Smart Charging

Smart Charging extends the battery service life and Health Monitoring of batteries and related safety circuits assures reliable safety systems. The Smart Charging Monitor design adds a variety of advanced battery health and emergency power sub-system diagnostic features. Some of these features include:

• Individual battery charging and monitoring
• Automatic continual battery health-monitoring feature
• Automatic detection of Emergency Feather events for coordination of battery health monitoring during the event
• Temperature compensated charging that prevents over-charging batteries in cold or hot weather
• Status indication LED's

Blade Strain Gauge Integration

As wind turbines become larger and larger, it has become necessary to monitor the strain that the wind and environment have on these massive structures. Through state-of-the-art computer programming and with the use of fiber optic cabled sensors, real-time tower strain sensing has become a reality. Although, the initial investment needed to install one of these systems was cost prohibitive, recent adjustments in cost have made the strain sensing technology affordable.

Windurance engineers had the foresight to begin investigating the advantages of monitoring this vital information on each blade utilizing blade strain technologies. Real-time data of wind speeds over the entire length of the blade can help maximize the pitch of the blade, which would have a direct impact on wind energy production.

• Real-time blade strain and wind speed/direction data input into the Pitch Control Unit (PCU) for immediate blade pitch
• Real-time pitch control adjustments made with data input

SRF (Servo Ride-through Feature)

SRF allows for the turbine is to use existing DC power from the EPU to operate the pitch system normally when the AC mains power is lost for up to 3 seconds.