Novel method of pitch angle misalignment correction based on turbine benchmarking and laser scanner measurement in wind farms

Resumen

In addition to human error, manufacturing tolerances for blades and hubscan cause pitch angle misalignment in wind turbines. Consequently, asignificant number of turbines used by existing wind farms experiencepower production losses and reduced turbine lifetime. Existingtechniques, such as photometric technology and laser-based methods,have been used in the wind industry for field pitch measurements.However, in some cases the conventional techniques have difficultyachieving accurate measurements of pitch angle settings, resulting inpitch angle errors that require cost-effective correction at wind farms.Here, the author presents a novel patented method based on laser scannermeasurements, which has been applied and has achieved successfulimprovements in the annual energy production of various wind farms.This technique is a benchmarking-based approach for pitch anglecalibration. Three case studies are introduced to demonstrate theeffectiveness of the pitch angle calibration method to yield increases inannual energy production.