This paper proposes a model-based fault diagnosis (FD) approach for wind turbines and its application to a realistic wind turbine FD benchmark. The proposed FD approach combines the use of analytical redundancy relations (ARRs) and interval observers. Interval observers consider an unknown but bounded description of the model parametric uncertainty and noise using the the so-called set-membership approach. This approach leads to formulate the fault detection test by means of checking if the measurements fall inside the estimated output interval, obtained from the mathematical model of the wind turbine and noise/parameter uncertainty bounds. Fault isolation is based on considering a set of ARRs obtained from the structural analysis of the wind turbine model and a fault signature matrix that considers the relation of ARRs and faults. The proposed FD approach has been validated on a 5-MW wind turbine using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory FAST simulator. The obtained results are presented and compared with that of other approaches proposed in the literature.

Peer Reviewed