• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.159-164
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• 2016

The goal of this study is to implement a communication system that can monitor the status of the nacelle using the power cable itself, without the dedicated communication lines such as an UTP cable and optical fiber for the offshore wind turbine. An inductive coupling powerline communication system for a MW class offshore wind turbine was proposed and its communication performance was demonstrated. The inductive couplers was designed for operation at up to 500 A using a ferrite composite materials. Field test was carried out on the wind farms of Jeju island. Using the iperf communication test program, we have obtained more than 15 Mbps data transmission rate through the 100 m power cable that was installed between the nacelle and the bottom of the power converter. In the data transmission stability test for a week, there was no failure ever. The minimum transmission rate was 15 Mbps and the average data rate was about 20 Mbps. Next, we have installed an infrared camera inside the nacelle in order to measure the temperature distribution and variation of the nacelle. The real-time thermal image taken by the camera was successfully sent to the monitoring system without error.