White Paper: Wind power

Reliability is Key when it comes to Relays for Wind Power

While wind energy is one of the cleanest, greenest and safest ways to generate energy, the turbines that are required for the process face some harsh environments. From high humidity in India to very high altitudes in the mountains of South China, wind turbines - or windmills - have been installed in almost every place imaginable, across the world. Often, you’ll find them in remote, deserted places sometimes only reachable by helicopter, which can make maintenance exceptionally difficult. This means that repair works on systems and components inside these wind turbines needs to be kept to a minimum. Clearly, the quality of these applied components is paramount.

To operate safely, wind turbines need to be able to record accurate information from their onboard sensors, for instance data like wind conditions. This is so that wind turbulence can be recorded and help prevent any damage to the turbine further down the line. Programmable logic controllers - or PLCs - are critical here as they convert the signals from the sensors to better control the wind turbines, protecting their components.

These controller solutions also boast specific and wide specifications so that they are able to manage the wind turbine's heating and lubrication, which will protect the components and ensure a much longer life span.

The Challenge

Maintenance and repairs in wind turbines are complicated. The reliability of the applied controllers needs to be of the highest level in order to keep repairs at a minimum. The quality, reliability and life expectations of the applied components is therefore of vital importance.

The Solution

Part of FCL Components' line-up of power relay solutions is the incredibly reliable JS-5N-K-V3, which is able to provide the galvanic isolation in the controller application necessary to assure safe separation between primary control circuit and the controller outputs. JS-5N-K-V3 features a 3μ gold overlay on contacts which make this relay very reliable also for low currents.

Featuring a relay contact switching capability, the JS-5N-K-V3 is also able to provide the broad contact ratings required to achieve the specified controller output range.

The Benefits

FCL Components' JS-5N-K-V3 relay offers a reliable solution contributing to a long wind turbine controller life while also preventing additional difficult and potentially hazardous repair and maintenance operations. Perhaps best of all, however, the relay provides the customer the freedom to use any outputs for any type of load.

For more information:

JS-5N-K-V3