Housed
in
a
four-legged,
egg-shaped
pod
on
top
of
the
nacelle,
the
OCS
uses
multi-beam
Lidar
(light
detection
and
ranging)
along
with
data
from
other
instruments
on
the
turbine
to
compare
the
air
current
passing
directly
into
the
rotor
against
general
wind
conditions.
Using
these
three-dimensional,
real-time
wind-speed
measurements,
the
turbine’s
control
system
can
fine-tune
the
pitch
of
its
blades
and
position
of
the
rotor
to
boost
energy
capture
by
5-10%,
and
cut
damaging
“asymmetrical”
loads.
“The
optical
system
that
we
have
built
is
a
collection
of
components
from
the
telecom…
