Among the most valuable types of renewable energy available today is wind energy. The reliability of WF systems must be regularly evaluated at every stage of their “life,” from design to operation, if a wind farm energy system is to be effective and function damage-free. Three key goals are presented in the article. The theory of fundamental quantities in reliability and maintenance analysis should be derived and explained first. Second, as a consequence of maintainability, theoretical correlations between reliability and mean time between failures (MTBF) are provided. The three-state theory of the WF procedure for operation presented in the research serves as the foundation for the analytical analysis of WF reliability. The time between failures is investigated as a function of maintainability, and the dependability of the WF under examination is assessed as a function of service life. The WF owner can make the best decisions to renew the WF and increase its reliability, energy, financial efficiency, etc. by being aware of the existing reliability of the WF system in use.
The article deals with simulation tests on the reliability of the equipment of the wind farm WF in the operation process. The improvement, modernization, and introduction of new solutions that change the reliability, as well as the quality and conditions of use and operation of wind farm equipment, require testing. Based on these tests, it is possible to continuously evaluate the reliability of the equipment of WF. The issue of reliability assessment of wind farm equipment, for which intelligent systems, diagnostic systems DIAG, and Wind Power Plant Expert System (WPPES) are used to modernize the operation process, can only be tested in a simulative way. The topic of testing the reliability of complex technical objects is constantly developing in the literature. In this paper, it is assumed that the operation of wind farm equipment is described and modeled based on Markov processes. The adoption of this assumption justified the use of the Kolmogorov–Chapman equations to describe the developed model. Based on this equation, an analytically developed model of the wind farm operation process was described. The simulation analysis determines the reliability of the wind farm in terms of the availability factor Kg(t). The simulation tests are performed in two phases using the computer program LabView. In the first stage, the reliability value in the form of the readiness factor Kg(t) as a function of changes in the mean repair time value ranging {from 0.3 to 1.0} was investigated. In the second stage, the reliability value of WF devices was examined as a function of changes in the value of the average time between successive failures, ranging from 1000 to 3000 (h)}.
Increasing the efficiency and reliability of modern railway transport is accompanied by an increase in monitoring and diagnostic systems for the current state of electric drives. Modern railway transport contains a large number of induction motors to ensure the operation of the drives of various mechanisms. In the article, based on the operational statistics of engine failures and the proposed scheme for diagnosing them, studies were carried out and a model was developed for assessing the reliability of a transport system equipped with an on-board diagnostic system for the current state. When building the models, the Markov method was used, including the construction of graphs for the five most relevant states of the induction electric motor during operation. The results obtained are relevant for evaluating the effectiveness of using the built-in diagnostic system and scheduling routine maintenance, which will affect the efficiency of railway transport. Based on the process of the diagnosis of railway transport systems with induction motors, five operating states of the object studied were interpreted: the state of full operation, state “S0”; the state of incomplete serviceability, state “S1”; critical serviceability, state “S2”; the state of the pre-damage condition, state “S3”; the state of unserviceability (defect), state “S4”. Subsequently, a five-state model of the operation process of railway transport systems with induction motors was developed. This model is also described by equations of state: Kolmogorov–Chapman equations. The reliability quantities determined form the basis for simulation reliability studies. The effect of the simulation study is the reliability quantities determined in the form of reliability functions and probabilities of the occurrences of the operating states of railway transport systems with induction motors; an important part of the reliability study of the system examined is to estimate the times of the occurrences in the object studied of the operating states in the future.
Under certain weather circumstances, wind farms might lose their operational integrity. The study describes the process for building a WPP (Wind Power Plant) expert knowledge base for the WPPES system. The article presents the creation of an expert knowledge base on wind farm equipment that is the basis for the functioning of an intelligent expert system. For this purpose, a functional and diagnostic model of wind farm equipment was presented and described. Functional diagnostic models of objects are the basis for obtaining diagnostic information about the study object (set of facts). The operating conditions of the wind farm equipment and their surroundings have been characterized and described. On this basis, admissible and boundary conditions for the functioning of the tested technical object were determined. The above information specifically supplements the diagnostic information set when building the set of facts and rules. An important part of the article is to describe the principles and conditions for developing a set of diagnostic rules for the knowledge base of an expert system diagnosing wind farm equipment. Building expert knowledge bases is an extremely complex process of transforming diagnostic object information sets into the form of knowledge that is required by an expert system. To this end, an analytical relationship was developed and described as the basis for building a set of inference rules for the examined object. The effectiveness of the developed expert knowledge base is presented in the aspect of its introduction to the expert system knowledge module.
This paper introduces the issue of reliability simulation studies of wind farm equipment in the process of an operation. By the improvement, retrofitting and insertion of new (optimal) solutions to change the quality and terms of the use of wind farm equipment, an evaluation of their impact on reliability under real conditions can be carried out over a long period of time. Over a brief period, testing the reliability of a technical facility is only possible in a simulation. The aspect of evaluating the reliability of wind farm equipment after the application of intelligent systems, including the Wind Power Plant Expert System (WPPES), can be tested in the manner of a simulation. It was accepted in this article that the operation of the wind farm equipment is detailed based on Markov processes. The results of such research activities are the development of reliable and appropriate strategies and an exploitation policy of PE facilities. The above-mentioned issues in such a comprehensive approach have not been fully presented in the literature. The process of exploitation of complex technical objects such as PE devices is a complex random technical and technological process.