Technological leap of signal transfer system: CONTACTLESS

Renewable energies are at the heart of discussions and wind energy even more. A wind turbine is composed of more than 9 000 parts each having a low or high level of criticality. In this work, we are interested in a study of a critical system of wind turbines: the Signal Transfer System, also commonly call slip ring: it is an electromechanical system whose function is to transmit information/data (sensors and actuators) between a stator and a rotor, by sliding contact. Requiring periodic maintenance to relubricate the system, and using noble materials, this system is getting more and more expensive, thus alternatives are seeked. The aim of CONTACTLESS is to suppress this sliding contact (an increase in the costs of raw materials) by an embedded system using wireless technology. A first demonstrator has been realized in 2011. It presents the first work realized allowing grouping and the transfer of information in wireless mode from a high data rate wire protocol (CAN bus) to a low data rate wireless technology (Zigbee) to validate our approach of level operational phase of OSI layer model (encapsulation/decapsulation).