Comprehensive aging assessment of pitch systems combining SCADA and failure data

Abstract

Due to the recent rapid development of the wind energy industry, many wind turbines that have been operational over long periods will face degradation caused by aging effects; hence, an appropriate aging assessment method for wind turbines and their components is essential for optimizing the asset management and maintenance strategy of a wind farm. An aging assessment method is proposed for wind-turbine electric-pitch systems by introducing four individual aging indicators based on the examination of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and failure data, i.e. function, energy-consumption, temperature, and reliability indicators. To obtain a reliable comprehensive assessment, an information-fusion method has been developed based on a given reference value; the weighting factors in the information fusion were calculated based on the reference value, while reliability and robustness were verified using the SCADA and failure data from a wind farm over three years.