A brief status on condition monitoring and fault diagnosis in wind energy conversion systems

There is a constant need for the reduction of operational and maintenance costs of Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECSs). The most efficient way of reducing these costs would be to continuously monitor the condition of these systems. This allows for early detection of the degeneration of the generator health, facilitating a proactive response, minimizing downtime, and maximizing productivity. Wind generators are also inaccessible since they are situated on extremely high towers, which are normally 20 m or more in height. There are also plans to increase the number of offshore sites increasing the need for a remote means of WECS monitoring that eliminates some of the difficulties faced due to accessibility problems. Therefore and due to the importance of condition monitoring and fault diagnosis in WECS (blades, drive trains, and generators), and keeping in mind the need for future research, this paper is intended as a brief status describing different types of faults, their generated signatures, and their diagnostic schemes. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.