Residual generation for the gearbox efficiency drop fault detection in the NREL 1.5WindPact turbine

This paper presents an approach to detect and estimate drop of gearbox efficiency in wind turbine systems. First, shaft torque is estimated through a specified model. The last estimation torque is used to detect gearbox efficiency drop through a proportional action loop. The approach was implemented on FAST coded simulator, designed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Turbine Center. The obtained results provide a good fault detection and estimation.