Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/s

Drew Eisenberg

Peder Bay Enevoldsen

Alejandro Gomez Gonzalez

Kevin James Standish

John M Obrecht

Michael J Asheim

Manjinder J Singh

Alonso O Zamora Rodriguez

Lasse Gilling

Arni T Steingrimsson

Julian Ehlers

Henrik Fredslund Hansen

Justin L Mullings

Alonso Zamora

Michael Hind

Kristian R Dixon

Peter J Rimmington

Kevin J Standish

Provided is a method for adjusting a pitch angle of a rotor blade connected to a rotor of a wind turbine, the method includes: pitching the rotor blade towards a target blade pitch angle, the manner of pitching depending on a load on a pitch bearing and/or an azimuthal position of the rotor.

Method for load reduction on wind turbine blade pitch bearings

After establishing a design environmental condition (, S) for a wind turbine blade, and engineering a coefficient of lift and a corresponding optimum blade tip speed ratio (TSR) that maximizes annual energy production of the wind turbine when operating under the design environmental condition, determining a site-specific condition (, S, S) that changes a wind loading condition on the blade compared to the design environmental condition, and providing an add-on device () for the blade that maximizes annual energy production of the wind turbine under the site-specific condition by changing the coefficient of lift and optimum TSR of the blade. Site specific conditions may include reduced RPM () for noise curtailment and/or specific mean wind speeds (S, S). The add-on device may include a flap () and/or vortex generators ().

Customizing a wind turbine for site-specific conditions

A slat () extending along an inboard portion of a wind turbine main blade element (). The slat may have an end vortex modification appendage, such as winglet (), endplate (), raked wingtip (), or down turned wingtip (), and may be located behind a line defined perpendicular to a mean camber line of the main blade element at a leading edge of the main blade element. At least the leading edge (S) of the slat may be disposed within a zone () of airflow that generally parallels the suction side () of the main blade element. The slat may have a flatback trailing edge (F). Vortex generators () may be attached to the slat. Slats may be retrofitted to a wind turbine rotor () by attaching them to the spar caps () of the blades or to the hub () of the rotor.

Slat with tip vortex modification appendage for wind turbine

An aerodynamic slat (F) having a flatback trailing edge (F) extending along and spaced proximate an inboard portion of a wind turbine blade (). At least the leading edge (F) of the slat may be disposed within a zone () of airflow that is generally parallel to the suction side () of the wind turbine blade over a range of air inflow angles. A splitter plate () may extend aft from the flatback trailing edge to reduce vortex shedding and extend the effective chord length of the slat. Vortex generators () may be attached to the slat. Flatback slats may be retrofitted to a wind turbine rotor () by attaching them to the spar caps () of the blades or to the hub spinner (). The flatback slat provides lift on low-lift inboard portions of the wind turbine blade over a range of angles of attack of the inboard portion.

Flatback slat for wind turbine

A power producing spinner () for a wind turbine (), the wind turbine () having a plurality of blades () interconnected about an axis of rotation () by a hub (). The power producing spinner () includes an aerodynamic shape () extending radially outward from the axis of rotation () to define an upwind airfoil portion () disposed upwind of an inboard portion () of each blade () of the wind turbine (). The power producing spinner () is effective to extract energy from an air flow () flowing over the spinner () and to increase an aerodynamic efficiency of the blades ().

Power producing spinner for a wind turbine

An airfoil () is mounted on a chordwise stall fence () of a wind turbine blade (). The airfoil may be an aerodynamic slat () positioned over a forward portion of the suction side () of the blade or a flap () disposed near a trailing edge () of the blade. The stall fence may be at least as high as the thickness of the boundary layer () of air passing over the blade. The slat or flap may be twisted between an inboard end (A) and an outboard end (B) to compensate for the radially varying angle of the relative air inflow (A,B).

Secondary airfoil mounted on stall fence on wind turbine blade

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

Drew Eisenberg