Sustainable Power Solution for Smart Bearings in Wind Turbine Generators (S3Wings)
Themes: Power Management
In this project, we develop energy harvesting devices and integrated circuits and systems for sensor rollers used in giant wind turbine generators.
Reliability is crucial for wind turbines. To support heavy rotating blades, main shaft bearings continuously take force up-to, equivalently, 100’s of tons. For reliable operations, in-bearing smart sensors are implemented to collect reliability-related data. Currently, these sensors are powered by batteries, which typically last for a few months. After then, they need to be replaced to maintain sensor operation. However, battery replacement means disassembling turbine blades to reach main-shaft bearings, which costs significant time, manpower, and money. This project will develop a reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable power solution using energy harvesting technology, which realizes fully-autonomous in-bearing sensors.
