Remote maintenance of wind turbines
Secure Internet connections over a cellular network
Wind turbines are becoming increasingly more important in the production of electrical energy. Wind is not only an energy source but also a force of nature. Due to extreme wind, the wind turbines are exposed to severe shock and vibration. They are also commonly built in remote areas such as in the middle of a sea and are therefore difficult to access. To avoid unwanted outages requires consistent and reliable monitoring via a remote access system. To provide you with a completely flexible and reliable monitoring system, the remote maintenance engineering and development team of MB Connect Line have developed various solutions.
Due to the increased usage of renewable energy, our future energy supply will become more resource efficient and environmentally friendly. In the past wind energy placed high demands on technology and materials, but it has recently gained more tangible potential. In addition, many resources are needed for the daily operations and production of electricity from wind gusts with varying intensity and direction of electrical energy, which provides voltage, frequency and phase angle values suitable for feeding directly into the grid.
Continuous monitoring
To ensure that despite the adverse conditions and increasing material costs, continuous monitoring is becoming essential. It is common for industrial wind turbines to use a number of sensors which continuously monitor the mechanical components. The timely detection of changes (i.e. vibration diagnosis, system interruptions and etc.) enables the planning and execution of maintenance before it causes expensive damages and unplanned outages. By providing a secure remote connection to the control center all values, operating status and any faults are detected as soon as they occur.
Remote access over a mobile network
With the mbNET® industrial routers MB Connect Line offers a wide variety of remote maintenance solutions. The router can be accessed via an Internet connection, enabling remotely, secure and transparent access to the control components of the wind turbine system. A service technician can evaluate the current system status in detail, change parameters or conduct software updates without being at the same location as the wind turbine. A telephone or DSL line on-site of the wind turbine would be an exception. The mbNET routers were developed to support various wireless standards, so it can be installed accordingly to accommodate the local wireless infrastructure. In addition to Ethernet (WAN) these routers have the ability to connect via the built-in modem (e.g. UMTS, GPRS, EDGE, GSM, analog or ISDN) to connect to the Internet.
The mbNET industrial routers supports UMTS with HSDPA and HSUPA the fastest available transfer methods in the mobile sector. They offer download speeds up to 7.2 Mbit / s and upload rates of up to 2 Mbit / s DSL-like bandwidth. If UMTS is not yet available in a particular area, the router can also use the GSM-based GPRS or EDGE services. These forms of wireless connections are commonly available at most locations. GPRS and EDGE connections are similar to UMTS IP-based transmission services which can be easily and seamlessly integrate into an existing network infrastructure.
A variety of interfaces
For the components in the wind turbines the industrial routers offer a variety of connections. The integrated 4-port switch allows direct connection of up to four Ethernet devices. In addition, the router has up to two serial ports that can be configured via software as a RS-232 or RS-485. For serial devices such as controllers and drives about 90 different drivers are available. For direct access to the S7-300 and S7-400 controllers from Siemens, the MPI-/ Profibus version integrates a full-fledged PC adapter; whereas transfer rates up to 12 Mbit / s are supported. The use of an IP camera is possible, via the LAN port, so that live images of a control center can be viewed remotely. In some cases technical and organizational issues in terms of connection management, data security and access protection can arise. The web-based solution known as mbconnect24® is a remote maintenance portal which offers consistent remote maintenance capabilities. It serves as an intelligent intermediary between the control center of the system operator, service technician and the wind turbine system.
An internet connection can be activated automatically when the router is powered up or as needed. This activation feature can also be triggered via a signal to the digital input of the router from the onsite control system. Establishing a dynamic or private IP address with the provider is not a problem because the connection is always established from the router to the portal. The control center and service personnel can also connect via secure VPN access to the portal. The operator may specify individual rights for each service technician, in the form of a closed user group. For a remote session enter the user certificate, username and password in the portal so that it can be reached by clicking the shared facilities for them. The access to the portal is simple to understand and manage in any given environment. Short-term adjustments due to changes of service are readily available. For example, if a particular actuator has a failure, the control center has the ability to immediately allow the temporary access of a service technician, from the engine manufacturing company, to provide technical assistance.
Connection management
The mbNET Industrial routers integrated in the wind turbine system register and make a secure VPN connection to the portal. A connection can be initialized by demand or automatically once the router is supplied with voltage. The connection can be triggered by the signal of an equipment control system to a digital input of the router. Establishing a dynamic or private IP address from the provider is not a problem because the connection is established from the router to the portal out.
When necessary the control room and external service representatives can also connect over a secure VPN connection with the portal. The system operators have the option to set individual rights in the form of a closed user group for each service technician. For a remote session, you can enter the user with a certificate, username and password at the portal and then they will have the ability to reach the system according to the giving permissions. It is easy to control and manage access to the portal. Short-term adjustments for changes in the plan of service availability are fast and easy. For example if a problem occurs, with a certain motor, the control room can set up a temporary access account for a service technician from the engine manufacturer and have the assistance of a service technician within minutes.
The transfer of the data itself is via a secure VPN connection, based on the OpenVPN security protocol. The portal is hosted in a high performance data center with redundant connectivity and 24/7/365 monitoring, so that a network availability of well over 99% is guaranteed. Our mbConnect24 portal is appropriate for remote maintenance of a small wind farm in the neighbouring town and also suitable for managing several wind turbines systems globally. The service technician needs only their credentials a connection to the Internet, either on the corporate network or via a DSL connection at home. Optionally, UMTS modems can also be used to connect.
System monitoring with a Smartphone
With mbWEB2go®, you now have the ability to monitor your wind turbines without being limited to a stationary PC. As access to the web increases in mobility and simplicity, with usage of a Smartphone or Tablet PC users will be able to connect to mbWEB2go and also access important information while traveling from point to point. These are on the integrated Web server as a web visualization of the mbNET routers or other Ethernet devices of the system. You can access the mbConnect24 remote maintenance portal by user ID and password using the secure HTTPS protocol. In order to access to the web visualization you can use any browser without any additional software or extra application. Neither a VPN client nor a special certificate is required for a connection.
Hosting on your own server
In addition to the mbConnect24 portal solution, we also offer a physical server as a pre-installed system. This is interesting for manufacturers and service providers that want to implement a service portal within their corporate network. All VPN connections terminate within the company’s area of operation. This solution known as mymbConnect24® takes over the entire connection management as the backbone of the Service Center. These servers are offered in two variations: the variant “midi” a box solution that supports up to 250 users and 50 simultaneous connections. The “maxi” variant is a 19" rack space which supports up to 1000 users and 150 simultaneous active connections.
Data security and access protection
The architecture of mbConnect24 as a portal solution meets the security requirements that exist for accessing corporate networks. The connections to both the wind turbine and the service side are always made at the mbConnect24 Portal. Any Connection requests from the portal to the system or to the service computer are not available, so that incoming connections are completely secure on both sides. Portal solutions have a high level of acceptance in the administrating of a network, because there are no requirements for special network configurations or port disconnections.