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Reliability and cost reduction are vital to the growth of the wind industry, especially offshore, and to realise the UK's targets for 2020 and beyond. A recent study by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) shows that a reduction of 67% can be achieved in the maintenance costs of offshore wind turbines (WTs) if preventive maintenance is adopted, enabled by condition monitoring systems (CMSs). Reliawind, spun out from Cambridge University Engineering Department, has developed a novel and patent-pending CMS technology for WT drivetrains, which is 60% cheaper and substantially easier to install than its rival products in the market, and has greater fault detection precision and diagnosis. The unique feature of ReliaWind is the use of electrical measurements, already available in WTs, to detect and diagnose mechanical and electrical faults in WT drivetrains. Hence, the hardware and its installation are significantly simpler than existing CMS products. In addition, Reliawind algorithms are based on the analysis of complex electro-magnetic (EM) fields in the generator, derived from the voltage and current measurements, which have shown to give enhanced precision in fault detection. The technology is proven on laboratory-scale prototypes and is being developed for site testing in real wind turbines. This project aims to study, assess and prove the commercial feasibility of Reliawind for on- and offshore wind applications and set the foundation for commercialisation operation to move to the next phase
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