The Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER) and the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) have joined forces in the AEROTWIN project to create an innovative wind turbine pathology detection system based on the use of a digital twin and artificial intelligence techniques.
AEROTWIN is one of the six projects for which ITER has obtained funding under the call for grants for public-private collaboration projects 2021 of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. This project focuses on the development of a comprehensive monitoring system for wind turbines that will allow the identification and diagnosis of defects in the main components of these structures (drive train, generator, tower and foundation), as well as the prediction of their evolution for their predictive maintenance.
The system will be based on the use of sensors strategically located in different parts of the wind turbine. Its main innovation lies in the use of artificial neural networks to control the different elements that make up the mechanical part of the windmill through the electrical values of the generator and to monitor the status of the tower and the foundation by means of sensors, which do not affect the operation or the structure, allowing the detection of possible anomalies.
The AEROTWIN project started with a kick-off meeting on December 2, 2022, marking the beginning of the objectives and tasks foreseen for the first quarter. At the end of the project, the consortium formed by ITER and UPV will validate the AERO-TWIN system in a real operational environment, using the wind turbines that the Institute has in operation in Tenerife.
Once developed, the system is expected to be commercialized as a service for companies in charge of the operation and maintenance of wind farms. Among its main impacts, it is expected to have a positive impact on decision making and the minimization of downtime, thanks to the detection of failures in early stages, as well as on the performance of planned and optimized maintenance to save costs. This becomes especially relevant since, as turbine capacity increases, the costs associated with downtime and repairs also increase.
The total budget of the project amounts to 482,239.13 euros, of which 52% corresponds to ITER and 48% to the UPV. The AERO-TWIN project is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency and by the European Union in the framework of the EU Recovery Plan Next Generation EU and the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).
