Anomaly detection of a horizontal wind turbine using an extended Kalman filter

Loads that have a disproportionate impact on the components and structure of a wind turbine can be induced by anomalies in the wind-field. For example, large unbalanced rotor loads could arise from blades sweeping through low level jets. The work presented in this paper proposes a novel anomaly detection scheme. Simulation results are presented demonstrating that it can be used to aid in the early detection of various anomalous conditions, such as mass imbalance, extreme wind shear and dynamic inflow, thereby allowing the wind turbine controllers to take appropriate diagnostic action to cope with such conditions.