System and method for operating a turbine farm
A system for operating a wind or water turbine farm comprising a plurality of turbines comprising: a computing device; means for providing operational data relating to the plurality of turbines to the computing device; a computer-readable medium coupled to the computing device and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to: arrange the operational data for each turbine into an array comprising operational data and having a first dimension corresponding to the plurality of turbines; generate a graphical user interface; generate within the graphical user interface a graphical representation of the array.
1. A system for operating a wind or water turbine farm comprising a plurality of turbines comprising:
a computing device;
means for providing operational data relating to the plurality of turbines over a period of time to the computing device;
a computer-readable medium coupled to the computing device and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to:
arrange the operational data for each turbine into an array comprising a time series relating to the period of time, operational data relating to the plurality of turbines, and having a first dimension corresponding to the plurality of turbines;
in which a value for an operating parameter at a particular point in time is processed to give a value, for each turbine, for how long the turbine has been operating at a particular operating parameter value, in which a cumulative amount of time each wind turbine has spent at the particular operating parameter is given by the width of the panel, and a further array is formed comprising the first dimension of the array, a second dimension corresponds to the values of the operating parameter and each element of the further array is the cumulative amount of time each wind turbine has spent at the particular operating parameter,
generate a graphical user interface;
generate within the graphical user interface a graphical representation of the array in which the graphical representation is a rectangular array of panels, one axis of the rectangle corresponding to the second dimension of the further array, another axis to the elements of the further array, the member of the graphical representation of the further array is the panel, and a visual indicator for each panel corresponding to values of the first dimension of the further array;
assign a visual indicator to a member of the graphical representation of the array;
whereby the graphical representation identifies to an operator of the wind or water turbine farm variations from the norm of particular wind turbines requiring maintenance.
2. The system according to claim 1 , in which the operating parameter is operating temperature.
3. The system according to claim 1 , in which the graphical representation comprises a plurality of graphical representations for a corresponding plurality of turbines in the farm, and in which each graphical representation includes multiple parameters to allow the user to make a side-by-side comparison to be made.
4. The system according to claim 3 , in which the parameters include operational parameters, data, or parameters collected or calculated from sensors or calculated values.
5. The system according to claim 3 , in which the computer-readable medium coupled to the computing device and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to: analyze the arrays to generate one or more alarms.
6. The system according to claim 5 , in which the instructions are for pattern recognition, machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms.
7. The system according to claim 1 , in which the instructions, when executed by the computing device, additionally cause the computing device to:
display a graphical representation of a layout of the turbine farm, in which the layout includes one or more icons corresponding to one or more turbines, the icons being selectable by a user;
determine which turbine a user has been selected;
generate within the graphical user interface a graphical representation of the operation of the selected turbine.
8. The system according to claim 7 , in which turbines can be selected from a row to allow the user to identify a wake effect.
9. The system according to claim 7 , in which turbines can be selected as a string to allow the user to identify potential issues with one particular string of turbines.
10. A system for operating a wind or water turbine farm comprising a plurality of turbines comprising:
a computing device;
means for providing operational data relating to the plurality of turbines to the computing device;
a computer-readable medium coupled to the computing device and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to:
arrange the operational data for each turbine into an array comprising operational data and having a first dimension corresponding to the plurality of turbines;
generate a graphical user interface;
generate within the graphical user interface a graphical representation of the array, in which the graphical representation is a polar plot, in which each axis corresponds to a value for an operating parameter for individual components of the one or more wind turbines, in which the operating parameter is an orientation of the wind turbine, and in which the graphical representation shows the amount of time each wind turbine has been pointing in a certain direction.
11. The system according to claim 10 , in which the graphical representation showing the amount of time each wind turbine has been pointing in a certain direction is compared with a wind rose generated to identify misalignment of the wind turbine orientation against the prevailing wind direction.