The construction of LNT – one of the world’s most advanced wind turbine nacelle testing facilities for “the wind turbines of tomorrow” – is about to commence.
This is a great opportunity for an exciting job for engineers with an appetite for innovation and large machinery, as Lindoe Offshore Renewables Center (LORC) is now hiring engineers and industrial PhD’s.
LNT (Lindoe Nacelle Testing) is a two test-dock design and a result of close cooperation between industry and academia. Among the partners are Vestas Wind Systems and Siemens Wind Power, DONG Energy and the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Southern Denmark.
The division of the test facility into two test docks will optimize the costumer’s value for money. On one test dock, a mechanical test can be conducted, applying forces and moments on the nacelle main shaft, static as well as dynamic. This dock also offers HALT, Highly Accelerated Lifetime Testing, and therefore enables customers to verify the expected quality level of the nacelle as 20 years operation can be simulated in less than half a year depending on the size of the machine.
On the other dock, the complete nacelle is tested by using a special designed adaptor, which enables the wind turbine hub to be included in the test. This test dock tests the functionalities and performance of the nacelle. The absolute benefit of including the hub and allowing the pitch system to be operational is that it opens a range of opportunities in terms of software testing since communication signals and voltage supply from the wind turbine controller inside the nacelle to the hub and rotor components can be used unmodified. In contrast to other test environments where software often needs to be manipulated in order to operate in the test equipment, LNT will allow the original software package as used for field operation to be installed in the test nacelle. This will provide more realistic test conditions and a higher degree of confidence in the test results.
[mappress]
Press release, March 7, 2013; Image: LORC