Remote sensor brings wind-condition data to wind farm operators

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Excerpt: A provider of wind measurement technology, software, and services, has announced a suite of wind farm operations services based on the company's Triton Sonic Wind Profiler and SkyServe Wind Data Service. Triton, a remote wind sensor, uses sodar (sound) to provide wind measurements across the tur …

A better way to let a turbine “talk”

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Excerpt: Ethernet interfaces to wind turbines were previously operated mostly by Scada and control stations. A connection to a controller is implemented mainly using discrete data signals. Bachmann’s Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) Client now accesses the Ethernet interface and acts in a similar way …

Test & Measurement 101

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Excerpt: Keeping the wide variety of machinery in a nacelle operating at peak performance requires a few test and measurement tools. On the mechanical side, vibration and alignment tests, are frequent tasks. Vibration has been a knotty problem because the location and operation of wind turbines made them “ …

Improving Wind Turbine Design Through Advanced Simulation Techniques

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Excerpt: Advancements in simulation technology continue to provide benefits to engineers in the field of wind power engineering. Windpower engineers now have the ability to simulate all aspects of the wind turbine; from detailed structural models of the blades that determine stresses and strains, to highly a …

How is wind measured for wind turbines?

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Excerpt: Wind measurement systems: Measuring wind speed and direction is now done at least three ways: mechanically (cup anemometer with a vane), with ultrasonics, or with laser-based devices. There are variations to each. Mechanical sensors, for instance, use moving parts and still connect to data recording …

Tracing the wind

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Excerpt: Maryland-based Lockheed Martin offers a Doppler lidar sensor for charactierizing wind resources over large spatial areas from a single location. The WindTracer provides reliable data that the manufacturer says can lower investment risk and improve energy production prediction accuracy. Mean w …

No-drift absolute gaging package

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Excerpt: The Acanto Absolute Length Gage with EnDat 2.2 has the benefits of an optical encoder and solves many of the problems of different length gages. Quality managers will not have to worry about gages drifting, linearity over the entire measuring range, or referencing upon startup. The device does n …

Smart wind measurements

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Excerpt: NRG Systems, manufacturer of wind measurement equipment, has introduced the Symphonie iPackGPS, an upgraded communications module used to transmit wind resource data from the field. Compatible with GSM, CDMA or Satellite networks, the iPackGPS offers automated GPS coordinate reporting, u …

Vibration monitoring goes wireless

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Excerpt: Wind-farm operators are looking for the best ways to prevent failures while maintaining turbines. One way is to help O&M teams detect problems as soon as possible and avoid possible disasters. Vibration, one of the best indicators of potential problems, is often monitored in the nacelle. Vibrati …

Field tester for electric motors

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Excerpt: A new multi-purpose field tester is available for testing electric motors. The MotorAnalyzer XL II from Schleich can test electric motors AC and DC, plus transformers and earth ground issues. The MotorAnalyzer integrates various test methods in one device. Therefore, it's well-suited for the� …