Enercon E30 - Test turbine for research and teaching purposes

The Enercon E30 wind turbine has been on the Flensburg campus since 1996 and is regularly used for lab exercises. Despite its age, the E30's control concept is still state of the art. So students can get to know the operating behaviour and control concept of modern wind turbines in detail directly from the lecture hall.

We also use the E30 for research purposes. As part of a research project, the wind turbine has been equipped with extensive measuring equipment. This measuring system is used to record a large number of signals describing the operating status of the turbine in real time. In addition to research, the measuring system is also used intensively for teaching as part of lab classes.

The following signals are measured:

• Wind speed and direction on the nacelle
• Speed of the drive train
• Pitch angle
• Torque of the drive train
• Tower head accelerations
• Currents and voltages on the generator side of the inverter, in the DC link and on the mains side of the inverter

Completed research projects in connection with the E30

• Determination of the aerodynamic properties of wind turbines from averaged operating data of a wind turbine
• Development of a non-contact pitch angle sensor
• Investigation of the real flow on a wind turbine
• Condition monitoring system on a wind turbine