Turning innovative systems into substantial cost savings
Eggelsberg – Having taken part in the most important international trade fair for the wind energy industry, B&R can only look back at the positive experience with a justified feeling of satisfaction. "Our appearance at this event can only be described as an unmitigated success," explains a pleased Peter Kronberger, expert for wind energy at B&R. "So many visitors went out of their way to visit our booth and learn about our solutions for wind energy. They couldn't help but be excited by the outstanding advantages we have to offer." During the course of the exhibition, the innovative specialists from B&R presented advanced solutions and captivated the audience with state-of-the-art technologies and demonstrations of exceptional product quality. One of the main focal points concentrated on systems that substantially lower operating costs across the board. Visitors were also impressed by B&R's international presence, which ensures reliable service anywhere in the world.
One of the many highlights that attracted visitors to the exhibition booth included an integrated safety system that allows for easy and efficient compliance with GL 2010 requirements. An advantage of this system is that mechanical loads can be considerably reduced through the use of intelligent safety reactions that are determined by the situation at hand. This B&R solution makes it possible for manufacturers of wind turbines to optimize their components while drastically reducing costs by saving on materials.
Networking wind park safety systems with openSAFETY
Networking complete wind parks is also made possible with openSAFETY, the open source safety technology also demonstrated by B&R. This system provides a range of coordinated actions that can safely master any critical situation that may arise. Together with Ethernet POWERLINK, this promises the shortest safety chain response times on the market to date.
Visitors to the stand were also impressed by the robustness of B&R control systems, the perfect choice for offshore applications. Modular redundancy solutions also generated considerable enthusiasm in the way they ensure the highest degree of system availability, in turn maximizing total energy yield.
Effortless monitoring of system states
Another highlight presented to B&R exhibition booth visitors was a cost-efficient condition monitoring solution. It guarantees effortless monitoring of system states, the results of which can then be used to reduce or eliminate unplanned maintenance work. Outstanding remote access options provided by the B&R solution not only reduce the amount of on-site service work to a minimum, but also help keep a lid on these associated costs for wind turbines. More advantages were on display at B&R's exhibition stand in the form of remote IP67 I/O nodes for POWERLINK. Because a CPU is not necessary in this case, customers can save hard cash when it comes to peripherals as well.
Components from the mobile automation product range – perfect for use in pitch systems – also attracted their share of attention. Wind parks also benefit from the scalability of the APROL process control system. Complete integration all the way down to the I/O level guarantees a maximum degree of cost effectiveness that further reduces total cost of ownership. Modular software solutions that include automatic code generation for MATLAB and Simulink, in addition to support for concurrent engineering, mean less development work all around.
"The success that B&R has already achieved in the area of wind energy speaks for itself," says Kronberger in reference to the advantages of using B&R products. "We've already been involved in installations providing over 2 GW of power, which corresponds to savings of 2.6 million tons of CO2 per year." This success is evidenced by more and more market leaders who are placing their trust in the experts from Eggelsberg, Austria.
A video demonstrating how B&R's many solutions can optimize your wind turbines can be found here: youtu.be/aE-wfdulttI.
