Virginia-based Catch the Wind Ltd., which has developed and manufactured the Vindicator® laser wind sensor (LWS) and other sensor products, has announced that it has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the NREL to provide it with a test unit of the Vindicator® LWS for use for up to three years. NREL will evaluate how using the Vindicator® LWS for forward measurement of wind speed and direction to optimally align wind turbines and turbine blades can reduce stress loads on turbines and improve energy production output.
“This cooperative research initiative provides us a tremendous opportunity to work with a pre-eminent wind energy research laboratory to fully develop the potential of Vindicator® LWS for turbine control,” said Phil Rogers, President and CEO of Catch the Wind Ltd. “Working with NREL will complement our current evaluation programs and will allow us to demonstrate, on a national basis, the benefits of our forward wind measurement capabilities, including reduced turbine maintenance costs and higher energy output.”
Catch the Wind expects to launch the cooperative research and development initiative in October 2009.
The Vindicator® fibre optic laser wind sensing system is capable of measuring real-time horizontal and vertical wind speed and direction data at varying ranges ahead of the sensor location. Using concepts of Doppler radar, with light as the medium of detection, the Vindicator® system quickly senses air particle movement. The system processor analyses the air particle movement producing speed and direction data for wind field determination. The first production variant of the Vindicator® system will sense the wind at ranges out to 300 meters; as industry learns how to utilize and integrate this new technology into various control and forecasting applications, longer ranges can be incorporated.
The Vindicator® wind sensing system works by integrating with a wind turbine’s control system, or electronic brain. The Vindicator® LWS’ fibre optic lasers sense the wind that is approaching the wind turbine at various ranges and report this information to the control system in sufficient time to adjust and orient the turbine. Utilizing control algorithms, the control system will decide how and when to best exploit the wind that is approaching the turbine and command internal systems to either change blade pitch and/or re-orient the entire nacelle in an effort to maintain efficiency, reduce the stressing effects of wind shear and gusts, or maintain a constant blade speed. Without the Vindicator® laser wind sensor, wind turbines will continue measuring the wind after it passes the blades and will be out of phase with changes in the prevailing wind.
“‘With better control of the turbines we should be able to produce lower stress loads on the rotating parts of the turbine,” explains Phil Rogers. “That could lead to lower maintenance costs and less maintenance activities altogether, in addition to increasing turbine efficiency and output.”
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