Challenge

It was 2013 and Orbitals customers – wind turbine manufacturers and service providers – faced rapid growth. With turbine installation at the domestic market as well as several international markets, the internal workflows struggled to keep up with the increased number of turbines. Turbine information was stored in different systems and it was not easily available for technicians.  A visit to the turbine was a costly affair and the turbine owner lost production time. Orbitals employees also faced a challenge when customers required support.

Solution

The situation initiated Orbital to develop a SCADA solution for remote monitoring and control of the turbines. The industry knowledge from developing and manufacturing control systems for wind turbines was a strong starting point. So Orbital hired a full-stack developer to develop the solution in close collaboration with colleagues and customers. The goal was to launch a SCADA system that would not just solve the challenges, but become a state-of-the-art SCADA system for wind turbines. A system that would also help Orbitals customers to sell their wind turbines and win service contracts.

Results

The wind turbine owner monitors his wind turbine from a smartphone or tablet, where he can keep up with the daily production and historical metrics. The wind turbine manufacturers and service providers have several options from their access level. Besides monitoring they are also able to control the turbines remotely. That includes start, stop, reset, yawing and setting parameters. At the most advanced access level, it is possible to export data, including power curves and to create a service & activity log for each wind turbine. The service & activity log digitalizes every service inspection – the reports can be filled out, signed and e-mailed right away when the technician performs the inspection.

Orbital has been manufacturing industrial control systems since 1978. Today more than 8500 Orbital control systems operate world wide. The control systems manage sustainable energy systems to make the world greener.

Some of the current features in OrbiSCADA 

Dashboard

A great overview for owners of several wind turbines to see and compare the live production and wind speed for all the turbines in one view

Map view

A visual overview of the exact turbine locations. Turbine manufacturers and service providers get a helpful tool when they plan inspections

Weather

The current weather forecast is an important and integrated part of OrbiSCADA.

Live view

The live data metrics are presented every second. That gives very detailed insight into turbine performance and condition.

Blackbox

When the TMC3 controller detects an error, the OrbiSCADA Blackbox system presents a detailed view of 5 sec. before and after the error (100 ms. interval logging time)

Parameters

All turbine parameters are available to modify. The search function is a  quick way to find the relevant group or single parameter by name or number.

Power curves

A powerful tool to compare and analyze the performance of one or more turbines for a specific time period.