Claims for Patent: 10,012,213

Summary for Patent: 10,012,213

Title:	System and method for upgrading multivendor wind turbines
Abstract:	The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for controlling and/or upgrading aftermarket multivendor wind turbines. The system includes a turbine controller configured to control operations of the wind turbine, a safety device configured to provide a signal indicative of a health status of the safety device, and a secondary controller inserted between the safety device and the turbine controller. The secondary controller is configured to receive the signal from the safety device over a communication interface. As such, if the signal indicates a normal health status, the secondary controller is configured to send the signal to the turbine controller, i.e. maintain normal operation. Alternatively, if the signal indicates a poor health status, the secondary controller is configured to adjust the signal based at least in part on a signal bias to an adjusted signal and to provide the adjusted signal to the turbine controller.
Inventor(s):	Chacon; Joseph Lawrence (Greenville, SC), Fish; William Earl (Amsterdam, NY), Pennington; Noah (Simpsonville, SC), Cardinal; Mark Edward (Altamont, NY)
Assignee:	General Electric Company (Schenectady, NY)
Application Number:	15/015,451
Patent Claims:	1. A system for controlling a wind turbine, comprising: a turbine controller configured to control operations of the wind turbine; a safety device configured to provide an initial signal indicative of a health status of the safety device; a secondary controller inserted between the safety device and the turbine controller, the secondary controller being programmed with an existing braking procedure of the wind turbine, the secondary controller configured to receive the initial signal from the safety device over a communication interface; wherein, if the initial signal indicates a normal health status, the secondary controller is configured to send the initial signal to the turbine controller, and wherein, if the initial signal indicates a poor health status, the secondary controller is configured to: adjust the initial signal based at least in part on a signal bias to an adjusted signal, the adjusted signal comprising an updated braking procedure for the wind turbine; and provide the adjusted signal to the turbine controller. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary controller is configured to adjust the initial signal without accessing computer-readable instructions implemented by the turbine controller. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety device comprises at least one of an aftermarket safety device or an existing safety device of the wind turbine. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety device comprises at least one of an aviation light, a vibration sensor, a loading sensor, an icing sensor, a temperature sensor, a wind condition sensor, a fire safety device, a bird or bat detector, or shadow flicker sensors. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the existing braking procedure comprising a hard brake procedure, a medium brake procedure, and a soft brake procedure. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the secondary controller is further configured to determine set points for existing wind turbines sensors for each of the hard brake procedure, the medium brake procedure, and the soft brake procedure. 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the existing braking procedure is automatically determined via the secondary controller using an auto-tuning process, the auto-tuning process comprising: for each of a plurality of input conditions, incrementally adjusting the signal bias among a plurality of incremental signal bias values; monitoring a braking procedure of the wind turbine at each of the plurality of incremental signal bias values, and selecting the signal bias for the input conditions from the plurality of incremental signal bias values based at least in part on the braking procedure associated with each of the plurality of incremental signal bias values. 8. The system of claim 5, wherein the existing braking procedure of the wind turbine is determined manually. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary controller comprises an interface configured to receive one or more input signals from a plurality of sensors, the secondary controller configured to determine the signal bias based at least in part on the one or more input signals. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more input signals comprise a signal indicative of a shaft speed, a power output, vibrations, temperature, or wind speed. 11. A method for controlling a wind turbine, the wind turbine comprising a safety device in communication with a wind turbine controller over a signal path, the method comprising: inserting a secondary controller between the safety device and the wind turbine controller in the signal path the secondary controller being programmed with an existing braking procedure of the wind turbine; generating, via the safety device, an initial signal indicative of a health status of the safety device; receiving, via a communication interface, the initial signal at the secondary controller; determining, at the secondary controller, an adjusted signal that is different from the initial signal based at least in part on a signal bias, the adjusted signal comprising an updated braking procedure for the wind turbine; and, providing the adjusted signal to the wind turbine controller. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the existing braking procedure comprising a hard brake procedure, a medium brake procedure, and a soft brake procedure. 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining, via the secondary controller, set points for existing wind turbines sensors for each of the hard brake procedure, the medium brake procedure, and the soft brake procedure. 14. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically determining the existing braking procedure via the secondary controller using an auto-tuning process, the auto-tuning process comprising: for each of a plurality of input conditions, incrementally adjusting the signal bias among a plurality of incremental signal bias values, monitoring a braking procedure of the wind turbine at each of the plurality of incremental signal bias values; and selecting the signal bias for the input conditions from the plurality of incremental signal bias values based at least in part on the braking procedure associated with each of the plurality of incremental signal bias values. 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising manually determining the existing braking procedure of the wind turbine.

Details for Patent 10,012,213

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Emergent Biosolutions Canada Inc.	BAT	botulism antitoxin heptavalent (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) - (equine)	Solution	125462	03/22/2013		2040-01-30