DETERMINING DAMAGE AND REMAINING USEFUL LIFE OF ROTATING MACHINERY INCLUDING DRIVE TRAINS, GEARBOXES, AND GENERATORS

• US 20140088888A1
• Filed: 05/21/2012
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Insight Analytics Solutions Holdings Limited (BP PLC)
• Original Assignee: Romax Technology Limited
• Inventors: Poon, Andy, Ma, Xiaoqin, Coultate, John Karl, Golysheva, Evgenia
• Granted Patent: US 9,360,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/34
• CPC Class Codes: F03B 15/00 Controlling controlling in general G05 ; regulation of plants characterised by the use of siphons F03B13/086
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 17/00 Monitoring or testing of wind motors, e.g. diagnostics testing during commissioning of wind motors F03D13/30
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 7/02 the wind motors having rotation axis substantially parallel to the air flow entering the rotor
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 80/50 Maintenance or repair
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/821 Parameter estimation or prediction
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/84 Modelling or simulation
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2270/332 Maximum loads or fatigue criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/00 Testing of machine parts
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/00 Testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof monitoring of programme-control systems G05B19/048, G05B19/406
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/20 Hydro energy
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/72 Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction

Abstract

A method for predicting remaining useful life of a wind or water turbine or component determines in step (116) an accumulated damage for the turbine or component and compares this in step (118) to preset damage limit obtained in step (114). This provides a simple approach to estimating remaining useful life, giving the turbine operator an indication of the condition of turbines or farms under management.

Claims

1-29. -29. (canceled)

30. A method for determining damage to one or more rotating machines including drive trains, generators, or gear boxes of wind turbines or water turbines, or components thereof, the method comprising the steps of:

providing data relating to one or more operating conditions;

providing one or more damage coefficients relating to the one or more operating conditions; and

calculating the damage as a function of the one or more operating conditions and the one or more damage coefficients.

31. The method according to claim 30, in which the damage is accumulated damage, comprising the additional step of:

calculating a sum of the damage for each operating condition over a duration of all operating conditions.

32. The method according to claim 30, in which the step of providing one or more damage coefficients comprises the steps of:

determining damage under rated operating conditions and under the one or more field operating conditions of the same duration; and

calculating the one or more damage coefficients as a function of the damage under rated conditions and the damage under the one or more field operating conditions.

33. The method according to claim 32 in which the step of determining damage includes providing one or more models selected from the group consisting of:

a bearing skidding model;

a dynamic model;

a life model;

a nominal model of the gearbox, drive-train and/or generator;

a model unique to the specific gearbox, drive-train and/or generator including information on one or more manufacturing variations of one or more components of the gearbox, drive-train and/or generator;

a fully coupled finite element model comprising nodes with six degrees of freedom unique to the gearbox, drive-train and/or generator; and

one or more meta-models, wherein the one or more meta-models are specific for each of the one or more components.

34. The method according to claim 33 in which the one or more damage coefficients are a function of a ratio of damage under rated operating conditions and damage under the one or more field operating conditions of the same duration.

35. The method according to claim 30, in which the step of providing data comprises one or more of the following:

providing data relating to one or more steady state operating conditions;

providing data relating to one or more transient state operating conditions;

providing historical data;

collecting data from one or more sensors monitoring the one or more operating conditions; and

providing data from a condition monitoring system.

36. The method according to claim 30, in which the step of providing one or more damage coefficients comprises one or more of the following:

providing damage coefficients relating to one or more steady state operating conditions; and

providing damage coefficients relating to one or more transient state operating conditions.

37. A method for predicting remaining useful life of a rotating machine including drive trains, generators, or gear boxes of wind turbines or water turbines, or a component thereof, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a damage limit value for the rotating machine or component thereof and a corresponding life;

determining damage for the rotating machine or component thereof according to the method of claim 30; and

determining the remaining useful life from the damage limit, the corresponding life, and the damage.

38. The method according to claim 37 in which the corresponding life is the duration of operation that results in an amount of damage equal to the damage limit.

39. A method for maintaining a wind or water farm comprising one or more turbines, the method comprising the steps of:

setting a damage limit for forensic investigation;

determining damage for the turbines or components thereof according to the method of claim 30;

identifying the turbine having the highest accumulated damage;

investigating for actual damage to the turbine when the damage is greater than the preset damage limit; and

the turbine having actual damage, scheduling maintenance thereof.

40. The method according to claim 39, in which the step of investigating for actual damage is selected from the group consisting of:

using an endoscope, performing vibration analysis and performing lubrication analysis.

41. A method for assessing for refurbishing a failed wind or water turbine component comprising the steps of:

predicting the remaining useful life of the component according to claim 37;

setting a refurbishment limit;

investigating for actual damage to the component when the residual useful life is greater than the refurbishment limit;

the component being repairable, refurbishing the component.

42. The method according to claim 41, in which the step of investigating for actual damage is selected from the group consisting of:

using an endoscope, performing vibration analysis and performing lubrication analysis.

43. A method for identifying a wind turbine or component thereof for maintenance, the method comprising the steps of:

determining damage for the rotating machine or component thereof according to the method of claim 30;

analysing operating data for the wind turbine or component thereof; and

comparing the operating data with a threshold related to the damage value.

44. The method according to claim 43, additionally comprising the step of setting thresholds for operating data according to one or more ranges of damage values.

45. The method according to claim 44, in which the operating data is vibration data.

46. The method according to claim 43, in which identifying a wind turbine or component thereof for maintenance comprises identifying a wind turbine or component thereof in which the operating data is greater than the threshold.

47. A method for calculating a damage coefficient for a wind or water turbine or a component thereof, the method comprising the steps of:

assessing damage to the wind or water turbine or a component thereof under rated operating conditions and under a plurality of field operating conditions;

calculating the damage coefficient from the expected life under rated conditions and the expected life caused under the plurality of field operating conditions;

wherein the step of assessing damage comprises the step of providing information on the wind or water turbine or a component thereof.

48. The method according to claim 47, in which the step of providing information includes providing one or more models selected from the group consisting of:

a nominal model of the gearbox, drive-train and/or generator;

a model unique to the specific gearbox, drive-train and/or generator including information on one or more manufacturing variations of one or more components of the gearbox, drive-train and/or generator;

a fully coupled finite element model comprising nodes with six degrees of freedom unique to the gearbox, drive-train and/or generator; and

one or more meta-models, wherein the one or more meta-models are specific for each of the one or more components.

49. The method according to claim 47, in which the damage coefficient is one or more of the following:

a function of the expected life under rated operating conditions and expected life under field operating conditions;

a function of a ratio of expected life under rated operating conditions to expected life under field operating conditions; and

a ratio of expected life under rated operating conditions to damage under field operating conditions.