Fault Diagnostics for Electrically Operated Pitch Systems in Offshore Wind Turbines

This paper investigates the electrically operated pitch systems of offshore wind turbines for online condition monitoring and health assessment. The current signature based fault diagnostics is developed for electrically operated pitch systems using model-based approach. The electrical motor faults are firstly modelled based on modified winding function theory and then, current signature analysis is performed to detect the faults. Further, in order to verify the fault diagnostics capabilities in realistic conditions, the operating profiles are obtained from FAST simulation of offshore wind turbines in various wind conditions. In this way, the applicability of current signature analysis for fault diagnostics in offshore wind turbine pitch systems is demonstrated.