Aerosense: Long-Range Bluetooth Wireless Sensor Node for Aerodynamic Monitoring on Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

Predictive maintenance and structural health monitoring are challenging and promising research fields today. In particular, cost-effective and long-term monitoring of wind turbines has been proven to be one of the key elements to successfully increase their efficiency. Accurate numerical modeling and real-time control-in-the-loop play an increasingly prominent role in understanding and optimizing blade aerodynamic and acoustic performances. A non-intrusive and modular measurement system is a prerequisite for long-term measurement campaigns in existing and future wind turbines. Current methods of performing aerodynamic and acoustic field measurements are cumbersome and expensive, leading to a shortage of aerodynamic and acoustic datasets on operating wind turbines. This paper demonstrates the ability of the new Aerosense system to operate successfully in the field. Aerosense is a long-lasting battery-operated and flexible wireless sensor node that can directly measure aerodynamic and acoustic effects on wind turbine blades. It consists of an array of state-of-the-art Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors, including 40 barometers and 10 microphones, combined with an ultra low power system-on-chip with wireless transmission over Bluetooth 5.1. Experimental results demonstrate the possibility of continuously acquiring data for up to four months on a single lithium battery of 8.7 Ah, featuring an absolute accuracy of 10Pa and an audio bandwidth of 6kHz.

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“…For this reason, data transmission is usually avoided unless strictly necessary, and the processing is kept local, requiring the processing algorithms to be implemented on constraint devices with limited storage and run-time memory, basic processing capabilities, and low clock speeds [30]. These challenges are even more critical when machine learning techniques are employed as a part of the signal processing pipeline.…”