WO2014153673A1 - Procédé, système et appareil pour accéder et gérer une pluralité d'éoliennes par l'intermédiaire d'un réseau - Google Patents

Procédé, système et appareil pour accéder et gérer une pluralité d'éoliennes par l'intermédiaire d'un réseau Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014153673A1
WO2014153673A1 PCT/CA2014/050325 CA2014050325W WO2014153673A1 WO 2014153673 A1 WO2014153673 A1 WO 2014153673A1 CA 2014050325 W CA2014050325 W CA 2014050325W WO 2014153673 A1 WO2014153673 A1 WO 2014153673A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
wind turbine
turbine
data
wind
wind turbines
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/CA2014/050325
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English (en)
Inventor
John Brandon GRAHAM-KNIGHT
Michael Meehan
Jeffrey Robert MACAULAY
Michael Widman
Original Assignee
Endurance Wind Power Inc.
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Endurance Wind Power Inc. filed Critical Endurance Wind Power Inc.
Publication of WO2014153673A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014153673A1/fr

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F03D—WIND MOTORS
    • F03D7/00—Controlling wind motors 
    • F03D7/02—Controlling wind motors  the wind motors having rotation axis substantially parallel to the air flow entering the rotor
    • F03D7/04—Automatic control; Regulation
    • F03D7/042—Automatic control; Regulation by means of an electrical or electronic controller
    • F03D7/048—Automatic control; Regulation by means of an electrical or electronic controller controlling wind farms
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • F03D—WIND MOTORS
    • F03D7/00—Controlling wind motors 
    • F03D7/02—Controlling wind motors  the wind motors having rotation axis substantially parallel to the air flow entering the rotor
    • F03D7/04—Automatic control; Regulation
    • F03D7/042—Automatic control; Regulation by means of an electrical or electronic controller
    • F03D7/047—Automatic control; Regulation by means of an electrical or electronic controller characterised by the controller architecture, e.g. multiple processors or data communications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/10—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for controlling access to devices or network resources
    • H04L63/104—Grouping of entities
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
    • G05B2219/20—Pc systems
    • G05B2219/24—Pc safety
    • G05B2219/24159—Several levels of security, passwords
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/02—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
    • H04L63/0272—Virtual private networks
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/70—Wind energy
    • Y02E10/72—Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y04—INFORMATION OR COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVING AN IMPACT ON OTHER TECHNOLOGY AREAS
    • Y04S—SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS
    • Y04S40/00—Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them
    • Y04S40/20—Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Definitions

  • the subject matter herein relates generally to accessing and managing wind turbines and more particularly to a method, system and apparatus for accessing and managing a plurality of wind turbines via a network.
  • Wind turbines can be used individually or in groups to provide a clean source of power for individuals, communities, businesses and organizations.
  • a range of different wind turbines are available on the market, ranging from smaller wind turbines of about 300W up to much larger wind turbines of about 7.5MW or larger.
  • Smaller wind turbines afford a generally easier and broader base of implementation, but also result in a more dispersed and widespread installation base, made up of a more diverse set of owners, operators, maintainers, dealers and other entities involved. Accordingly, in such an environment, there is a need for an improved form of networked communication in connection with multiple wind turbines, to enhance the way in which such wind turbines are accessed, managed and maintained.
  • a method and system of monitoring and controlling a plurality of wind turbines via a network Different levels of access and control are permitted with respect to the plurality of wind turbines for a variety of users amongst a variety of user groups.
  • This provides a mechanism for managing what actions users are able to perform and what information they are able to see and manipulate in association the plurality of wind turbines.
  • wind turbines are organized and managed according to a plurality of access and control groups, with each of the access and control groups providing for a configurable level of access and control over one or more of the wind turbines associated with the applicable access and control group.
  • Each access and control group corresponds to at least one wind turbine connected to the network.
  • one or more access and control groups may comprise tens or hundreds of wind turbines or more.
  • users are assigned user profiles through which users may be assigned to one or more of the access and control groups.
  • a user profile is assigned to an access and control group, it is also assigned one or more levels of access and control to all wind turbines associated with such access and control group.
  • a user profile may be assigned a configurable level of access and control directly to one or more wind turbines.
  • the plurality of wind turbines are assigned to a plurality of access and control groups via a first computer server, which includes assigning a first set of wind turbines to a first turbine group and a second set of wind turbines to a second turbine group.
  • the first turbine group comprises associations with one or more wind turbines different from the wind turbines associated with the second turbine group.
  • a plurality of user groups are associated with the plurality of access and control groups according to a plurality of user profiles managed via the first computer server, wherein each user within each plurality of user groups is assigned a user profile permitting a configurable level of access and control to one or more of the plurality of wind turbines.
  • this includes: associating a first group of users with the first turbine group; associating a second group of users with the second turbine group; associating a third group of users with all or select subsets of both the first and second turbine groups; and associating a first subset of users from amongst the first group of users with a different level of access and control to one or more of the first set of wind turbines as compared to a second subset of users from amongst the first group of users associated with the first turbine group.
  • a plurality of client device requests associated with the plurality of wind turbines may be received by the computer server from a plurality of client devices.
  • the server determines what level of access and control over wind turbine resources is associated with the applicable client device request based on which of the plurality of user profiles is associated with each of the plurality of client device requests.
  • a select level of access and control to one or more of the plurality of wind turbines is provided to an applicable client device based upon and configured to an applicable user profile selected from the plurality of user profiles and associated with the applicable client device.
  • this access and control aspect may comprise retrieving and transmitting to the applicable client device user-centric data and instructions responsive to a corresponding client device request selected from the plurality of client device requests, wherein the user-centric data and instructions are configured to cause the applicable client device to display on a user interface only features of one or more of the plurality of wind turbines that are associated with the user-identified level of access and control available to the applicable user profile.
  • a custom interface is provided for a plurality of wind turbines in networked communication with a computer server system. This allows for different user interfaces and user experiences to be presented to client devices based on which wind turbine fleet a user profile and/or a wind turbine is associated with.
  • a first set of user interfaces may be available to one or more of a first plurality of users or user groups associated with a first wind turbine fleet
  • a second set of user interfaces may be available to one or more of a second plurality of users or user groups associated with a second wind turbine fleet different from the first wind turbine fleet.
  • the first wind turbine fleet comprises a first plurality of wind turbine groups, with each such group comprising one or more wind turbines different from the other groups in the first plurality of wind turbine groups.
  • the second wind turbine fleet comprises a second plurality of wind turbine groups, with each such group comprising one or more wind turbines different from the other groups in the second plurality of wind turbine groups.
  • a method and system of caching wind turbine-related data on client devices for access and/or display to a user via a graphical user interface such as, for example, a web browser.
  • the pieces of wind turbine-related data that may be accessed and/or displayed via the graphical user interface may be in the tens or hundreds of pieces, and which may need to be refreshed or updated at regular or irregular time intervals to reflect changes in the state, operating condition, settings and/or parameters of a corresponding wind turbine.
  • a client-side cache is used to store visual data and other information related to a plurality of settings and parameters for a wind turbine that a particular client device is connected to and/or from which the client device is receiving information via a computer server.
  • a consolidated request is formed by aggregating wind turbine-related data. Pieces of data of the same type that are needed by multiple screens are consolidated into a single request for the same type of data.
  • the client-side cache may filter out requests for wind turbine- related data that is already known to the client-side session on the client device and which is not as yet stale or due for a refresh.
  • the client-side caching method makes use of software-based widgets and widget controllers available on or to the client device to aggregate data at certain time intervals so that client device requests for wind-turbine related data can be made to the computer server as consolidated requests.
  • a consolidated request is formed by aggregating wind turbine-related data across a plurality of screens or pages available to a user via the web browser or other graphical user interface.
  • a software refresh component on the client device when a client device request is initiated seeking wind turbine- related data for one or more wind turbines, a software refresh component on the client device generates an aggregated list of variables identified as being in need of refreshed data.
  • the refresh component may check with the client-side cache to filter out any variables in the list concerning pieces of data that are already known to the client-side cache and which are not as yet stale or due for a refresh. If after this filtering process there remain one or more variables in the aggregated list of variables, the refresh component initiates sending the client device request to the computer server, which retrieves and returns to the client device the necessary pieces of wind turbine-related data from a server-side cache if available and not stale or from the applicable wind turbine. Otherwise, the refresh component proceeds to a data refresh stage in which the information presented on the screens available through the graphical user interface displayed on the client device are refreshed locally based on the wind turbine-related data stored in the client-side cache.
  • a method and system of exchanging data and control signals with at least a portion of a wind turbine network comprising a plurality of wind turbines.
  • operational data is transferred from a plurality of wind turbines to an information management server operative to manage access and control over the plurality of wind turbines and then stored in a database in operative communication with the information management server.
  • Transfer of the operational data from the plurality of wind turbines to the information management server occurs via a virtual private network (“VPN") connection created by a VPN concentrator server to operatively connect a plurality of client devices with the plurality of wind turbines via the information management server.
  • VPN virtual private network
  • a separate VPN connection is established with the information management server for each wind turbine that the information management server is in communication with.
  • a VPN connection is established by the VPN concentrator server, part or all of the operational data for a wind turbine may be transferred from the wind turbine to the information management server, where the data may be stored, cached and/or forwarded on to one or more client devices for display thereon in response to specific client device requests from those one or more client devices.
  • instructions from one or more client devices to control or change one or more features of a wind turbine can be communicated to the applicable wind turbine via a VPN connection established with that wind turbine by the VPN concentrator server.
  • Another aspect provides a system for managing a plurality of wind turbines, each wind turbine having a local controller.
  • the system comprises an authorization data store for storing permission data for the plurality of wind turbines.
  • the permission data comprises, for each wind turbine, one or more authorized user profiles, each authorized user profile associated with an authorization level for that wind turbine.
  • the system further comprises a central server system in communication with the local controllers of the wind turbines through a private network.
  • the central server system is configured to receive a plurality of wind turbine access requests from a plurality of client devices through a public network, each wind turbine access request including a user profile and an indication specifying one or more particular wind turbines of the plurality of wind turbines.
  • the central server system is configured to query the authorization data store with the user profile to determine an authorization level for each of the one or more particular wind turbines for the user profile, and provide the client device with a level of access to the one or more particular wind turbines specified in the wind turbine access request based on the determined authorization levels.
  • Another aspect provides a method for managing a plurality of wind turbines, each wind turbine having a local controller.
  • the method comprises storing permission data for the plurality of wind turbines in an authorization data store accessible to a central server system, the permission data comprising, for each wind turbine, one or more authorized user profiles, each authorized user profile associated with an authorization level for that wind turbine, receiving, at the central server system, a plurality of wind turbine access requests from a plurality of client devices through a public network, each wind turbine access request including a user profile and an indication specifying one or more particular wind turbines of the plurality of wind turbines, and, for each wind turbine access request, querying the authorization data store with the user profile to determine an authorization level for each of the one or more particular wind turbines for the user profile, and providing the client device with a level of access to the one or more particular wind turbines specified in the wind turbine access request based on the determined authorization levels through a private network between the central server system and the local controllers.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system for accessing and managing a plurality of wind turbines via a network in accordance with a first embodiment
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram of an illustrative computer server in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative client device in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figures 4A to 4C are block diagrams illustrating tables for use in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figures 5A to 5C are block diagrams each illustrating a set of associations in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating a resulting set of permissions (filtered and unfiltered) managed in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figure 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for managing access and control over a plurality of wind turbines in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figure 8 is another flowchart of an exemplary method of managing access and control over a plurality of wind turbines in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figure 9 is another flowchart of an exemplary method of managing access and control over a plurality of wind turbines in accordance with the first embodiment
  • Figures 10A to 10G are diagrams illustrating exemplary user screens in accordance with the some embodiments.
  • Figures 1 1 A to 1 1 E are diagrams illustrating exemplary user screens displayed via a mobile device in accordance with the some embodiments
  • Figure 12 is a block diagram of a system for accessing and managing a plurality of wind turbines via a network in accordance with another embodiment
  • Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating components of a client-side caching method in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 14 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of one aspect of client-side caching in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 15 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of another aspect of client-side caching in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 16 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of another aspect of client-side caching in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 17 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of another aspect of client-side caching in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 18 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary user screen in accordance with the some embodiments.
  • Figure 19 is a diagram illustrating in a table a variety of widget features available from the user screen shown in Figure 18 in accordance with the some embodiments;
  • Figure 20 is a detailed view of a server system operable to implement various aspects of the present invention in some embodiments.
  • Figure 21 is a high level schematic view of a network system architecture and illustrating information flows between elements of the system as used in some embodiments;
  • Figure 22 is a schematic view of a VPN concentrator configuration for directing traffic flows between elements of the system in some embodiments
  • Figure 23 depicts a flowchart illustrating a load balancer monitoring routine used in some embodiments;
  • Figures 24A and 24B depict a flowchart illustrating an I/O request and read request handling routine implemented in some embodiments;
  • Figure 25 depicts a flowchart illustrating a write request handling routine implemented by the system in some embodiments.
  • a system for supporting access to and management of a plurality of wind turbines via a network in accordance with a first embodiment is shown generally at 100 (also referred to herein as a wind turbine management system).
  • the system 100 includes a computer server system 102 operative to communicate with a plurality of wind turbines 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 via network 1 10, and a plurality of cl ient devices 1 14, 1 16, 1 1 8 and 120 via network 1 12.
  • the computer server system 102 comprises one or more computer servers 138 operative to support various tasks as described herein in connection with the management of communications with and control over the plurality of wind turbines.
  • a single computer server is used that is configured to support multiple software server entities programmed to provide the various tasks described herein.
  • network 1 10 is a private network such as a virtual private network
  • network 1 12 is a public network such as the Internet.
  • the computer server system 102 communicates with wind turbines (such as 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109) over the private network 1 10 via a wired network connection or a plurality of network connections, some wired and some wireless.
  • the computer server system 102 communicates with remote client devices (such as 1 14, 1 16, 1 1 8 and 120) over public network 1 12 via a wired network connection or a plurality of network connections, some wired and some wireless.
  • each computer server 138 includes one or more processors for executing instructions, memory for storing instructions and data, and an input/output interface (I/O) to provide the computer server a mechanism for interfacing with various devices.
  • Each computer server is configurable to perform the applicable operations described herein by programming the applicable one or more processors.
  • a processor may include one or more processing units.
  • Memory is used to embody one or more computer programs or sets of computer-readable instructions for use with the processor.
  • Memory may include random access memory (RAM), one or more storage devices, one or more computer readable media, or a combination thereof.
  • the I/O interface includes a network interface such as a network interface card having an input/output for connection to the one or more networks, such as networks 1 12 and 1 14, and through which communications are conducted with wind turbines and client devices.
  • client device 1 14 is a laptop computer
  • client device 1 1 6 is a personal computer
  • client device 1 18 is a smartphone
  • client device 120 is a tablet such as an iPad.
  • client devices 1 14, 1 16, 1 18 and 120 may be any form of personal computing device capable of connecting a user to a network including a workstation, a personal computer, a MacBookTM, a ChromebookTM, a tablet, a web book, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, an internet set top box, personal video recorder (“PVR”) or gaming system in communication with a television or display device, or any other computing device capable of connecting a user to a network and providing the user with a graphical user interface (such as, for example, a web browser or web enabled application) with which to send and receive data and instructions.
  • Other such devices which may provide such an interface for a user may include a web-enabled wall or table or a web-enabled watch.
  • client device 1 14 Referring to Figures 1 and 3, an illustrative embodiment of client device 1 14 is shown.
  • the first client device 1 14 includes a processor 1 14A, memory 1 14B, an input/output interface (I/O) 1 14C and a display 1 14D.
  • the I/O interface includes a network interface such as a network interface card having an input/output for connection to the one or more networks, including network 1 12, and through which communications are conducted with the computer server system 102.
  • the network interface enables a wired connection to network 1 12 but in other embodiments, the network interface may enable a wireless connection such as, by way of example, a Wi-FiTM, WiMax or cellular connection.
  • Computer-readable instructions for directing the processor to carry out various functions are stored in the memory, which may include program memory.
  • client device 1 14 is configured to provide a user, via the computer server system 102, with a certain level of access to a wind turbine, certain wind turbine-related data associated with that wind turbine or both, based on a user profile associated with that user and stored and managed by the computer server system 102.
  • wind turbines 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 each include one or more wind turbine controllers, such as controllers 104B, 105B, 106B, 107B, 108B and 109B, operative to communicate with the computer server system 102 and to communicate with sensors 104C, 105C, 106C, 1 07C, 108C and 109C on the applicable wind turbines.
  • controllers 104B, 105B, 106B, 107B, 108B and 109B are operative to change and control a plurality of settings and parameters that manage and control the state and operating condition of the applicable wind turbines.
  • Sensors 104C, 105C, 106C, 107C, 108C and 109C are operative to detect one or more wind turbine state and operating conditions at various time intervals dependent on the one or more conditions being monitored by a particular sensor according to its sensor function.
  • each of wind turbines 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 include a large array of sensors for detecting hundreds of various conditions and states associated with the applicable wind turbines and controllers 104B, 105B, 106B, 107B, 108B and 109B are operative to monitor those various conditions and states and to control and change the state and condition of an applicable wind turbine according to one or more of the hundreds of conditions and states monitored.
  • Wind turbine-related data collected by the system 102 from the wind turbines may be stored and managed locally or remotely via a database or database system 1 34.
  • a method of monitoring and controlling a plurality of wind turbines via a network wherein the plurality of wind turbines are represented by wind turbines 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 and the network is represented by networks 1 10 and 1 12.
  • Different levels of access and control are permitted by the computer server system 102 with respect to the plurality of wind turbines for a variety of users amongst a variety of user groups. This provides a mechanism for managing what actions users are able to perform and what information they are able to see and manipulate in association the plurality of wind turbines.
  • wind turbines are organized and managed by the computer server system 102 according to a plurality of access and control groups, with each of the access and control groups providing for a configurable level of access and control over one or more of the wind turbines associated with the applicable access and control group.
  • the computer server system 102 acts as an information management server or information management system which may be configured to provide different levels of access and control over individual wind turbines, over groups of wind turbines and over subgroups of such groups.
  • Each access and control group corresponds to at least one wind turbine connected to system 102 via network 1 10 and in various embodiments one or more access and control groups may comprise tens or hundreds of wind turbines or more.
  • users are assigned user profiles within the system 102, and through those user profiles may be assigned to one or more of the access and control groups.
  • a user profile When a user profile is assigned to an access and control group, it is also assigned one or more levels of access and control to all wind turbines associated with such access and control group.
  • the system 102 also supports the assignment of a user profi le directly to one or more wind turbines, in which case the user profile is assigned a configurable level of access and control to those one or more wind turbines to which the user profile is directly assigned.
  • Data related to the various levels of access and control is also referred to herein as authorization data. This authorization data is stored and managed via a database or database system 136, which is in communication with and/or part of the computer server system 102.
  • Figures 4A to 4C provide, by way of example, illustrative tables that may be used in the first embodiment, wherein there are six wind turbines 160 (104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 from Figure 1) accessible via system 102, four access and control groups 162 ( Figure 4B - first, second, third and fourth turbine groups Gl , G2, G3 and G4) and six configurable levels of access and control 164 permitted amongst wind turbines that may be assigned to user profiles. In some embodiments only four or five configurable levels of access and control are provided. In other embodiments more than six configurable levels of access and control may be provided.
  • the six configurable levels of access and control 164 provide certain users with different levels of permitted access and control over a configurable number of wind turbines depending on the corresponding user profiles of those users as shown in Figure 4C.
  • the scope of authorization to access and/or control wind turbines, user profiles and permissions available to each six configurable levels of access and control are summarized in Table 1 below.
  • Guest Monitor basic operational data related to a wind turbine; cannot control or make changes to the wind turbine; no permission control over groups or other user profiles
  • Operator Monitor detailed operational data related to a wind turbine; can stop/start turbine and acknowledge shutdowns or resume operation after transient faults, optionally may not make any other changes to the wind turbine or otherwise control wind turbine; optionally cannot make changes to any or select settings or parameters; no permission control over groups or other user profiles
  • Can change maintenance functions and statistics for any wind turbines in a group e.g. grid frequency expected by the turbine, the point at which the turbine shuts down due to high wind speeds; may also reset statistics, e.g. the number of times the turbine has connected to the grid or the number of times the brakes have been applied)
  • Admin Full access to and control of wind turbines and user permissions across all access and control groups associated with this Admin
  • a select user profile assigned a Guest level of permission for a select wind turbine in a select access and control group is authorized to monitor basic operational data generated by the select wind turbine (e.g. turbine identifier or ID, turbine operating status (generating/freewheeling/waiting for wind/shut down), turbine rotor RPM, wind speed, power being generated, energy produced, active fault conditions and various other wind turbine-related data), but cannot control or make changes to the configuration of the select wind turbine or its operation.
  • basic operational data generated by the select wind turbine e.g. turbine identifier or ID, turbine operating status (generating/freewheeling/waiting for wind/shut down), turbine rotor RPM, wind speed, power being generated, energy produced, active fault conditions and various other wind turbine-related data
  • An Observer level of permission for the select wind turbine provides the select user profile with all of the access and control permitted a Guest level of permission and additionally makes available further operational data which may be related, for example, to current grid operating conditions (voltage, frequency), current temperatures (inside the nacelle, outside the nacelle, generator, and gearbox oil), and/or statistics (occurrences of grid faults and excessive current shutdowns, number of times the brakes have been applied, number of times the turbine has connected to the grid).
  • An Operator level of permission for the select wind turbine provides the select user profile with all of the access and control permitted an Observer level of permission and additionally permits a user with the authorized user profile to stop or start the select wind turbine and/or acknowledge shutdowns thereof via the system 102.
  • a Maintenance level of permission for the select wind turbine may provide the select user profile with all of the access and control permitted an Operator level of permission and may additionally permit a user with the select Maintenance level user profile to change maintenance- related functions and statistics (e.g. reset the number of braking events logged once the brake pads have been changed; change shutdown setpoints related to wind speed and temperature).
  • An Admin (Tier Two) level of permission provides the select user profile with all of the access and control permitted a Maintenance level of permission and additionally permits a user with the Admin (Tier Two) level user profile to control which user profiles are permitted Guest, Observer or Operator level access and control (each a subordinate level of permission) to one or more particular wind turbines within the access and control group for which that user profile has an Admin (Tier Two) level of permission.
  • the Admin (Tier Two) level user profile is also provided with the ability to create, modify and/or delete links associating all wind turbines within the same Admin (Tier Two) domain to any user profile having a level of permission of Guest, Observer, Operator or Maintenance.
  • specific user profiles assigned a level of permission by an Admin (Tier One) level user profile in association with one or more wind turbines within one or more access and control groups may be locked to prevent that level of permission for any such specific user profiles from being modified by an Admin (Tier Two) level user profile.
  • additional levels of Admin tiers may be provided.
  • wind turbines are grouped according to this method in order to provide a dealer-level group access and control over a subset of wind turbines for which only a select dealer is responsible for at a dealer level of operations. This is done by assigning a dealer with an Admin (Tier Two) level user profile associated with all wind turbines within the group of wind turbines for which the dealer is responsible.
  • Admin Tier Two
  • FIG. 1 there is shown in operation the method 200 of providing for multi-level access and control across a variety of different wind turbine groups and a plurality of different user groups via system 102.
  • a plurality of wind turbines are assigned at block 202 by the system 102 to a plurality of access and control groups 170 via a first computer server (e.g. 138).
  • a first set of wind turbines may be assigned to a first turbine group (Gl ) and a second set of wind turbines may be assigned to a second turbine group (G2), wherein the first turbine group comprises associations with one or more wind turbines different from the wind turbines associated with the second turbine group.
  • a plurality of user groups are associated via the system 1 02 with the plurality of access and control groups according to a plurality of user profiles managed via the first computer server 138, wherein each user within each plurality of user groups is assigned a user profile permitting a configurable level of access and control to one or more of the plurality of wind turbines.
  • a first group of users is associated with the first turbine group
  • a second group of users is associated with the second turbine group
  • a third group of users may be associated with all or select subsets of both the first and second turbine groups.
  • a first subset of users from amongst the first group of users is associated at block 204 with a different level of access and control to one or more of the first set of wind turbines as compared to a second subset of users from amongst the first group of users associated with the first turbine group.
  • many different users within a group of users (such as the first group of users) will have different levels of access and control assigned to their user profiles in connection with one or more wind turbines.
  • the system 102 receives via the first computer server 138 a plurality of client device requests associated with the plurality of wind turbines from the plurality of client devices at varying time intervals.
  • the system 102 determines a user-specific level of access and control over wind turbine resources for each of the plurality of client device requests based on which of the plurality of user profiles is associated with the plurality of client device requests.
  • wind turbine resources may include data and instructions for monitoring and controlling the wind turbine including turning a wind turbine on, shutting the wind turbine down, and monitoring and adjusting settings and parameters related to the operation of the wind turbine.
  • the system 102 For each of the plurality of client devices associated with the client device requests, the system 102 provides at block 208 a select level of access and control to one or more of the plurality of wind turbines based upon and configured to an applicable user profile selected from the plurality of user profiles and associated with an applicable client device selected from the plurality of client devices. This may include at block 208 retrieving and transmitting to the applicable client device user-centric data and instructions responsive to a corresponding client device request selected from the plurality of client device requests. The user-centric data and instructions are configured to cause the applicable client device to display on a user interface only features of one or more of the plurality of wind turbines that are associated with the user- identified level of access and control available to the applicable user profile.
  • FIG. 5B, 5C and 6 The use of a plurality of access and control groups in conjunction with various levels of access and control associated with user profiles are illustrated by way of example in Figures 5B, 5C and 6.
  • Lindsay is a typical dealer and accordingly has the Admin (Tier Two) level of access and control assigned to her user profile for all wind turbines in the first turbine group;
  • Bob is a typical wind turbine owner, having the Observer level of access and control to only his wind turbine;
  • Sam is a special, multi-access user; he acts as maintenance staff for the first turbine group and therefore has been assigned the Maintenance level of level of access and control to his user profile for the first turbine group; he also has been contracted to keep watch over the wind turbine fleet of the second turbine group, and in this capacity he has been assigned the more limited Observer level of access and control to the second turbine group.
  • Sam has been given special permission to attempt to fix a problem identified with one wind turbine (T2) within the second turbine group, and for this purpose his user profile has been assigned the Operator level of access and control to the one wind turbine (T2) so that he can perform basic operations (e.g. start/stop) on the applicable wind turbine in an effort to see if he can fix the operation of that wind turbine.
  • Sam can also clear transient faults; i.e. acknowledge that a grid fault condition occurred and start the applicable wind turbine if the grid fault condition has since resolved itself.
  • user profiles may be linked or associated 218 with a select level of access and control to one or more wind turbines by a wind turbine dealer or representative having an Admin (Tier Two) level user profile.
  • the dealer accesses 220 through the system 102 a list of turbines accessible to the dealer under that dealer's Admin (Tier Two) level user profile from a client device. From the l ist of turbines, the dealer selects 222 a wind turbine and accesses a permissions list associated with the selected wind turbine.
  • the permissions list for the selected wind turbine is retrieved 224 by the system 102 and a list of user profiles is displayed on the client device identifying which users have a level of access and control to the selected wind turbine and their respective level of access and control.
  • the dealer may then request, via the system 102, the addition 226 of a new link associating the selected wind turbine to a user profile having a certain level of access and control or the removal 228 of one or more links between the selected wind turbine and existing user profiles that already have access and control to the selected wind turbine.
  • a dealer may also cancel 229 an existing invitation to add a link associating a user profile with a wind turbine at a certain level of access and control.
  • an email address associated with that user profile is retrieved 230 and an email invite is then sent 232 to that email address for acceptance so that the additional of the new link between the selected wind turbine and the applicable user profile can be confirmed 234.
  • a link generated by the system 102 appears which, when clicked or otherwise activated 236, checks to see if the associated user profile is available 238 and if so, logs in 240 to the system 102 using that user profile to confirm that the user profile then has a new level of access and control over the selected wind turbine.
  • the user is prompted to create an account 241 for the associated user profi le.
  • the user authorization can be filtered according to the higher level of access and control available to that user where such higher level incorporates the range of access and control of the lower level authorization.
  • user profiles may also be linked in a similar way by an Admin (Tier One) level user profile.
  • the level of access and control that may be permitted for user profiles by an Admin (Tier One) level user profile may be blocked in whole or in part so that the Admin (Tier Two) level user profile has more autonomous or semi- autonomous control over the applicable access and control group and the wind turbines associated therewith.
  • FIG. 10A An exemplary set of user screens that may be displayed on a client device are shown for illustration purposes in Figures 10A, 10B, I OC, 10D, 10E, 10F and 1 0G.
  • User screens 242, 244 and 246 shown in Figures 1 0A, 1 0B and I OC represent illustrative forms of control screens for which authorized users having an appropriate level of access and control associated with an applicable wind turbine (in this example identified as "My Turbine”) may view and control various control features associated with the applicable wind turbine and may change various settings and parameters related to the applicable wind turbine.
  • My Turbine an appropriate level of access and control associated with an applicable wind turbine
  • the applicable wind turbine may be started or shutdown (242A), the wind turbine configuration may be set (242B), a maintenance mode for the wind turbine may be activated (242C), various email configuration information may be set (244A), dealer VPN settings may be established (244B) and/or various temperature thresholds (246 A) may be set that may be associated with automatically shutting down the wind turbine and/or setting off alarms that may be communicated to one or more users via the system 1 02.
  • User screens 248 and 250 shown in Figures 1 0D and 10E represent illustrative forms of monitoring screens for which authorized users having an appropriate level of access and control associated with an applicable wind turbine may view various features associated with the applicable wind turbine, including its state, settings and condition.
  • an authorized user may view energy production and consumption data (248A), data related to the turbine speed (248B), data related to wind conditions at the wind turbine site (248C), data related to power conditions (248D), data (250A) related to the temperature (of components of the wind turbine and/or the outside air), the availability of the wind turbine and/or a yaw system for the wind turbine, and/or data (250B) related to the braking system for the wind turbine, contractor cycles and/or shutdowns.
  • User screen 252 shown in Figure 10F represents an illustrative form of basic user screen by which authorized users may view basic information (252A, 252B) related to the power production and wind speed associated with the wind turbine, along with other general data relating to the state and operation of the wind turbine (252C).
  • User screen 254 shown in Figure 10G represents an illustrative form of administrative screen for which authorized users having an appropriate Admin level of access and control associated with a plurality of wind turbines may select and deselect (254A) one or more wind turbine groups so as to have easy access to the wind turbines related to the selected wind turbine groups in a list view (254C).
  • an authorized user may also select and deselect (254B) a variety of wind turbine states, which may be used to filter out which wind turbines from the groups selected in 254A are displayed in the list view 254C.
  • the users screens shown in the foregoing figures are meant to be displayed on a client device having a display footprint sufficient to allow a user to easily read the information displayed, for example via a personal computer, a laptop or a tablet.
  • Smaller devices such as smartphones and some small tablet-like devices, provide less visual area on which a graphical user interface may be displayed making it potentially challenging or impractical to display user screens formatted for a larger format display area.
  • FIG. 1 A, 1 I B, 1 1 C, 1 I D and 1 I E there are shown an exemplary set of user screens (256, 258, 260, 262, 264) associated with accessing and controlling information related to and features of one or more wind turbines, wherein the user screens are configured to be displayed on a small format client device such as a smartphone.
  • a small format client device such as a smartphone.
  • User screen 256 shown in Figure 1 1A represents an illustrative form of administrative screen for which an authorized user may view and have access to a plurality of wind turbines displayed in a list view (256A) for easy navigation.
  • summary operational data relating to each wind turbine in the list may also be displayed in an overview format as illustrated.
  • User screen 258 represents an illustrative form of control screen displayed on a mobile client device for which authorized users having an appropriate level of access and control associated with an applicable wind turbine may view and control various control features associated with the applicable wind turbine and may change various settings and parameters related to the applicable wind turbine.
  • the control screen is configured 258A to allow for control over starting and stopping a wind turbine and enabling a maintenance mode.
  • User screen 260 represents an illustrative form of screen displayed on the mobile client device with which an authorized user may monitor various operational data and conditions associated with an applicable wind turbine.
  • the screen 260 displayed is configured 260A to present energy-related data as well as data related to wind conditions, turbine speed and turbine power.
  • the exemplary screen 260 also displays an active alert 260B to the user indicating that there is an alarm condition on the applicable wind turbine, If the user selects the active alert notification 260B displayed, the user may be presented with more detailed notification information relating to the alarm condition.
  • this notification information 262A may be displayed on an alarm screen 262 such as illustrated in Figure 1 ID, which by way of example identifies a yaw control problem with the applicable wind turbine.
  • User screen 264 represents an illustrative form of control screen displayed on the mobile client device through which an authorized user may view 264A yaw drive-related information for a wind turbine and control 264B the yaw drive for that wind turbine.
  • the system 282 can be configured to support segregated access and control of a plurality of different and unrelated wind turbine fleets.
  • the system 282 can be configured to support a segregated level of access and control over two or more segregated and distinct wind turbine fleets which may comprise a first plurality of turbine groups and a second plurality of turbine groups, wherein the first plurality of turbine groups comprises at least two distinct wind turbine groups each associated with one or more wind turbines, and wherein the second plurality of turbine groups comprises at least two other distinct wind turbine groups each associated with one or more other wind turbines.
  • two separate private networks are managed by the computer server system 282 to communicate separately with the two different pluralities of turbine groups.
  • two separate sets of databases are maintained via the system 282 for the respective pluralities of turbine groups.
  • a wind turbine-related data database 286A and an authorization database 286B are maintained for the first plural ity of turbine groups separately from a wind turbine-related data database 288A and an authorization database 288B that are maintained for the second plurality of turbine groups.
  • authorization and wind turbine-related data for the first and second pluralities of turbine groups could be stored in separate portions of the same database.
  • Authorized users of one of the wind turbine fleets may be permitted access and/or control over applicable wind turbines within an applicable one of the segregated wind turbine fleets via system 282.
  • At least two Admin (Tier One) level user profiles are provided for, including a first Admin (Tier One) level user profile assigned to the first plurality of turbine groups and a second Admin (Tier One) level user profile assigned to the second plurality of turbine groups.
  • the first Admin (Tier One) level user profile has top level access and control to only those wind turbines within the first plurality of turbine groups, and may only receive limited (if any) access and control to one or more wind turbines within the second plurality of turbine groups with the permission of the second Admin (Tier One) level user profile.
  • the second Admin (Tier One) level user profile has top level access and control to only those wind turbines within the second plurality of turbine groups, and may only receive limited (if any) access and control to one or more wind turbines within the first plurality of turbine groups with the permission of the first Admin (Tier One) level user profile.
  • the system 102 supports, for example, the concurrent yet segmented access to and management of competing or different suppl iers of wind turbines, having optionally different types of wind turbines and corresponding operating conditions, with access and control over wind turbines organized according to different lines of dealers within each supplier group.
  • Segregated access and control allows the system 1 02 to support co-branding or rebranding of the system 102 so that the user interfaces and user experiences including the levels of access and control available to be assigned, can differ between separate fleets of wind turbines and/or between separate suppliers of wind turbines and their respective dealer groups.
  • user interfaces can be configured to provide different combinations of display elements and levels of access and control as compared between the respective wind turbine fleets.
  • the wind turbine management system 100 above can comprise a variety of aspects and features to further enhance functionality and flexibility for a multitude of users over access and control of a plurality of wind turbines, in addition to and/or apart from the various aspects and features described above. Furthermore, as with the aspects and features described above with reference to the earlier embodiments, each of the following aspects and features individually provides a beneficial enhancement and is a separate embodiment of the invention. These additional aspects and features are described below.
  • a custom interface is provided for a plurality of wind turbines in networked communication with the computer server system 102. This allows for different user interfaces and user experiences to be presented to client devices based on which wind turbine fleet a user profile and/or a wind turbine is associated with.
  • a first set of user interfaces may be available to one or more of a first plurality of users or user groups associated with a first wind turbine fleet
  • a second set of user interfaces may be available to one or more of a second plurality of users or user groups associated with a second wind turbine fleet different from the first wind turbine fleet.
  • the first wind turbine fleet comprises a first plurality of wind turbine groups, with each such group comprising one or more wind turbines different from the other groups in the first plurality of wind turbine groups.
  • the second wind turbine fleet comprises a second plurality of wind turbine groups, with each such group comprising one or more wind turbines different from the other groups in the second plurality of wind turbine groups.
  • the system 102 can be used to cause the first set of user interfaces to provide a first set of authorized users with a set of features and functionality, including levels of access and control, configured to one or more groups of wind turbines within the first wind turbine fleet, and which may be further configured to a display format and level of access and control customized to one or more dealers and/or suppliers of wind turbines within the first wind turbine fleet.
  • the system 102 can also be used to cause the second set of user interfaces to provide a second set of authorized users with a second set of features and functionality, including levels of access and control, configured to one or more groups of wind turbines within the second wind turbine fleet, and which may be further configured to a display format and level of access and control customized to one or more dealers and/or suppliers of wind turbines within the second wind turbine fleet.
  • the system 102 can be adapted to provide a plurality of interface servers comprising a first interface server configured to support the management of access and control of the first wind turbine fleet through the first set of user interfaces and a second interface server configured to support the management of access and control of the second wind turbine fleet through the second set of user interfaces, with each of the plurality of interface servers having a respective unique network address for communication with the respective wind turbine fleet and/or with users of the respective wind turbine fleet.
  • system 102 may be configured to handle wind turbine resource requests forwarded from any of the plurality of interface servers and may furthermore process such wind turbine resource requests and provide custom access and control over one or more wind turbines within the wind turbine fleet for which an applicable one of the plurality of interface servers is configured to support.
  • the computer server system 102 acting as a central server, may receive a resource request from one of the plurality of interface servers in communication with the central server, with the resource request including an originating network address associated with the interface server from which the resource request originated, wherein the interface server is associated with user interfaces configured for users of and/or wind turbines making up the first wind turbine fleet.
  • the system 102 may be configured to identify a set of user interface instructions for a custom user interface selected from the first set of user interfaces and associated with the originating network address.
  • the set of user interface instructions may be transferred by the system 102 to a client device in communication with one or more wind turbines within the first wind turbine fleet, to enable the client device to display a custom graphical user interface based on the corresponding set of user interface instructions and to provide via that graphical user interface a custom level of access and control over the one or more wind turbines within the first wind turbine fleet, which custom level of access and control is adapted to the type and configuration of wind turbines making up the first wind turbine fleet.
  • the system 102 may also receive a second resource request from another one of the plurality of interface servers (e.g.
  • the system 102 may be configured to identify a second set of user interface instructions for a second custom user interface selected from the second set of user interfaces and associated with the second originating network address.
  • the second set of user interface instructions may be transferred by the system 102 to a second client device in communication with one or more wind turbines within the second wind turbine fleet, to enable the second client device to display a second custom graphical user interface based on the corresponding second set of user interface instructions and to provide via that graphical user interface a second custom level of access and control over the one or more wind turbines within the second wind turbine fleet, which second custom level of access and control is adapted to the type and configuration of wind turbines making up the second wind turbine fleet.
  • a custom interface or set of interfaces associated with a first wind turbine fleet may be identified or specified on a server in communication with the system 102 by a port to which client device requests are made, allowing for a custom form of user interface to be displayed for authorized users having access to one or more wind turbines in the first wind turbine fleet.
  • different portals or sites with different user interfaces and corresponding user experiences may be supported, wherein different IP addresses are associated with corresponding portals or sites so that the server may manage communications between client devices associated with one site and a set of wind turbines from the first turbine fleet separately from communications between client devices related to a second site and another set of wind turbines from a second wind turbine fleet.
  • a first custom user interface may be displayed to users associated with the first wind turbine fleet, which interface is different from a second custom user interface that may be displayed to users associated with the second wind turbine fleet.
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • the GUI is configured on a client device to make one or more screens available to a user through which the user can interact with one or more wind turbines via system 102 or, where authorized, directly with one or more wind turbines via network connection.
  • Some users have limited levels of access and control to wind turbines (e.g. Guest or Observer levels of users) while other users by contrast have broader levels of access and control (e.g. Operator, Maintenance and Admin levels).
  • wind turbine-related data In various cases, users of many or all types will have access of a variety of wind turbine-related data through a plurality of user screens accessible through and displayed via their web browsers on applicable client devices.
  • the range of wind turbine-related data that may be presented to a user via one or more user screens on a web browser can be significant, and easily amount to tens or hundreds of pieces of wind turbine-related data or more.
  • various forms of data can be very time sensitive whereas other forms of data may be less time sensitive or not time sensitive at all.
  • a client-side cache is used to store visual data and other information related to a multitude of settings and parameters for a wind turbine that a particular client device is connected to and/or from which the client device is receiving information via the computer server system 102.
  • the caching method 300 makes use of software-based widgets 302 and widget controllers 304 available on or to the client device to aggregate data at certain time intervals so that client device requests for wind-turbine related data can be made to the system 102 as consolidated requests.
  • the time interval may be about every 2 seconds. Alternatively, the time interval may be configurable and/or may be set for a shorter or longer time interval depending on how relatively real-time a refreshed version of the wind turbine-related data is to be presented to a user via a client device.
  • a widget is a graphical display tool that is used to display via a web browser or other GU I certain information on the screen of the client device.
  • Software controllers 304 are a data processing and calculation tool, configured to, through the client device, process various forms of wind turbine-related data and produce data that is presentable to a user on the user screen via widgets or to prepare data entered by widgets to be written to the turbine (e.g. removing extraneous commas from numbers).
  • a software controller may take the fact that the power meter for a wind turbine is reading 800 kW and a flag saying power meter is invalid to then set power read to "— " for display.
  • Software controllers can also populate flags used by widgets. For instance, a flag saying that someone has indicated that they are maintaining an applicable wind turbine can be aggregated into a flag saying the Turbine Start button should be disabled.
  • a consolidated request is formed by aggregating wind turbine-related data across the currently visible screen or page and for historic widgets whether or not the screen for those historic widgets is currently displayed on the client device. Pieces of data of the same type that are needed by multiple screens are consolidated into a single request for the same type of data.
  • the client-side cache 306 may also filter out requests for wind turbine-related data that is already known to the client-side session on the client device and which is not as yet stale or due for a refresh.
  • a widget refresh component 308 running on a client device finds, at predetermined intervals, all visible widgets 320 and all historic widgets 322 (i.e. widgets that don't exist on the screen or page that is currently open and displayed on the client device but that rely on trended data to remain current - for example graphs) available on a client device (e.g. 1 14) in association with the current user profile for the user logged into the system 102 through the client device.
  • the widget refresh component 308 is a JavaScript or other programming script operating in cooperation with web browser of the client device.
  • the widgets associated with a user profile are based on the level of access and control available to the current user profile.
  • the predetermined intervals are about every 2 seconds, although longer or shorter intervals may be used.
  • the visible widgets and historic widgets are aggregated 324 in a list, and then for each such widget in the aggregated list the widget refresh component 308 checks 326 to see if that widget specifies any variables in need of data from one or more wind turbines. If the answer at 326 is NO, processing proceeds to 330, If the answer at 326 is YES, then the refresh component 308 appends 328 the variables identified at 326 to a list of variables to be refreshed before proceeding to 330.
  • the refresh component 308 checks to see if the current widget being processed requires one or more widget controllers (304), and if the answer is YES each of the widget controllers are checked 332 for variables in need of data to be refreshed. Any such variables found at 332 are appended 334 to the list of variables to be refreshed. Once all controllers associated with the current widget under review have been checked for variables in this manner, the widget refresh component 308 proceeds to the next widget to check at 326, and processing continues in this way until all widgets in the aggregated list of widgets have been processed.
  • the widget refresh component 308 may be invoked to generate an aggregated list of widgets from which to generate an aggregated list of variables in need of refreshed data, in the manner described above, if the client device request is initiated between the predetermined interval (e.g. in less than 2 seconds from when the interval last occurred).
  • the client device request may not trigger the processing described above, and instead the widget refresh component 308 will rely upon the last aggregated list of variables identified as being in need of refreshed data as was last generated by the refresh component 308 at the rollover of the last predetermined interval.
  • the refresh component 308 may check 336 with the client-side cache 306 to filter out any of the variables in the list concerning one or more pieces of data that are already known to the client- side cache 306 and which are not as yet stale or due for a refresh.
  • the widget refresh component 3 10 initiates sending 338 the client device request to the computer server system 102, which retrieves and returns to the client device the necessary pieces of wind turbine-related data from a server-side cache if available and not stale or from the applicable wind turbine. Otherwise, the refresh component 310 proceeds to a data refresh stage 380 ( Figure 17) in which the information presented on the screens available through the web browser are refreshed locally based on the wind turbine-related data stored in the client-side cache 306. In various embodiments, this includes having widgets are refreshed locally based on the wind turbine- related data stored in the client-side cache 306.
  • the computer server system 102 receives and processes 340 client device requests for refreshed data such as the one described above. Such client requests include a payload identifying a consolidated list of variables for which refreshed data is needed. In various embodiments, the system 102 checks 342 to see if an applicable client device request has been made by an authorized user before al lowing the request to be processed.
  • the system 102 may check 344 each variable in the consolidated list of variables to see if that variable has fresh data currently available from a server-side cache to which the system 102 may be in communication, and if it does, then that fresh data is retrieved from the server-side cache and appended 346 to a list of fresh data to be returned to the client device from which the client device request originated. Any of the variables in the consolidated list of variables that does not have fresh data currently available from the server-side cache is appended 348 to a list of variables to be updated (also referred to as a "refresh update list”) through a server-initiated request 362 to be made by the computer server system 102 to the applicable wind turbine.
  • a list of variables to be updated also referred to as a "refresh update list”
  • the refresh update list is generated until all variables in the consolidated list of variables from the client device request have been processed 350. Where a server-side cache is not used in this manner, the refresh update list may represent the consolidated list of variables.
  • the system 1 02 checks 354 to see if there is an outstanding request to the applicable wind turbine in need of processing, and if the answer is NO, and there are no other requests already waiting 358 to write to the applicable wind turbine, then the refresh update list is cleared (approved) 360 by the system 1 02 to be the next request to be sent to the applicable wind turbine for processing 362. For example, in some embodiments a flag may be set at 360 indicating that a read request should proceed to be sent to the applicable wind turbine to retrieve the data associated with the refresh update list.
  • the system 102 determines that there is at least one outstanding request to the wind turbine at 354 or there is a write request to the applicable wind turbine that is pending at 358, then the system initiates a delay before approving the refresh update list as the next request to be sent to the applicable wind turbine. This provides an opportunity for read requests and write requests that are already outstanding to be processed before a request is sent to the applicable wind turbine to update the current refresh update list.
  • the delay introduced at 356 may be a random delay, while in other embodiments the delay may be a predetermined time period sufficient to provide enough of a delay that notionally a certain number of outstanding read requests and/or write requests can be processed by the applicable wind turbine.
  • the refreshed data received by the client device is populated 382 by the widget refresh component 308 in the client-side cache 306 for quick retrieval.
  • the refresh process 380 is initiated 384 the wind turbine-related data stored in the client-side cache 306 is collected, including both existing, unrefreshed data that was already in the cache 306 and the refreshed data that was received from the server system 102 to populate or repopulate applicable portions of the cache 306.
  • the widget refresh component 308 finds all visible widgets 385 and all historic widgets 386 available on the client device in association with the current user profile for the user logged into the system 102 through that client device.
  • the visible widgets and historic widgets are aggregated 387 in a list, and then for each such widget in the aggregated list the widget refresh component 308 checks 388 to see if that widget requires one or more widget controllers (304). If the answer is YES then each of the widget controllers are checked 389 to see if they require further widget controllers and if the answer is YES then the process sorts 390 through the applicable widget controllers until process-independent widget controllers are processed first. Once the widget controllers associated with a widget are sorted in this way, then for each such widget controller the variables containing the refresh data needed by the applicable widget controller are passed 391 to that widget controller and the widget controller is refreshed 392.
  • This process repeats 393 for each widget controller that an applicable widget requires, until all such widget controllers are refreshed with applicable wind turbine-related data. Once the applicable wind turbine-related data is processed by such widget controllers, the processed data is then passed 394 to the applicable widget 302 by the widget refresh component 308. This process repeats 396 for each widget that needs to be processed with updated/refreshed wind turbine-related data.
  • Figure 18 shows an exemplary control screen displayed to a user on a client device via a web browser, which screen has been marked with references identifying a variety of widgets that provide graphical features in association with the exemplary control screen.
  • Figure 19 shows an enumerated table identifying the function or role of the various widgets displayed on the control screen in Figure 18.
  • information that was read from or written to any of the wind turbines accessible within the system 100 is logged for later review, tracking and maintenance activities.
  • users with a Maintenance level of access and control may also view such logged information, including the user profiles involved in initiating the read and/or write activities on the wind turbines.
  • the information may be logged by the computer server system 102 using database 134 or 136, the applicable wind turbine(s) or both.
  • the computer server system 102 may aggregate and store information about network usage including information with respect to page views, user location, user activities over time and the like.
  • Figure 20 illustrates an example of a server system architecture 400 that may be used in some embodiments of the invention to implement various aspects of the invention. It wi ll be appreciated that the server system depicted in Figure 20 is shown in simplified form, without showing the entire operating environment, and omitting certain supporting elements that will be described below in connection with Figure 21 including a content distribution network (CDN) for unrestricted media, a restricted media store for storing private data, an authorization database and/or a turbine data database, for example.
  • CDN content distribution network
  • the server system 102 may include a backend server 490, at least one load balancing server 402, 403 and a plurality of front-end servers 410, 412, 414.
  • the server system 102 may further include a VPN server 460.
  • the aforesaid servers may be dedicated hardware servers or servers implemented by software, for example, virtual servers, interconnected by a dedicated or shared network. In some embodiments, one or more of the aforesaid servers may be consolidated onto a single physical piece of server hardware.
  • each server is in communication with at least one memory storing computer readable instructions operable to direct a processor to perform the functionality of the respective server, as described herein.
  • a processor may include one or more processing units and may comprise a microprocessor or another suitable processor circuit.
  • a processor may include, for example, a processor circuit, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic controller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or a circuit operable to perform the functionality described herein.
  • the memory may include RAM, DRAM, flash memory, a network accessible database, and/or one or more optical or hard disk drives, for example.
  • the processor is operable to read the instructions from the memory, to read or write data values to and from the at least one memory, and to conduct I/O operations to I/O ports of the server.
  • the I/O ports may include physical or virtual ports for connecting a keyboard, a display, memory or other storage device, and/or for providing a network connection for the server, for example.
  • Figure 21 gives a high-level schematic view of a number of the information flows that may be present in one exemplary system architecture used in some embodiments.
  • Figure 21 shows the server system 102 in its operating environment 500, which may include, for example, a plurality of client devices such as desktop or laptop computers, or mobile Internet devices such as smart phones.
  • the client devices are operable to make requests to read turbine system data from the front-end nodes 502 (e.g., front end servers 410 and 412), and to exercise control over the turbine systems 104, 106, 108 by issuing control commands to the turbine systems or writing values to control registers of individual turbines, for example.
  • Client devices 1 14, 1 16 in such an embodiment have direct access to at least one load balancer 402, 403 and a content distribution network (CDN) for quickly distributing static content such as generic CSS, JavaScript, and image files.
  • CDN content distribution network
  • the front-end nodes 410 will communicate with the client device and the authorization database 136 to authenticate the client device and determine whether the client device is permitted to access the system 400.
  • the front-end server nodes 1 14 will cause a login and password webpage to be displayed on the client device, or will redirect the client device to an authentication server capable of accepting login credentials. If the user of the client device enters a valid login identifier and password, the client device is thereafter permitted to have at least some of its read and write requests handled in accordance with the set of permissions (or level of authorization) associated with the client identifier.
  • the authorization database may associate each client identifier, directly or indirectly, with various sets of permissions (e.g., authorization levels) specifying which turbine systems 104, 106, 108 are visible or accessible to the client, the turbine-specific data or control features that are visible or accessible to the client, and the nature and extent of the operations (e.g., read-only, or read and write access) that are permissible for the client, for each respective turbine system.
  • permissions e.g., authorization levels
  • Read and write requests from client devices are initially passed to a load balancer device 402, which decides which one of a plurality of front-end server nodes will handle the request.
  • the load balancer 402 distributes service requests among the front-end server nodes according to predetermined algorithm, for example, a round robin distribution of requests to respective front-end nodes, or alternatively, may rely on information received regarding the level of load being experienced by the front-end nodes, to determine a least used or least loaded front-end node available to handle the request.
  • the front-end server nodes are configured to determine which load balancer device 402, 403 is making a service request, Based on this information, the front-end server nodes are operable to decide which set of display elements should be presented to the client device.
  • the selected set of display elements is associated with a respective visual theme.
  • the load balancer 402 is operable to decide which visual theme, selected from a plurality of visual themes, should be presented to the client device for display via a graphical user interface (GUI).
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • front-end servers 410, 412, 414 may present a first set of display elements representing a first visual theme to a client device which was authenticated by a server at a first network address, whereas the same front-end servers 410, 412, 414 may present a second set of display elements, presenting a distinct second visual theme to the client device if the client device was authenticated by a server at a second network address.
  • the front-end nodes may identify the originating load balancer 402 for the request by an identifier sent from the load balancer 402, for example, a port identifier uniquely identifying each load balancer 402.
  • a client device may request from the server system a webpage including display elements optional ly based on a combination of unrestricted media (unprotected information) and restricted media (proprietary or protected information).
  • unrestricted media include certain images, JavaScript code, and cascading stylesheets (CSS).
  • Unrestricted media files are often generic therefore they require no protection from unauthorized access; in addition, they are typically static in nature and therefore should be loaded as quickly as possible.
  • a content distribution network is used to distribute the unrestricted media as quickly as possible to client devices, wherein the CDN may comprise a plurality of servers distributed geographically.
  • client devices can directly request unrestricted media files from the content distribution network without any further authentication or authorization.
  • the provision of dedicated CDN servers for retrieving and providing static content to client devices allows this task to be offloaded from specialized web servers in the web server system (e.g., intermediate dynamic-content web server or web servers, such as a dynamic content web server or web servers that are running in association with the turbine system) to free up the processing power and bandwidth of those other servers for more necessary tasks.
  • specialized web servers in the web server system e.g., intermediate dynamic-content web server or web servers, such as a dynamic content web server or web servers that are running in association with the turbine system
  • the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 also are configured to retrieve any parameters read from any the plurality of turbine systems and to log or store them in at least one database of turbine-related data such as the database 1 34.
  • the front-end servers communicate with turbines through the VPN concentrator 464, which may have read and write access to an entire fleet of turbines (e.g., 104, 106, 108).
  • turbines e.g., 104, 106, 108.
  • the load balancer 402 is operable to communicate over a public network 1 12 in Figure 1 such as the Internet to a plurality of client devices 1 14, 1 16, 1 1 8 and to respond to requests made from the client devices.
  • the load balancer 402 may include a load-balancing process 404 for apportioning incoming client requests among the plurality of front-end servers 410, 412, 414 in a manner that optimally uses computing resources available in view of the operational state of each front-end server.
  • the load balancer 402 may further include a monitor process 406 for monitoring the health of the front-end servers.
  • the load balancer 402 may send control packets to the front-end servers 410, 412, 414, and wait for a response.
  • the load balancer 402 may remove the unhealthy front-end server from its rotation until the problem has been resolved (e.g., by the back-end server 490 rebooting or restarting certain processes on the unhealthy front-end server or following manual intervention such as power cycling). In other words, service requests from client devices are no longer forwarded to the unhealthy front-end server 410 while it is removed from the load balancer's rotation list.
  • the load balancer 402 continues to poll the front-end server 410 until it detects that the health of the front-end server 410 has been restored and that its operational status is satisfactory, whereupon the load balancer 402 will put the front-end server back into rotation to receive and service further client device requests.
  • FIG 23 provides an example of an algorithm that could be used by a monitor process 406 running on the load balancer 402, as shown generally at 600.
  • the method involves initiating an HTTP request to the front end server node at issue (604) and waiting for the server response (606). If no response is received after a predetermined time period (e.g., 10 seconds) or a response is returned indicating that the front end node is unhealthy, then the monitor increments a variable representing a count of fails (608). The variable is checked to see whether it exceeds a predetermined threshold (610).
  • the monitor 406 will proceed to initiate another health check request in due course (602). However, if it is determined at block 610 that the front end server 410 has failed too many times, then the front end server 410 is removed from the load balancer rotation (612). As a further option, at block 606, the monitor 406 may receive a response indicating that the front end server being queried is in fact healthy, in which case, the monitor 406 marks the front- end server as being healthy by setting the variable representing the consecutive number of failed health checks to zero (614). If the node was out of rotation (616), it is placed back into rotation (618). Subsequent health checks 602 will then be conducted in due course (602).
  • the load balancer 402 attempts twice to connect to the front-end server 410 with an HTTP request, however, if there is no response within a predetermined period of time (e.g., 10 seconds), the load balancer assumes that the front-end server has malfunctioned and marks its records accordingly. These records are exposed to the backend server 490 to allow the backend server to undertake healing actions when a front-end node has failed.
  • a predetermined period of time e.g. 10 seconds
  • the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 may be configured to maintain a VPN connection to the VPN server 460.
  • the monitor 406 of the load balancer 400 may in addition be configured to poll each front-end server regarding whether that front-end server has a val id VPN connection to the VPN server 460.
  • the monitor 406 finds that a particular front-end server does not have a valid VPN connection, it marks that front-end server as being in an unhealthy state and removes it from rotation, such that the unhealthy front-end server is no longer forwarded service requests from client devices until its VPN connection is restored.
  • the server system 102 may include more than one load balancer.
  • first and second load balancers 402, 403 may be configured to serve first and second sets of client computers associated with different respective turbine networks, and may be tailored to provide different functionality and different visual features (e.g., custom logos and display pages) to the different turbine networks.
  • at least one server in the system 400 such as the load balancer 402 or front end server 410 may detect the identity of the client computer that is making a request and thus infer the target turbine network that it is attempting to access.
  • At least one server in the system 400 may provide different functionality and different visual features to client devices making requests based on the types of wind turbines to which the requests relate. For example, a first functionality and first set visual features may be served to a client device making a request relating to a first type of wind turbine, and a second functionality and second set visual features may be served to a client device making a request relating to a second type of wind turbine.
  • an authentication server which accepts and verifies login credentials (e.g., a login identifier and password) from a client device may be configured to assign the client device, for future transactions, to a particular load balancer associated with a particular turbine network associated with those login credentials.
  • the turbine network may be identified by the address of the login or authentication server that is accessed by the client computer.
  • the client device is configured to communicate with the load balancer 402, 403 associated with the target turbine network.
  • the load balancer is configured to connect to a port of the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 corresponding to the target turbine network to provide functionality, including custom displays and controls, associated with the target turbine network to the client device throughout the session.
  • the front-end server 410 may provide different functionality and/or a different set of display elements or "skins" to the client device depending on which port the load balancer 402 uses to connect to the front-end server, wherein the functionality or display elements are appropriate to the turbine network being accessed by the client device.
  • the front-end server 410 in some embodiments may include a Web server and reverse proxy 420, a web server for generating dynamic content (i.e., a dynamic content web server) such as a web server gateway interface (WSGI) server 430, a storage module 440, a process control system or supervisor 450, as well as other supportive processes 452.
  • a web server for generating dynamic content i.e., a dynamic content web server
  • WSGI web server gateway interface
  • the Web server 420 may include a server process such as NGI X operable to maintain a plurality of proxy connections with client devices over a public network 1 12 such as the Internet.
  • the Web server 420 acts as gatekeeper and passes on only relevant client requests to the Web server 430.
  • the Web server 420 may be configured to automatically provide static elements to client devices 1 14, 1 16 by itself or in conjunction with a content distribution network (CDN 504 in Figure 21 ), in order to offload such functionality from the Web server 430 and the turbines 104, 106, 108.
  • CDN 504 content distribution network
  • the turbine systems stand to benefit from the diminished amount of processing and bandwidth necessary to transmit purely data over the VPN tunnels, as opposed to say, data combined with display elements, since the processing power of their respective processors (e.g., PLC 472) and the bandwidth of their respective network connections (474) may be quite constrained.
  • PLC 472 the processing power of their respective processors
  • the bandwidth of their respective network connections 474.
  • overloading a turbine system with excessive computational or data traffic requests could cause the turbine system to crash, which could lead to negative consequences for the control and operation of the turbine as a whole, possibly even causing physical damage.
  • the Web server 430 may be configured to generate dynamic content that is relatively time-consuming to produce and/or requires access to restricted media (508 in Figure 21 ) available only to authorized clients.
  • the Web server 430 may include a Python interpreter such as a GUnicorn process in support of a Django configuration framework, however, it will be appreciated that other frameworks can be utilized to implement the functionality described herein.
  • the front-end server 410 also includes a process control system (e.g., supervisor) 450 operable to start all the processes that are configured to run on the front-end server 410 (e.g., NGINX, GUnicorn, Redis, and in some embodiments, an IKE daemon).
  • a process control system e.g., supervisor
  • 450 operable to start all the processes that are configured to run on the front-end server 410 (e.g., NGINX, GUnicorn, Redis, and in some embodiments, an IKE daemon).
  • the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 may have unlimited access to read/write all parameters to all turbine systems (e.g., 104, 106, 108) on the network, or only a subset of the read/write parameters may be exposed to the front-end servers. While only a single front-end server may be used in some embodiments, providing a plurality of front-end servers 410, 412, 414 enables the handling of greater network loads with lower latency and/or increased reliability due to fai lsafe mechanisms.
  • the front-end server 410 may create and maintain a VPN connection to the VPN server 460, including the VPN concentrator 464.
  • the VPN connections may be implemented by a background IKE daemon 452 which forms IKE connection (IKEC) processes as necessary to create VPN tunnels.
  • IKEC IKE connection
  • Such an embodiment may also include a VPN monitor process 452 for monitoring the status of the VPN connection to the VPN concentrator 464.
  • the front-end server 410 may use a script or process 452 to implement healing functions. For example, in embodiments where the front-end server 410 maintains a VPN connection to the VPN server 460, the front-end server 410 can periodically ping the VPN concentrator 464 to see if it is available.
  • the front-end server 410 may be configured to kill and restart all processes associated with the VPN connection to re-establish a valid VPN tunnel to the VPN server 460. However, if the VPN monitor process 452 has malfunctioned, intervention of the backend server 492 will be needed to restart the relevant processes on the front-end server 410 to re-establish the VPN connection.
  • the VPN server 460 may include proxy and VPN concentrator functionality that may be implemented with either software or dedicated hardware or other hardware.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 may be a software-based concentrator such as Charon-based strongSwan running on a programmable server, or alternatively, the VPN concentrator 464 may be a feature of a hardware-based VPN server 460.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 is configured to act as a master to conduct packet forwarding to the turbine systems (e.g., 104, 106, 108), which act as slaves.
  • the ability to create a plurality of VPN tunnels or connections to the turbines is advantageous in situations where the turbines being monitored and controlled are distributed geographically such that it becomes necessary to piggyback turbine communications over existing public networks (especially if some of the turbines are located in remote areas).
  • the system 400 may be configured to allow client devices 524 belonging to system management staff and client devices located at the system management office (534, 536) to connect to the private network 468 remotely, to provide special access to the turbines in ways that are not permitted by the front end server 410 (e.g., via code debuggers).
  • the client devices 524 and 534 may connect over a public network to the Web server and reverse proxy 462 through a custom external access point 480 providing a hook for such client devices to exercise custom control functions and to access additional data from the turbine systems 104, 106, and 108.
  • such a custom access point 480 allows the connecting client devices to avoid reading cached data from the front-end server cache 440, but rather, to receive up-to-date raw turbine data on demand.
  • a further level of external access may be provided through an advanced external VPN access point 482, which provides a hook directly into the VPN concentrator 464.
  • the VPN access point 482 requires that the client device be configured to use the VPN connections made available by the VPN concentrator 464.
  • this method of connection is not limited by the subset of data and control features exposed by the Web server and reverse proxy 462, and thus the client device may have hundreds of additional data items and control functions available to them that otherwise would not be available if they connected to the turbine via the VPN server 460 or the front-end server ("FES") 410.
  • a connection made through the access point 482 may use a protocol native to the turbine system with which communication is being established, which may provide more powerful functional ity than conventional HTTP requests made from a client device.
  • the server system 102 is implemented over a distributed geographic area or utilizes shared computing resources such as cloud computing, this may create concerns regarding the integrity and security of communications between certain server system components, for example, communications between the front-end server 410 and the VPN server 460.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 may have an authenticated, secure channel to the front- end servers 410, 412, 414.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 maintains at least one VPN tunnel to the front-end server nodes 410, 412, 414.
  • a different type of secure connection may be established between the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 and their VPN concentrator 464.
  • an authenticated HTTPS reverse proxy connection 454 using SSL encryption between the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 and the VPN concentrator 464 obviates the need to maintain a VPN tunnel between these entities.
  • the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 and VPN concentrator 464 may communicate with the VPN concentrator 464 without any security measures such as authentication or encryption.
  • Figure 22 also illustrates the HTTPS proxy connection between the front-end nodes 502 and the VPN concentrator 464, shown generally at 526.
  • the backend server 490 may include a storage module 440 for storing data, a monitor module 492 for monitoring the operational status and health of the front-end servers 410, 412, 414, and a healing module 494 for automatic healing of unhealthy front-end server nodes.
  • the monitoring module 490 and healing module 494 may be implemented by respective processes running on the back-end server 490 or may be both consolidated into a single process 492, 494.
  • the monitor and healing process 492, 494 may be configured to monitor the health of the front-end node servers 410, 412, 414 to provide healing functionality thereto if the health of a front-end server node deteriorates.
  • the monitoring and healing process 492, 494 may be configured to automatically restart certain processes on the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 that have crashed to return an unhealthy front-end server 410 to a desired operational state (e.g., one in which failed VPN tunnels are re-established by the front-end server).
  • the backend server 490 may use remote access to reconfigure and restore the front-end server to the desired operational status by rebooting or restarting any malfunctioning processes, such as the Web server and reverse proxy 420, the dynamic content webserver (e.g., a WSGI web server) 430, the storage module 440, etc., and/or the VPN communication processes (e.g., IKE Daemon and IKE connectors 452, if present).
  • the backend server 490 may also optionally include other processes to support the functionality of the server system 102, for example, asynchronous tasks such as the nightly or on-demand parsing of turbine data.
  • the back-end server 490 may poll each load balancer 402, 403 to determine whether the load balancer has discovered that certain front-end servers 410, 412, 414 associated with the load balancer are unhealthy.
  • the monitor and healing process 492, 494 may be configured to monitor the load balancer 402 to determine if the load balancer has marked any of the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 as having an unhealthy operational state.
  • a front-end server is considered unhealthy if the front-end server is inoperative, or if a critical piece of software on the front-end server (such as the Web servers 420, 430) is not responsive to service requests, or in some embodiments, if the front-end server 410 lacks a mandatory VPN connection to the VPN server 460.
  • the back-end server 490 In response to detecting that the load balancer 402 has marked a particular front-end server as being in an unhealthy operational state or even as being inoperative, the back-end server 490 attempts to cause the front-end server in question to be rebooted or restarts certain processes on the front-end server for which a malfunction has been indicated by the load balancer 402. For example, if a web server (420 or 430) running on the front-end server is not working correctly, the process or processes associated with that web server can be restarted.
  • the back-end server 490 causes the appropriate processes (e.g., IKE Daemon 452) on the front-end server 410 to re- establish and maintain the lost VPN tunnel, by using remote access into the front-end server to restart these processes.
  • the back-end server 490 may pol l each front-end server directly to determine its state of health (e.g., by sending status requests to the public Web server and reverse proxy 420), rather than relying on the monitoring done by the load balancer 402.
  • the storage module 440 of the backend server 490 may include a database management system (DBMS) and/or a key-value store.
  • DBMS database management system
  • a process running on the back-end server 490, for example, Redis, may implement the key value store 440.
  • the DBMS or key-value store 440 can be used to store temporary variables, turbine data and control parameters, and in some embodiments, may be used to implement a master cache that is ultimately distributed to and replicated in each of the front-end servers 410, 412, 414.
  • the load balancer 402 and the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 cooperate to ensure that a secure VPN tunnel is maintained to the VPN concentrator 464. If it is detected that the VPN tunnel between the front-end server 41 0 and the VPN server 460 has failed, a self-healing process is initiated to restore the VPN connection. From time to time, the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 are configured to check whether the VPN tunnel is up and running.
  • the load balancer 402 includes a health monitor process which pings the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 periodically to request a report as to whether the front-end server has an active VPN tunnel to the VPN concentrator 464.
  • the front-end server is tasked with maintaining persistent VPN connections to the VPN server and concentrator, however, this task necessitates that the front- end server be configured to heal failed VPN connections, for example, by restarting VPN-related processes.
  • a VPN connection could fail if the underlying public network over which the VPN tunnel is unreliable.
  • it may be necessary to re-key the VPN tunnel connection from time to time which may mean that a particular VPN connection maintained by the front-end server is forced to go down until a new key is generated and the VPN tunnel is reconnected based on the new key.
  • the rekeying process could take some time during which the front-end server would not be able to connect to the turbines.
  • maintaining such VPN connections in the front-end servers requires memory and processing power to be diverted from the other functions of these servers.
  • a secure connection is maintained between the front-end server 410 and the VPN server 460 and concentrator 464, not in the form of a persistent or static VPN tunnel maintained by the front-end server, but rather, in the form of a secure connection that is dynamically created on-demand for each transaction.
  • an HTTPS request 454 encrypted with SSL is sent from the front-end server 410 to the reverse proxy process 462 running on the VPN server 460.
  • the secure connection is less affected by unreliable public networks as a secure tunnel is created on demand for each HTTPS request 454 but need not be maintained for subsequent requests or transactions.
  • some processes 466 on the reverse proxy 462 on the VPN server 460 may implement another level of caching of data, in addition to the level of caching provided in the front end 410 and back end 440 servers, as described herein.
  • the front-end server 410 may be operable to store, retrieve and/or to calculate the network address of the VPN concentrator 464, the network address of the target turbine system 104, and/or the network address of a particular target variable or control register on the turbine system 104.
  • One or more of the aforesaid network addresses may include an IP address.
  • these network addresses may be concatenated together to form a hierarchical system network address (e.g., in the form of a uniform resource identifier or URL) for the particular data or control register of the turbine system 104, as follows:
  • the reverse proxy 462 forwards the request to an appropriate port on the VPN concentrator 464 in the form of an HTTP request.
  • the connection between the reverse proxy 462 and the VPN concentrator 464 is a dedicated connection or otherwise is considered secure, it may not be necessary to use SSL encryption for the latter request, which may take the form of the following network address (i.e., uniform resource identifier):
  • HTTP://address_of_turbine/address_of_register [00154] HTTP://address_of_turbine/address_of_register. [00155] The HTTP request is passed through the appropriate VPN tunnel 470 and over the private network 468 to a corresponding router and VPN endpoint 474, 478 or 484, where it is passed to an internal HTTP server of the turbine (e.g., 476, 482, or 486) for handling and response.
  • an internal HTTP server of the turbine e.g., 476, 482, or 486
  • the reverse proxy server 462 may be replaced with a different kind of proxy server, for example, a forward proxy server.
  • a forward proxy server the first part of the system network addresses unnecessary (i.e., the address of the VPN concentrator), however, the front-end server will then have to be configured to communicate with the forward proxy server.
  • Turbine 104 includes a programmable logic controller (PLC) 472 for controlling the operation of the turbine and also for responding to network communication requests.
  • PLC 472 thus includes a built-in web server 476.
  • the HTTP server may be a distinct Web server 482 internetworked with the PLC 480 and a router/VPN device 478 over a local area network (LAN) of the turbine system 106.
  • LAN local area network
  • the turbine may include a programmable control server 486 configured with software instructions capable of directing a processor of the server to provide the functionality of a router and VPN endpoint 484 (e.g., a routing and VPN process), as well as Web server functionality (e.g., a web server process).
  • a programmable control server 486 configured with software instructions capable of directing a processor of the server to provide the functionality of a router and VPN endpoint 484 (e.g., a routing and VPN process), as well as Web server functionality (e.g., a web server process).
  • the front-end server 410 is able to make HTTP-based read and write requests by simply invoking a particular HTTP-based uniform resource identifier appended with parameters specifying the nature of the operation desired (e.g., the parameter or parameters to be read or written), and this HTTP-based request is passed through the VPN server 460 and a VPN-protected private network 468 to the appropriate turbine 104, where it is handled by the internal HTTP server 476.
  • the internal HTTP server 476, 482 or 486 causes an associated processor, PLC (e.g., 472) or the server 486 itself to read or write the specified parameters to a memory store associated with the turbine.
  • the memory store may be internal to the PLC 472 or server 486, or it may be an external or internetworked database system.
  • the turbine's internal HTTP server 476 may respond with a message enclosing the requested parameters if they are available. If the requested parameters are not available, invalid, or forbidden, the server 476 may respond instead with an appropriate error message or status code (e.g., in some embodiments, error code 403 if the URI is forbidden, error code 404 if the URI is not found, error code 500 if there is a server error, and error code 502 if there is a bad gateway error). Other status codes may indicate other information as to whether the operation was successful and if any problem was detected. Such error and status codes are returned to the front-end server 41 0 via the corresponding VPN tunnel 470.
  • error code 403 if the URI is forbidden
  • error code 404 if the URI is not found
  • error code 500 if there is a server error
  • error code 502 if there is a bad gateway error
  • connections between the front-end server 410 and the turbine 104 are implemented by requests using the HTTP protocol, however, it will be appreciated that other networking protocols may be adapted to run over a VPN connection 470 to facilitate communication between the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 with respective VPN endpoints in a plurality of remote turbines 104, 106 and 108.
  • the front-end servers are configured to provide the read turbine parameters and/or the returned error or status codes of the request to the requesting client devices.
  • a method of detecting a dead or malfunctioning peer device over a secure VPN connection involves, after each predetermined interval (e.g., every 30 seconds), sending a packet over the VPN connection to a target network device with which the VPN connection should be maintained.
  • the network device is given a certain period of time (e.g., 10 seconds) to respond to the request to confirm that it is fully operational.
  • the VPN concentrator 400 sends periodic packet requests to VPN endpoints 474, 478, 484 located at individual turbine systems (e.g. 104, 106, 108), to query whether the associated turbine systems are up and running and are able to communicate over their respective VPN tunnels 470.
  • the VPN endpoints 474, 470, and 484 at the remote turbine systems 104, 106, and 108 may send a periodic response request packet over a VPN tunnel 472 to the VPN server 460 to request that the server 460 respond to confirm that it is operational and able to communicate over its corresponding VPN tunnel. If a VPN endpoint 474, 478, or 484 of the turbine systems receives no response to the response request packet within a certain amount of time (e.g., 10 seconds), the VPN endpoint in question may kill the VPN tunnel and may try to initiate a connection to the VPN endpoint on the other side (i.e., VPN concentrator 464) to establish a new persistent VPN connection.
  • a certain amount of time e.g. 10 seconds
  • the VPN tunnels 470 can be automatically maintained and healed to dynamically form a private network 1 10, 468 notwithstanding the fact that, in some embodiments, the VPN-protected communications are being supported by or carried on an underlying public network 1 12 such as the Internet.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 is configurable to enforce a predetermined set of traffic rules for data in the server system.
  • Figure 22 provides an example of how the VPN concentrator 464 can be configured to police the traffic flows between a plurality of sources and the plurality of destinations in some embodiments of the invention.
  • the front- end server nodes 502, the mobile workstation 524, and the system management office 534 are only permitted by the VPN concentrator 464 to communicate with one or more turbine systems 530, however, they are not permitted to otherwise communicate with each other through the VPN concentrator 464.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 creates dedicated VPN tunnels from the remote turbine systems to the front-end server nodes 502, mobile workstations 524, and the system management office 534.
  • the mobile workstation 524 and system management office 534 will be able to obtain more fresh data (i.e., raw data) that is not subject to the limitations of the cache on the front-end nodes 502.
  • the mobile workstation 524 and the system management office 534 potentially can be configured to use a different protocol than that used to make read and write requests by the front-end nodes (e.g., the HTTP protocol).
  • client devices owned by the turbine owner 522 may have a direct (local) interface 532 to the turbine system, for example a wired LAN or a wireless connection thereto.
  • a web server module of the turbine system may be configured to respond to local requests for access in accordance with a set of permissions associated with the owner of the turbine.
  • the turbine system may have integral hardware input elements (e.g., a keypad or keyboard) and output elements (e.g., an LCD display) providing a human-machine interface (HM1) for the owner.
  • HM1 human-machine interface
  • the above-mentioned server architecture helps the front-end servers 410, 412, 414 pull data from turbines 104, 106, 108 when required, as quickly and reliably as possible, while offloading a great deal of the processing and data bandwidth from the computing resources of the turbines. Due the combination of authorization features, shielding by gateway webservers, and VPN features, secure communication between the turbines and the server takes place over a private network, for example, a plurality of virtual private network (VPN) connections or tunnels between the VPN server/concentrator 460 and respective VPN endpoints in the remote turbine systems.
  • VPN virtual private network
  • the server system 102 can be configured to provide an arbitrary subset of the functionality that would otherwise be available if the client devices connected to the turbine systems directly.
  • the new or borrowed client device will be capable of providing any of functionality user had with his or her old client device.
  • the server system can be configured to provide certain authorized users with the ability to establish new accounts for new users and to authorize them to communicate with a particular set of turbines in accordance with a particular set of permissions.
  • a dealer could be authorized to add or remove employees from a list of accounts authorized to access a particular group of turbines being maintained by the dealer.
  • the nature of the access available to each employee can be tailored to each individual employee's level of trust and competence.
  • the VPN concentrator 464 may be implemented as a software process on a general-purpose server, whereas in other embodiments, the VPN concentrator 464 may be a dedicated hardware device, or a managed network of VPN devices.
  • FIG. 1 In a network architecture such as the one depicted in Figures 1 and 20, there is a possibility that multiple cl ient devices will try to access a turbine system such as 104 almost simultaneously.
  • the user of the system may use multiple computing devices at different locations (e.g., at home and at work, and may also carry a mobile workstation or smart phone) all of which could be used to try to retrieve turbine data from one or more turbine systems.
  • a single client device may be operable to issue multiple read or write requests to the turbine depending on the data and control interface presented to the client device by the front-end server 410.
  • the interface is presented as a series of webpages with one or more active tabs or sub-pages, each of which has a plurality of dynamic data elements that rely on data from the turbine systems to remain up-to-date.
  • Each of the webpages that are open may make requests to obtain real-time (or nearly real-time) data from the turbine systems, which further increases the potential of overtaxing a particular turbine system's computational and communication resources, as mentioned above.
  • the turbine systems may be protected from being overextended computationally or in terms of I/O or traffic bandwidth by configuring the server system 102 to allow no more than N turbine system transactions to be pending at any given time.
  • N l , such that only one read or write transaction can be processed by the turbine system at one time. Read or write transactions which are received while a request is already active are forced to wait for completion of the currently active transaction.
  • This approach helps to avoid overloading the turbine's computing resources (such as the turbine's programmable logic controller 472 or control server 486), reduces the number of I/O operations, and reduces the network traffic bandwidth needed for communications with the turbine system.
  • a very large read (or write) request for a turbine system may be broken up into multiple smaller pieces, both to improve the latency of response and also to limit the amount of processing that needs to be done by the turbine system to handle the request.
  • An upper bound on the number of parameters that can be retrieved at one time may be set, for example, at 15 data items.
  • a large request for the turbine system to read 40 turbine parameters may be broken up into two individual reads of 15 parameters each, followed by a third read request that retrieves 10 parameters.
  • a caching mechanism may be implemented either in the server system 102 or at the client device (or at both) in order to both reduce latency and to avoid unnecessarily requesting turbine data from turbine systems which has recently been retrieved.
  • Items in the cache system may be configured to expire automatically when they become stale or are rendered invalid or uncertain due to a certain event, such as a successful write of certain control parameters to the turbine system.
  • Turbine data parameters may be kept in the caching system for shorter or longer periods of time depending on how important they are and how reliable they are over a given period of time.
  • turbine status information and long averages such as wind speed can be usefully kept in the cache for about 5 minutes in some embodiments, whereas instantaneous parameters such as instantaneous wind speed or instantaneous power produced grow stale quickly and thus would be kept in the cache for only about 2 seconds in some embodiments.
  • Other parameters may be kept in the cache for still different periods of time.
  • Certain parameters, such as the turbine status become invalid or uncertain if a certain kind of parameter is written, for example, a stop turbine command is issued, whereupon such affected parameters should be flushed from the cache.
  • the server system 102 When an I/O request from a client device is received at the server system 102, the server system 102 begins an I/O request handling routine, shown generally at 620. At block 622, the server system 102 receives a read or write request from a client device. At block 624, the server system 102 queries an authentication database (such as database 136 shown in Figure 1 ) to determine whether or not the client device is authorized to make such a request. If the client device is not authorized to make the request, then the request is rejected (626).
  • an authentication database such as database 136 shown in Figure 1
  • the process moves to block 628, which, depending on whether the request is a read or write request, causes the server system 402 either to initiate a write request handling routine (630), or to initiate a read request handling routine as shown at block 632 and following.
  • the server system 1 02 and in particular, the front-end server 410, examines its cache to see whether or not each parameter requested can be located as already present in the cache.
  • the cache may be implemented by the storage module 440 as a key-value store, thus the front-end server 410 searches the store to find out if there is a key- value pair present for each of the turbine parameters that are being read. If all of the requested parameters are located in the cache, block 634 allows processing to move to block 636. In block 636, all of the request parameters are read from the cache and are returned to the client device without conducting any read operations to the target turbine system.
  • the result at block 634 may be that not all of the parameters are located in the cache. For example, some of the turbine parameters were never read and placed into cache by earlier operations by this (or another) user, or if they were, those values have since become stale or invalid and were flushed from the cache. If at least some of the parameters requested are not available in the cache system, the server system 1 02 begins to take steps to initiate communications with the turbine to read the missing parameters from the target turbine, as indicated in block 640. [00184] As described above, the server system 102 may enforce limitations on the ability of different client devices to access a particular turbine resource by limiting the number of active requests at one time.
  • the maximum number of active requests that can be made simultaneously to a turbine is one, however, in other embodiments, the system 400 may allow two or more concurrent requests to be active.
  • the requesting thread must wait for the active request to complete, as indicated by block 644. If there is no active request to this turbine, or if the previous active request has completed, the algorithm proceeds to block 646. If there is a write pending (as may be determined by checking a write active flag in some embodiments) then the process proceeds to wait and returns to block 642. If there is no write pending, the system sets the active request flag for this turbine to true (648). If the number of parameters requested exceeds a predetermined threshold number (650), then the request is broken up into pieces, and several read requests are carried out to obtain all the missing parameters, as shown in blocks 652 and 654.
  • a predetermined threshold number 650
  • the return data from the turbine system is evaluated. If at least some of the parameters were not found or the turbine system failed to respond, then the operation was not successful, and the active request flag is cleared (658), after which all known parameters are returned to the user (670). However, if the data returned from the turbine system indicates that all requested parameters were returned, then the system populates the cache with the newly read parameters (674), inserts a log record of read parameters into DataDB (676, 1 34), where the log entry may include, e.g., an entry 678 which includes turbine, ID, timestamp, a key-value pair 680 and, in some embodiments, other values). The active request flag for this turbine is cleared (682), and all the parameters (i.e., the ones returned from the cache, if any, and the parameters just read from the turbine system) are all returned to the client device (684).
  • a caching method for write requests for use in some embodiments of the invention.
  • the method involves initiating communication with the turbine to write a parameter (702), and setting a write pending flag to allow other processes or threads to know that a write operation is desired by this particular thread or process (704). If there is another active request to this turbine (706), then this write request is paused until the active request is finished, whereupon the active request flag is set (709) and there is an attempt to write the parameter to the target turbine (708). If the write failed (712), the write pending flag is cleared (714), the active request flag is cleared (715), and the system returns a write failure indication to the client (716) because the write failed (718).
  • the system 400 populates the master cache 420 with the value that was successfully written (step 720), it invalidates any associated cache values that were (or could have been) affected by the written value, i.e., values in the cache that were rendered invalid or uncertain due to the successful write (722), and logs the successful write in a database (724). This may involve putting an entry 726 into a data DB database 134, including a turbine identifier, a timestamp, a key, the value written, and a user identifier representing the user who performed the write operation. After this, the active request flag is cleared (727), the write pending flag is cleared (728), and the system 400 returns a confirmation to the client device that the write succeeded (730, 732).
  • Read or write threads which are waiting for the availability of a shared resource may attempt to access the shared resource after a random back-off period.
  • read requests and write requests can be put into respective read and write request queues, such that read requests are serviced in the order of their receipt (e.g., as indicated by a timestamp associated with the read request), except in cases where a write request is pending. If there are any entries in the write queue pending, they must take priority as soon as it is possible to write to the turbine, since writes have the potential to affect the values currently stored in the cache of the server system 102 as well as the values that will need to be returned in response to future read requests.
  • the active request flag and the write pending flags may be synchronized to avoid race conditions created by the order of execution of the processes or threads whi le trying to access the shared resource. It will be appreciated that various methods of synchronization (e.g., waiting on mutexes and semaphores) are available and can be applied to avoid race conditions between asynchronous processes and threads. In embodiments where the read and write requests are serviced in round-robin fashion or as part of synchronous queues, such synchronization methods may not be needed.
  • the cache could be implemented with a shared memory structure, rather than replicating the cache from the master cache 440 on the backend server 490 to the respective caches 440 on each of the front-end servers 410.
  • communication with turbines tends to be minimized and the speed of interaction with users is enhanced due to the provision of a secure, yet remotely-accessible, cloud-based caching method for turbine data and control information at the central server system 102.
  • the backend server 490 includes a master cache implemented in the storage module 440 as a key-value store.
  • the master cache is periodically replicated across all front-end server nodes 410, 412, 414 such that eventually the same cache is distributed to all front-end servers. While this embodiment involves synchronizing caches based on a programmable time interval, in other embodiments, the front-end and back-end caches may be synchronized based on certain predefined system event (e.g., a successful write). In addition, cache values may be stored in a high speed system memory of the server system such as RAM or flash drives to increase the speed of reading values.
  • the client device may almost simultaneously launch a plurality of data screens, each with a plurality of turbine data display elements, such that the total number of data items required numbers in the thousands. If a substantial number of these data items are available in the cache, the user will receive useful data very quickly and the system wil l minimize wear and tear on turbine systems to the extent possible.
  • any of the programmable or software-implemented functionality described herein may be stored in a tangible medium (e.g., magnetic media, optical discs, flash memory, RAM, etc.) as instructions for directing a processor to carry out any of the various methods of the invention. It will also be appreciated that such instructions may be capable of being transferred (e.g., over digital or computer networks) in the form of communication signals.
  • a tangible medium e.g., magnetic media, optical discs, flash memory, RAM, etc.
  • instructions may be capable of being transferred (e.g., over digital or computer networks) in the form of communication signals.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé et un système de surveillance et de commande d'une pluralité d'éoliennes par l'intermédiaire d'un réseau. Différents niveaux d'accès et de commande sont autorisés par rapport à la pluralité d'éoliennes pour une diversité d'utilisateurs parmi une diversité de groupes d'utilisateurs. La présente invention fournit un mécanisme pour gérer les actions que des utilisateurs sont aptes à réaliser et les informations qu'ils sont aptes à voir et à manipuler en association avec la pluralité d'éoliennes.
PCT/CA2014/050325 2013-03-28 2014-03-28 Procédé, système et appareil pour accéder et gérer une pluralité d'éoliennes par l'intermédiaire d'un réseau WO2014153673A1 (fr)

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WO2021079021A1 (fr) * 2019-10-24 2021-04-29 Universidad De Huelva Système et méthode pour un accès sûr, contrôlé, ordonné et collaboratif à des réseaux de données sécurisés
WO2021129910A1 (fr) * 2019-12-23 2021-07-01 Vestas Wind Systems A/S Procédé et système d'authentification et d'autorisation
EP4198781A1 (fr) * 2021-12-17 2023-06-21 Wobben Properties GmbH Procédé de gestion de l'accès d'une commande d'éolienne d'une éolienne, ainsi que commande d'éolienne et éolienne correspondantes

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