The vital role of reliable sensors

The vital role of reliable sensors

How to minimize downtime in wind farms

Wind farms are complex installations, and for both cost and safety reasons, they need to be monitored constantly. This necessitates the installation of multiple reliable sensors to monitor and detect possible errors or deviations in operation. 

If errors arise at a wind farm, they can be difficult and extremely costly to investigate and repair. Machine parts are often unavailable at short notice, and wind farms are typically located offshore or in other areas with limited accessibility.

– Even the smallest of irregularities can be critical and lead to great losses in revenue, so for a setup to be profitable and safe, error rates need to be minimized, explains Keld Reimer Hansen, Key Account Manager at Senmatic.

The reliable sensors therefore play an essential role in creating high efficiency, maximum reliability, and minimum downtime.

Predictive maintenance is key for minimizing downtime

To ensure smooth operations and a minimum of downtime, predictive maintenance is essential – with the sensors’ ability to predict errors and deviations, it is possible to do just that.

 – With predictive maintenance, present states can be documented, and variations and trends in measurement data can be examined and evaluated, Keld Reimer Hansen argues, and continues:

– The reliable sensors thereby enable wind farm operators to predict deviations or wear of parts – and to intervene or switch off the operating wind turbine early enough to avoid damage or extensive loss.

Targeted monitoring using advanced sensors thus lowers the costs of servicing and maintenance and enables precautions long before the parts start to wear out or fail.

Because maintenance becomes predictable, unexpected failure and downtime of the wind farms can be reduced to a minimum. This raises productivity and efficiency, which further increases operational rentability.

“It is vital to ensure maximum operation time – and reliable sensors do just that, enabling a stable power supply in scalable set-ups.”

Keld Reimer Hansen Key Account Manager at Senmatic

Certified reliable sensors for the wind industry

The proactive monitoring based on precision and reliability is already applied in the production process, where the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) is crucial. At Senmatic, the PPAP consists of a Design Failure Mode Effect Analysis (DFMEA) and a Process Failure Mode Effect Analysis (PFMEA), which means that the development process is broken down to parts in order to take counter measures. It is a methodical approach used when products are designed and developed, where design- and product functions are identified and ranked.

Therefore, all of our sensors are certified to required industry standards, and they are produced to be highly reliable in order to calculate risks accurately and prevent failure.

Wind power enabling a green future

Efficient operations at wind farms not only increases rentability, but it is part of the climate change mitigation of enabling a green future. Deployment of wind power and other alternative energy sources helps reduce energy waste. However, if low-carbon power sources should be able to replace traditional power sources, they need to be stable and efficient – which among others is ensured through reliable monitoring and maintenance.

A study from Cornell University, published in Nature Climate Change, show that deployment of wind power can play a significant role in climate change mitigation efforts and that by 2050, this virtually carbon-free energy source could supply 10-31% of electricity worldwide.

Senmatic as your preferred supplier

At Senmatic, we have 20 years of experience in the wind industry. We understand all vital processes, and we take pride in creating reliable and rentable solutions for our customers. We customize our sensors for the specific conditions and our customers’ needs. This is our way of ensuring high quality and stability in each setup.

We are able to provide a unique service in both ongoing business and in development of client specific sensors due to our flexible size and short response time in acute global situations. You can also find valuable information in our Wind Brochure.

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