19ENG08 WindEFCY
Traceable mechanical and electrical power measurement for efficiency determination of wind turbines

This Research Project will End on August, 31st. 2023

Standardising efficiency determination methods for wind turbines on test benches to ensure innovation and performance improvement

New technologies for wind turbines are currently assessed in the field, are time-consuming to perform and highly affected by wind conditions. Shortening the time to market for these tests is one way to reduce costs and increase performance for this form of renewable energy. Indoor test benches can rapidly record a wide range of data but require accurate torque and rotational speed measurements which currently lack traceability to national standards and are difficult to realise for torque measurements above 1.1 NM m.
Another important aspect is the measurement of electrical measurands that are affected by harmonics with the lowest possible uncertainty. The time synchronisation of the electrical and mechanical power measurement is a basic requirement for the exact determination of the efficiency.

The project will assess current methods and develop traceable methodology for torque measurements up to 5 MN m and rotational speeds up to 20 and 1600 revolutions per minute which covers the operational speeds on low-speed and high-speed shafts respectively. Standardised guidelines for traceably determining turbine efficiency on test benches will be developed along with new power measurement methods for the electrical components of wind turbines. Project outputs will give a better prediction of the energy output of proposed wind parks, provide greater certainty in investment opportunities and help accelerate the transition towards cleaner energy sources.