Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/s

John M Obrecht

Karsten Schibsbye

Kevin James Standish

Arni T Steingrimsson

Scott Richard Johnson

Ryan Andrew Sievers

Drew Eisenberg

Lasse Gilling

Henrik Fredslund Hansen

Luis A Mailly

Alonso Zamora

Paul F Medina

Kevin J Standish

Luis Mailly

Scott J Johnson

A method of controlling a wind turbine having a nacelle, a rotor, a rotating hub, a first rotor blade and at least a second rotor blade, both rotor blades being mounted to the hub. The method includes measuring the strain in the first rotor blade by a strain measurement device attached to the first rotor blade; and choosing the operational parameters of the wind turbine based on the measured strain such that fatigue damage of the second rotor blade is reduced. A wind turbine is controlled by such a method.

Control for a wind turbine

A swept wind turbine blade () includes a blade body () extending along a length between a root () and a tip () of the blade (). A pitch axis () extends through the root () of the blade (). A reference line () defines a deviation from the pitch axis () and corresponds to a swept shape of the blade () along its length. The reference line () has a zero sweep at the root (), a zero slope at the root (), and a positive curvature () along a segment within 25% of the length from the root () to the tip () of the blade ().

Wind turbine blade having a geometric sweep

A wind turbine blade airfoil trailing edge (TE) with a first waveform profile (B,C,E) as seen from behind, formed by ruffles or alternating ridges () and valleys () formed on the airfoil () and ending at the trailing edge. The trailing edge may further include a second waveform profile (B,C,E) as seen from above, resulting from serrations formed by an oblique termination plane (B) of the trailing edge or by other geometry. The ridges and/or serrations may be asymmetric (E,E) to increase a stall fence effect of the ridges on the suction side (SS) of the trailing edge. The first and second waveforms may have the same period (B,B) or different periods (C,C).

Trailing edge modifications for wind turbine airfoil

A wind turbine blade () is cantilevered from a shaft () of a rotor (). A pitch reference azimuth () of the blade may be located by generating a function () of gravitational bending strain or moment magnitude of the blade versus pitch angle of the blade for a vector component () of gravitational force (GF) relative to a predetermined transverse line (CL,) of the blade, such as a chord line, over a range of pitch angles of the blade. The pitch reference azimuth may be set at a characteristic point () on the function, such as an inflection point Two such functions () may be generated with the blade in two respective positions on opposite sides of the rotor The intersection point () of these functions is a pitch reference point that is compensated for rotor tilt.

Method for setting a pitch reference point for a wind turbine blade on a rotor

A method and system for improving power production efficiency on a wind farm having of a plurality of spatially distributed wind turbines is provided. The method includes receiving a wind measurement that includes a wind direction impinging on a turbine (), determining a misalignment of the wind turbine with respect to the wind direction, and activating a wake steering control for the wind turbine () to implement the misalignment of the wind turbine () with the wind direction such that the misalignment is adapted to steer a wake of the wind turbine away from a neighboring wind turbine (). A wind turbine arrangement including a nacelle, a yaw controller, and a yaw drive is also provided.

Method and system for improving wind farm power production efficiency

A wind turbine blade () having a spanwise series of vortex generators (P,P,) and having a trailing edge () defining a waveform. The vortex generators are aligned with a predetermined position or phase () of a respective period of the trailing edge waveform. Each vortex generator may be designed to create a vortex () that crosses the trailing edge at an angle of less than 30 degrees from parallel to the trailing edge. The blade may include alternating ridges () and troughs () that end at the waveform trailing edge. A front end of each trough may form a V-shaped drop-off in the suction side of the blade that forms a pair () of vortex generators to create counter-rotating vortices within the trough that entrain energy to the bottom of the trough.

Vortex generators aligned with trailing edge features on wind turbine blade

A method for controlling aerodynamic loads in wind turbine (), includes stopping rotation of blades () of the turbine about a rotor shaft axis (); stopping rotation of a nacelle () of the turbine about a vertical yaw axis (); pitching each blade of the turbine about its respective pitch axis () into a stable pitch angle range (B-C orE-F) in which a resulting root twisting moment () created by a current wind loading () on the respective blade is in a direction urging pitch rotation of the blade toward a position of lower root twisting moment; and releasing the blades to rotate passively about their respective pitch axes during subsequent changing wind directions (V). A blade may be designed to better align a root zero twisting moment (A,D) in the stable pitch angle range with a minimum (B,D,B,D) wind loading.

Method for controlling loads in a wind turbine

A wind turbine blade () and a method of forming a wind turbine blade. The method includes: forming an inner segment () of an airfoil, leaving a portion () of an inner weave () extending from the inner segment; forming an outer segment () of the airfoil, leaving a portion () of an outer weave () extending from the outer segment; overlapping the extending portion of the inner weave with the extending portion of the outer weave; infusing the overlapped extending portions with additional resin; and curing the additional resin to form a monolithic airfoil ().

Wind turbine blade and method of fabricating a wind turbine blade

A method of forming a wind turbine component, the method including forming a segment () by impregnating a portion () of a fiber reinforcement () with a thermoset resin () up to a boundary (), curing the thermoset resin, and leaving unimpregnated fiber reinforcement () extending from the boundary. The component may then be assembled by impregnating and joining the unimpregnated fiber reinforcement of two such segments.

Wind turbine blade segment and method of manufacturing the wind turbine blade segment

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

The present invention includes a rotor blade () having a blade body () with a leading edge () and a trailing edge () and opposed first and second surfaces () extending there between defining an airfoil shape () in cross-section. A passageway () extends through the blade body () between the first and second surfaces (). A flexible member () is sealed over one end () of the passageway (). Advantageously, the flexible member () is passively responsive to changes in a differential pressure between the first and second surfaces () to move between a deactivated position () and an activated position () where the flexible member () extends away from the airfoil shape () to function as a load mitigation device () for the wind turbine rotor blade ().

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, CO, United States of America

John M Obrecht