced the main faults of electric-driven and hydraulic-driven pitch systems, the sources of diagnostic data, and the methods pre-processing. Then, four types of fault diagnosis methods and three fault prediction methods were discussed to provide a valuable guidance for the maintenance of pitch systems. Finally, the prospect on the future development of fault diagnosis and fault prediction techniques about pitch system was suggested to further improve the safety of wind turbines.

KEYWORDS:

• Wind turbine
• pitch system
• fault diagnosis
• fault prediction
• machine learning

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by State Grid Gansu Company Grant No. 522713200CY, the non-carbon energy conversion and utilization institute under the Shanghai Class IV Peak Disciplinary Development Program, and Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality Grant No. 19DZ2271100.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the non-carbon energy conversion and utilization institute under the Shanghai Class IV Peak Disciplinary Development Program; State Grid Gansu Company [No. 522713200CY]; Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [No. 19DZ2271100].