Determining tower top acceleration of a wind turbine

A control system for a wind turbine, the wind turbine comprising a tower, a nacelle atop the tower, and a plurality of acceleration sensors located in the nacelle, and the control system comprising a computer processor configured to:

• receive acceleration data, from the plurality of acceleration sensors, including data indicative of a measured acceleration in a direction along at least one measurement axis of each respective acceleration sensor at a current time step;
• determine a predicted tower top acceleration of the tower at the current time step, the predicted tower top acceleration being determined in dependence on a kinematic model of the wind turbine that is based on a position and orientation of each acceleration sensor relative to a point defined as a top of the tower, and the predicted tower top acceleration being determined in dependence on a determined estimation of tower top acceleration at a previous time step;
• determine an estimated tower top acceleration of the wind turbine tower at the current time step by updating the predicted tower top acceleration based on the measured acceleration from each of the plurality of acceleration sensors;
• and
• controlling the wind turbine based on the estimated tower top acceleration.

A wind turbine, comprising:

• a tower;
• a nacelle disposed on the tower;
• a plurality of acceleration sensors located in the nacelle;
• a control system configured to perform an operation, comprising:
• receive acceleration data, from the plurality of acceleration sensors, including data indicative of a measured acceleration in a direction along at least one measurement axis of each respective acceleration sensor at a current time step;
• determine a predicted tower top acceleration of the tower at the current time step, the predicted tower top acceleration being determined in dependence on a kinematic model of the wind turbine that is based on a position and orientation of each acceleration sensor relative to a point defined as a top of the tower, and the predicted tower top acceleration being determined in dependence on a determined estimation of tower top acceleration at a previous time step;
• and
• determine an estimated tower top acceleration of the wind turbine tower at the current time step by updating the predicted tower top acceleration based on the measured acceleration from each of the plurality of acceleration sensors;
• and
• controlling the wind turbine based on the estimated tower top acceleration.