Research & Innovation

Mita-Teknik, a global provider of wind turbine control and pitch technology, has launched its new generation of blade pitch system for onshore and offshore wind turbines. The new Mita Pitch System has been designed to effectively minimize O&M costs, reduce downtime and improve productivity.

The Mita Pitch System is a flexible pitch solution for turbines up to 12 MW, which boasts a design life of 30 years. It has been designed to maximize the availability and performance of wind turbines, while applying minimum loads to the structure. High availability is ensured by fast commissioning, a Built-In-Self-Test scheme for on-the-fly evaluation, simple maintenance procedures, and digitalization. Digitalization is an asset created by integrated CMS and intelligent algorithms collecting data of high accuracy and veracity, providing the valuable data insights needed to support operation and maintenance planning.

The system features a modular pitch design with integrated drives, based on various standardized sizes of Hub Units, Blade Units, brushless PM Servo Motors, Asynchronous Servo Motors as well as energy storage based on either ultracapacitors or long life VRLA batteries. It is designed as an open system allowing OEMs to integrate their own software in the hub controller.

The Mita Pitch System is the result of thousands of engineering hours and it underwent an extensive quality test procedure, explains Thomas Andersen, CTO at Mita-Teknik: “The high quality of this product comes from a mix of excellent engineering, top-shelf components and thorough testing procedures. Every single component has been selected and specifically tested to maximize performance and reliability,” he said.

This robust system has been designed to sustain the harsh environment of the rotating wind turbine hubs and can deal with operating temperatures ranging from -30°C to +60°C, as well as continuous vibrations and forces. By removing the traditional “cabinet in cabinet” approach, Mita-Teknik was able to maximize the system reliability, avoiding high ambient temperatures inside the cabinet. The Mita Pitch System offers innovative features such as ruggedized IP65 seawater resistant aluminum housings, smart energy management extending component service life, as well as touchless blade angle monitoring.

“Our new pitch system generation capitalizes on decades of experience and best practice in pitch design. It is designed to prevent expensive downtime and costly maintenance. Only a small number of wear parts are used; this is a crucial factor in securing the long design life of the system, as this reduces failures at component level whilst lowering the overall maintenance costs. This is how we provide the highest investment value to our customers,” said Torben Jensen, Leading Chief Engineer at Mita-Teknik.