Robust intelligent fault diagnosis strategy using Kalman observers and neuro-fuzzy systems for a wind turbine benchmark

A wind turbine (WT) is an electromechanical system that often operates under a wide range of production conditions. These electrical systems are nowadays expanding rapidly, and they have considerable importance due to their efficiency as renewable energy sources. This led to proposing an innovative and efficient solution with intelligent systems to maintain and ensure the safe and stable operation of these dynamic systems. Maintenance tasks are based on the development of high-performance diagnostic tools, which consist in detecting and locating correctly and upstream the various failures affecting this wind machine. Where, the condition monitoring and supervision systems must rely on reliable fault diagnosis techniques in order to: avoid breakdowns and unscheduled shutdowns, improve their operation, and increase their energetic performances. In order to ensure adequate maintenance actions for the wind system, the purpose of this article is to propose and develop a robust and intelligent fault diagnosis structure. In this work, Kalman filters (KF) as state estimators are used to observe the output states of the sub-systems in order to generate the appropriate residuals evaluated by predetermined thresholds. Adaptive and hybrid network-based fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) have been employed for the evaluation and classification stages of the detected faults to minimize the degradation of the wind turbine. All possible faults of wind turbine systems, sensors, and actuators are tested and investigated in all parts: pitch angle systems, drive, and generator with converter. The developed fault detection and identification structure are tested on a horizontal WT benchmark model using different scenarios and faults. The simulation results show the ability of the proposed and developed diagnostic methodology to detect the faults occurring efficiently and correctly in the machine. Thus, by using this robust diagnostic strategy, the condition monitoring system can maintain and ensure stable and safe operation to generate sufficient electrical power.