Ssb Wind Systems Gmbh & Co. Kg

Nidec Ssb Wind Systems Gmbh

Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation

Carrier Corporation

Fabio Bertolotti

Jens Van Schelve

Hermann Kestermann

Norbert Wibben

Tobias Daemberg

Tobias Bueltel

Josef Upsing

Marc-Andre Thier

Ninev Karl Zia

Norbert Kötting

Tobias Bültel

Sebastian Sbonnik

Christian Bott

Thomas Sumbeck

Dirk Klein

A wind turbine () is disclosed having a hub () with electrical power therein and at least one blade () attached to the hub. The blade () has a blade root (), a blade tip () and a down-wire () for the conduction of lightning current to the ground. The wind turbine () further has a blade electrical system () that takes electrical power from the hub () and transmits electrical power into the blade () to at least one area located between the blade root () and the blade tip (). The blade electrical system () if formed by a power-transfer unit () having a power-driver unit (), a power-conditioner unit () and a dielectric () separating the power-driver unit () and the power-conditioner unit (). The power-driver unit () receives electrical power from the hub () and transmit the electrical power through the dielectric () to the power-conditioner unit (). An electrical-power bus () is electrically attached to the power-conditioner unit () and extends into the blade (). At least one powered unit () is provided which is electrically connected to, and electrically powered by, the electrical-power bus ().

Electrical power system for wind turbine blades

In a wind turbine comprising a tower supporting a nacelle, at least one blade rotationally attached to the nacelle and having a blade-tip section, a system for measuring the separation distance between the tower and the blade-tip-section of the wind turbine, comprising an indicator stripe on the surface of the blade-tip section, an indicator ring encircling the tower, a camera in the nacelle and positioned such that the blade-tip section and the indicator ring are within the camera's field of view when the blade-tip is at its closest approach position to the tower, the camera digitally recording an image of its field of view at this closest approach position, the distance between indicator ring and camera being essentially equal to the distance between the indicator stripe and the camera at this closest approach position, and an image processor and tip-tower clearance calculator unit receiving the digitally recorded image and calculating a physical separation distance between the indicator stripe and the indicator ring using the digitally recorded image information, the physical separation distance being indicative of the blade tip-tower clearance.

Wind-turbine tower to blade-tip measuring system

The invention relates to a method for pitch angle measurement and/or for constructing a pitch angle measurement system on a rotor blade () of a wind turbine, the rotor blade comprising a blade root () and extending along a longitudinal blade axis (). The rotor blade is rotatably mounted, by its blade root (), to rotate about the longitudinal blade axis (), on a rotor hub () of the wind turbine, the rotor hub rotating or being rotatable about a rotor axis (). At least one chord line direction indicator () is firmly connected to the rotor blade () at a distance from the blade root (), and defines a chord line direction indicator direction () indicative of a direction of a chord line () of the rotor blade () at the location of the chord line direction indicator (). The rotor blade (), or at least one rotor blade portion () of the rotor blade firmly connected to the chord line direction indicator (), is produced in a mould () before being connected to the chord line direction indicator (). While the rotor blade () or rotor blade portion () is in the mould (), the chord line direction indicator () is firmly connected to the rotor blade () or rotor blade portion () in a position which is defined relative to the mould ().

Method for pitch angle measurement and/or for constructing a pitch angle measurement system

The invention relates to a wind power installation comprising a rotor () which can be turned with wind power, and has a rotor hub () and at least one rotor blade () rotatably mounted thereon, a higher-level operation control device () and a blade angle adjustment system () communicatively connected to same and having components that can be used for the emergency deactivation of the wind power installation, by means of which system the rotor blade () can be rotated relative to the rotor hub () and can be thereby positioned in different blade angle positions, wherein control commands () for the positioning of the rotor blade can be output to the blade angle adjustment system () by the operation control device (), and the blade angle adjustment system () follows the control commands () in a normal operation of the wind power installation and correspondingly positions the rotor blade (), and wherein the blade angle adjustment system () also has a monitoring unit () that can run in parallel to the normal operation, by means of which the functionality of the or a portion of the components can be checked.

Wind power installation

Method for controlling a rotor blade adjustment device () of a wind turbine or water hydroelectric powerplant (), wherein the rotor blade adjustment device () has a drive () which is connected to a rotor blade () which is subjected to a flow of wind or water and has the purpose of rotating the rotor blade () about a rotor blade axis () relative to a rotor hub () on which the rotor blade () is mounted so as to be rotatable about the rotor blade axis (), and an electromagnetic brake () which is connected to the rotor blade () and has the purpose of blocking rotation of the rotor blade () about the rotor blade axis (), wherein the brake () is actuated in order to change its activation state at a brake activation time (t), wherein the drive () is actuated to change its driving state at a drive activation time (t) which has a predetermined chronological offset (&#x394;t) with respect to the brake activation time (t), and wherein an electric current (I) which flows through the brake () is measured, the form of the resulting current/time curve is evaluated, and the chronological offset (&#x394;t) is newly determined and/or adapted as a function of the result of this evaluation.

Method for controlling a rotor blade adjustment device

A method is disclosed for estimating the surface condition of a blade rotating about a rotational axis in an air or fluid stream. The method involves measuring blade deformations indicative of blade loads acting on the blade to identify actual blade loads (P,R,T), measuring blade-state information (&#x3a8;,&#x3a9;,,V) indicative of a blade operational state to identify a given blade operational state (&#x3b1;,Q), providing a clean-surface aerodynamic map () relating blade loads to an ensemble of blade operational states when the blade surface is in a clean state, providing a dirty-surface aerodynamic map () relating blade loads to an ensemble of blade operational states when the blade surface is in a dirty state, estimating the surface condition of the blade by comparing the distance of the actual blade loads (P,R,T) to the blade loads given by the clean-surface aerodynamic map () at the given operational state (&#x3b1;,Q), and the distance of the actual blade loads (P,R,T) to the blade loads given by the dirty-surface aerodynamic map () at the given operational state (&#x3b1;,Q).

Method and system for estimating the surface condition of a rotating blade

The present invention relates to a wind turbine and a measuring system for determining the pitch angle of at least one blade relative to a hub of a wind turbine. The measurement comprises a first angular-velocity sensor () measuring a first angular velocity (&#x3c6;) around a first sensor axis (e), the first angular-velocity sensor () fixedly attached to the at least one blade () with a first predetermined orientation selected to produce a first projection of the main rotational axis () onto the first sensor axis (e), a second angular-velocity sensor () measuring a second angular velocity (&#x3b2;) around a second sensor axis (e), the second angular-velocity sensor () fixedly attached to the at least one blade () with a second predetermined orientation selected to produce a second projection of the main rotational axis () onto the second sensor axis (e), the first sensor axis (e) and the second sensor axis (e) being linearly independent, and a first computational unit () computing a computed pitch angle (&#x3b8;) based on of the first angular velocity (&#x3c6;) and the second angular velocity (&#x3b2;). The invention relates also to a method for determining an azimuthal position and azimuthal rotational velocity of the at least one blade relative to the nacelle, the azimuthal position being defined by the rotational motion of the hub relative to the nacelle.

Pitch angle measuring system and method for wind turbines

A sensor device for measuring aerodynamic loads of a rotor blade for a wind power installation. The sensor device includes a reflector arranged in a cavity of the rotor blade which signals a signal evaluation device arranged at a distance from the reflector. The signal evaluation device detects and quantifies physical changes of the rotor blade from the reflected signal. A cleaning device for the reflector is arranged on the reflector for activation by a centrifugal force generated during the rotation of the rotor to clean the reflector.

Sensor device for measuring aerodynamic loads of a rotor blade of a wind turbine

A pitch system for a wind turbine installation having an electrically driven pitch drive associated with each rotor blade and an electric motor arranged in a rotating part of the wind turbine installation for blade adjustments. A power and control unit is associated with the motor and has line connections for the transmission of power and control data from the power and control unit to the motor and vice versa. The line connections are passed via a first rotating bushing arranged at a connecting point between the rotating part and an axially adjacent stationary region. The pitch system also includes second rotating bushing which operates mechanically and electrically separately from the first rotating bushing and is connectable to the power and control unit and to the motor for maintaining reliable transmission of the power and control data if the first rotating bushing fails.

Redundant pitch system

The disclosure relates to a wind turbine having a machine support (), a rotor () which can be driven by wind () to rotate about the rotor axis () and is mounted so that it can rotate on the machine support () about a rotor axis (). The rotor includes a rotor hub () and several rotor blades () which extend respectively in the direction of a blade axis () running transverse or essentially transverse to the rotor axis (). The rotor blades () are mounted so that they can rotate on the rotor hub () about the respective blade axis (). Blade angle adjustable drives () are arranged on the rotor () and enable the rotor blades () to rotate about the blade axes thereof (). A blade angle control device () is coupled to the blade angle adjusting drives () and can control the blade angle adjusting drives (). An electric generator () is mechanically coupled to the rotor () and can be driven by the rotor to generate electric energy. The blade angle control device () includes several control units () which are respectively coupled to the blade angle adjusting drives () enabling a first control unit () to be fixed to the rotor () and a second control unit () to be fixed to the machine support.

Wind turbine

This disclosure relates to a device for optically measuring the curvature of a rotor blade () of a wind power plant (). The rotor blade is fixed at the blade root () to a rotor hub () or a rotor (). The device includes at least one light-emitting external marking () fixed to the rotor blade () at a distance from the blade root (), at least one camera () fixed to the rotor () for capturing the light () emitted from the external marking (). The device provides first location information as a function of the relative position of the camera () with respect to the external marking (). An evaluating device () is coupled to the camera (), and a position detection means detects the relative location of the camera () with respect to the blade root () and provides second location information as a function of said relative location. The evaluating device () determines at least one variable characterizing the curvature of the rotor blade () while evaluating the position information.

Device for optically measuring the curvature of a rotor blade of a wind power plant

The invention relates to a rotor for a wind turbine of the type having a rotor hub () and a set of rotor blades (). Each rotor blade () is rotatably mounted on the rotor hub () for rotation about a blade axis (). A threaded spindle mechanism () interconnects the rotor blade () and the rotor hub (). The threaded spindle mechanism () includes a spindle nut (), a threaded spindle () and a drive () mounted on the rotor blade () adjacent a transition between the rotor hub () and the rotor blade (). The drive () is rotatable together with the rotor blade () about the blade axis () relative to the rotor hub () by actuation of the threaded spindle mechanism ().

Rotor for a wind turbine

The invention relates to a method for controlling a wind power plant having a rotor () driven by wind and rotating about a horizontal or substantially horizontally aligned rotor axis (). The rotor includes a plurality of rotor blades (), each extending in the direction of a blade axis () which is perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the rotor axis and about which the respective rotor blade () is rotated, wherein the rotor () is rotated about a vertical or substantially vertically aligned yaw axis () having a yaw angle velocity (&#x3b3;), whereby gyroscopic loads are generated on the rotor blades (), and wherein the gyroscopic loads on the rotor blades () are reduced by rotating the rotor blades () about the blade axes () thereof depending on the yaw angle velocity (&#x3b3;) or a guide variable (&#x3b3;c) influencing said velocity.

Method for controlling a wind turbine

A meteorological measurement system is disclosed having a meteorological mast which extends upwards from a base and supports one or more wind gauges. At least one of the wind gauges is disposed in the region of the upper tip of the mast and is designed as a remote wind gauge for measuring wind conditions at one or more remote measurement locations situated above the mast tip at a distance from the remote wind gauge. At least another wind gauge is disposed in the region of the upper tip of the mast in close spatial proximity to the remote wind gauge and is designed as a local wind gauge for measuring wind characteristics at the location of the remote wind gauge.

Meteorological measurement system

The present invention relates to a wind-velocity-field measurement system for use in a wind turbine having a rotor with' two or more blades, comprising at least one sensor-signal obtained by measuring a physical quantity on at angle least one of the blades, the physical quantity being indicative of at least one wind-velocity-field characteristic; a table () build for a plurality of wind conditions by associating values characterizing the at least one sensor-signal with values of the at least one wind-velocity-field characteristic, and; searching means () for determining from the table a value of the at least one wind-velocity-field characteristic for a current wind condition given values characterizing the at least one sensor-signal.

Growing community of inventors

Bad Bentheim, Germany

Fabio Bertolotti