Methods and systems for detecting wind turbine rotor blade damage

A method of detecting rotor blade damage in a wind turbine comprising a nacelle mounted to a tower;

• a rotor coupled to the nacelle, the rotor including a hub and a plurality of blades extending radially outward from the hub for converting wind energy into rotational energy;
• a blade pitch system for controlling a pitch angle of the plurality of blades with respect to a wind direction;
• one or more sensors for sensing at least one operating condition of the wind turbine;
• and a monitoring system for detecting rotor blade damage, said monitoring system comprising calculation module, a filter module, and a damage determination module, said method comprising:
• sensing, at the hub, at least one operating condition of the wind turbine using the one or more sensors of the wind turbine;
• receiving a signal representative of the at least one operating condition in the calculation module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• transmitting a processed operating condition signal to the filter module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine using the calculation module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• determining an amplitude of a 1P frequency component of at least one operating condition of the wind turbine using the filter module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• transmitting a signal representative of the 1P frequency component to the damage determination module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• and
• comparing the determined 1P frequency component amplitude to a threshold 1P frequency component amplitude using the damage determination module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine, wherein the damage determination module determines that there is aerodynamic damage to at least one wind turbine rotor blade when an amplitude of the determined 1P frequency component is greater than an amplitude of a threshold 1P frequency component.

A non-transitory computer-readable media having encoded thereon computer readable instructions that are executable by a processor of a wind turbine, said wind turbine comprising a nacelle mounted to a tower;

• a rotor coupled to the nacelle, the rotor including a hub and a plurality of blades extending radially outward from the hub for converting wind energy into rotational energy;
• a blade pitch system for controlling a pitch angle of the plurality of blades with respect to a wind direction;
• one or more sensors for sensing at least one operating condition of the wind turbine;
• and a monitoring system for detecting rotor blade damage, said monitoring system comprising calculation module, a filter module, and a damage determination module, said processor programmed to perform functions comprising:
• sensing, at a remote location, at least one operating condition of the wind turbine using the one or more sensors of the wind turbine;
• transmitting a signal representative of the at least one operating condition to the calculation module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• transmitting a processed operating condition signal to the filter module using the calculation module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• determining an amplitude of a 1P frequency component of the at least one operating condition of the wind turbine using the filter module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• transmitting a signal representative of the 1P frequency component to the damage determination module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine;
• and
• comparing the determined 1P frequency component amplitude to a threshold 1P frequency component amplitude using the damage determination module of the monitoring system of the wind turbine, wherein the damage determination module determines that there is aerodynamic damage to at least one wind turbine rotor blade when an amplitude of the determined 1P frequency component is greater than an amplitude of a threshold 1P frequency component.