Wind turbine maintenance. A review

Abstract

ABSTRACT
• Climatic change has taxed humanity in terms of the use of 
renewable energy in most countries around the world. In this 
context, installed wind power has recently increased at an 
almost exponential rate. Although there is still a large potential 
market that could be covered, minimizing costs has become a 
critical factor for a wind project to be financially justified and 
competitive. The present work is a bibliographical review of the 
primary strategies and methodologies used to reduce the cost 
of these activities while producing the maximum electricity 
from wind turbines. This review includes tabulated information 
on the types of faults, occurrence statistics, and associated 
costs and equipment suppliers for monitoring, detection, 
diagnosis and fault prediction and although most of it refers to 
onshore wind turbines, offshore wind turbines are also included 
in several parts. Research shows that in order to guarantee 
the reliability and financial feasibility of wind farms, the most 
used methodologies is the Condition Monitoring System, 
which include vibration analysis, acoustic emission, ultrasonic 
testing techniques, thermography, oil analysis, structural health 
monitoring, measurement of mechanical stresses , radiographic 
inspection, power signal analysis. Currently, in addition to 
technical personnel, turbine operation and maintenance can 
include sensors, software, trucks, cranes, boats, helicopters, 
drones and smartphone applications