The AES Corporation
Systems and methods for optimizing the power generated by wind turbines

Abstract:

A method for controlling a wind turbine via an ultrasonic wind sensor includes: transmitting, by a first ultrasonic transceiver, an ultrasonic packet at a first time and receiving, by a second ultrasonic transceiver, the ultrasonic packet at a second time; identifying wind properties based on the first time and the second time; transmitting the identified wind properties to a programmable logic controller (PLC) interfaced with the wind sensor and a turbine controller, wherein the interface with the turbine controller includes one of a plurality of communication topologies; processing the identified wind properties for output to the turbine controller based on a specific communication topology, wherein the PLC is configured to process the identified wind properties for output based on each of the plurality of communication topologies; transmitting the processed wind properties to the turbine controller; and controlling, by the turbine controller, a wind turbine based on the wind properties.