An instrumented mast installed as part of the ePARADISE project

The ePARADISE project aims to optimise two types of aerodynamic sensors for wind turbines in production. The sensors in question are ePenons, developed by Mer Agitée, and wireless pressure sensors installed by the CSTB. The use of these sensors will extend the lifetime of a wind turbine and reduce noise emission, while maintaining (or even increasing) energy production.

With aerodynamic sensors installed on a wind turbine, the air flow over the blade can be monitored and analysed. The sensors can detect if the blade angle is incorrectly set or if the turbine is out of alignment with the wind. The VALOREM group, through its subsidiary VALEMO, in charge of the operation and maintenance of renewable energy plants, installed the wind measurement mast in October 2020 in St Hilaire de Chaléons, which will allow measurement campaigns on wind turbines to be implemented. This data will be used to characterise certain operational aspects of the turbine (misalignment and blade angle setting in particular) and to undertake performance and acoustic analysis.

The blade section where the sensors will be placed was scanned on site and reproduced in the wind tunnel, at full-scale in the CSTB wind tunnel and at reduced scale in the LHEEA wind tunnel. The full-scale tests will validate the operation and installation of the sensors on site, while the academic tests at the LHEEA will improve knowledge of the aerodynamics of the blade profiles and thus the operation of the sensors. The originality of the experimental installations used is to be able to reproduce wind gusts. These wind tunnel measurements complete the numerous on-site tests of this project, shared with the ANR Momenta project, of which the measurement mast is a first step.

The e-PARADISE project is subsidised by ADEME and the Pays de la Loire region.