This summer, the Application Center for the Integration of Local Energy Systems (ILES) ran a one-week summer school in cooperation with Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) offering students the opportunity to learn how electrolyzers and wind turbines can be…

Part 3: Rapid testing of blade bearings – The first endurance run. In Part 1, I introduced the idea of an accelerated endurance run for blade bearings, which would consist of all wear-inducing cycles in direct succession. In Part 2,…

A controller or control system is an essential wind turbine component. In modern wind energy turbines, stable operation is not possible without a controller. As a research associate at Fraunhofer IWES, I work in the field of control technology for…

The deformation under load and the load distribution within the bearing are of great significance for the design of large rolling bearings such as rotor blade bearings. FE models are indispensable when it comes to determining the load distribution and…

Ever since the beginnings of the large-scale commercial use of wind energy in the 1990s, the industry has observed one considerable trend which remains steady to the present day: turbine growth. Recently, this trend has experienced another boost. In this…

Power converters are among the most frequently failing components of wind turbines. The causes remained unexplained for many years. Seasonal failure patterns point to environmental influences and shift the focus to the climatic conditions to which the power electronics are…

Digitalization is on everyone’s lips. How can digitalization in the wind industry contribute to the improved competitive ability of renewable energies? One answer is the safe and uncomplicated sharing of wind turbine operating data. The Energy Data Space allows the…

Wind turbines generate electricity – and a whole lot of data. The amount of data is growing continuously as the number of operating years increases, but also as turbines are equipped with more and more sensors and operating data with…

The Fraunhofer IWES has commissioned a development environment to test mechanical application for research purposes. Improved control concepts and mechanical issues can thus be tested more quickly more cost-effectively and in parallel with productive operation. With this, the IWES is…

Part 2: Rapid testing of blade bearings – from the desk to the test bench The first milestones on our journey to a blade bearing test are described in part 1. In mid-2013, we submitted a project outline with the…