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PIC BASIC based Wind turbine controller network interface

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Jerry C Anton

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Hello guys,

I'm researching for a wind turbine controller based on PIC BASIC that I'm doing for my senior project. My team is going to build a wind turbine controller for a company that I am interning at. So far, we know that we will be using sensors, we will be interpreting the data from the sensors, we will be using actuators based on the data from the sensors, and finally, we will send the data to a remote base and analyze it.

So for our first step, we need to find out what we will be using to send the data. We are thinking 4G or 3G. Can anybody point me in the right direction? We need to know what devices are available, what services they use, what chips they are compatible with, etc.

Many thanks!
Jerry
 
Hi Jerry,
Welcome to the forum mate :) Depending on the size of your wind generator will determine what you need to control. Most wind generators output wild AC and depending on the amount of poles in the stator one can easily tap in 2 phases and measure the hertz to determine RPM. In order to measure the current one will need a very low ohm shunt then measure the voltage drop across the shunt. As far as voltage goes the voltage will be clamped by the batterybank connected and the wild AC MUST be rectified to DC before connection to the batteries.

So basically 3 things are usually measured on a wind generator

Voltage- if the voltage exceeds the max battery voltage then it must be diverted to a dumpload or the batteries will overcharge.

Current- by measuring current and using ohms law one can workout the watts produced

RPM- this can be measured as stated above

Now before you start going off wanting to transmit data via 3G or 4G get those points above working then worry about going wifi. The easiest way to go wifi will be using those cheap 433mhz modules and they work a treat when programming in basic.

OK theres some basic pointers to work with so go and learn those and come back with constructive questions if you need too.

Regards Bryan
 
Thanks, Bryan. Thanks for the input. I do have a couple things I am still lost with.

As far as the output of the wind generator, all I know is that the turbine will be a 5kW model. Previously, my teammates only thought to measure the output of the generator, but having the current, voltage and rpm also measured would be ideal.

Since this wind turbine is a prototype for a later model that will be commercialized, we will also monitor and actuate the yaw and blade angles.

The reason we want to determine our wi-fi interface first was because we want our PIC BASIC controller to be able to have that capability. All the sensors and actuators are generally compatible with most controllers, but we have trouble finding ones that have communications functions. Can you tell me more about the modules?

On another note, we are pretty new to PIC BASIC (we are all electrical engineers, not comp sci majors haha), so ease of use should be prioritized.
 
Hi Jerry,
As you say you are new to pic basic did you know about Oshonsoft Basic ? with it the simulation ide is the best around and with using the external modules one can simulate using a external pulse to emulate a sensor. You should really check it out as for learning and the simulator IDE is the way to go.

Regards Bryan
 
I've used GPRS to send data from remote devices. I don't think that there will be a lot of data, as 3G and 4G networks are designed for streaming video at many MB per second. Your data is simple numbers and I guess that a few numbers a second would be fine.

The modules from Telit are useful for GPRS data. You can buy them from News - SparkFun Electronics
 
Bryan, I will begin by looking at that program. Thanks!

Diver, that is definitely an option. Thanks! Because we are doing a senior design project, we might use that. But for commercialization in the future, the company wants video feedback, so that is why 3G and 4G were asked about.
 
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