General Electric Company

General Electric Renovables Espana, S.l.

Murray Fisher

James Robert Tobin

Stefan Herr

Drew Adam Wetzel

Madireddi Vasu Datta

Norman Arnold Turnquist

Todd Alan Anderson

Stephen Bertram Johnson

Andreas Herrig

Jamie Thomas Livingston

Thomas Merzhaeuser

Kevin Wayne Kinzie

Peggy Lynn Baehmann

Alan Majors Walker

Klaus Ulrich Koegler

Roger Drobietz

Benoit Philippe Petitjean

Christian Aloysius Carroll

Andrew McCalip

Don Conrad Johnson

Benjamin Patrick Hallissy

David Cole Magnuson

Sara Simonne Delport

Jonathon Paul Baker

Jelmer Cnossen

Benoit Philippe Armand Petitjean

A rotor blade assembly of a wind turbine includes a rotor blade having an aerodynamic body with an inboard region and an outboard region. The inboard and outboard regions define a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, and a trailing edge. The inboard region includes a blade root, whereas the outboard region includes a blade tip. The rotor blade also defines a chord and a span. Further, the inboard region includes a transitional region of the rotor blade that includes a maximum chord. Moreover, a unitless first derivative of the chord with respect to the span of the rotor blade in the transitional region ranges from about &#x2212;0.10 to about 0.10 from the maximum chord over about 15% of the span of the rotor blade. In addition, the unitless first derivative of the chord with respect to the span a slope of a change in the chord in is greater than about &#x2212;0.03 at an inflection point of the chord in the outboard region.

Wind turbine rotor blade assembly for reduced noise

The present disclosure is directed to methods for attaching a plurality of surface features to a rotor blade of a wind turbine. Such methods may include direct molding of the surface features to the rotor blade, bonding arrays of connected components to the rotor blade and subsequently removing connections between components, as well as using a flexible template with or without a tinted adhesive.

Attachment methods for surface features of wind turbine rotor blades

A method for manufacturing a rotor blade panel of a wind turbine includes placing one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins into a mold of the rotor blade panel. The method also includes printing and depositing, via a computer numeric control (CNC) device, a plurality of rib members that form at least one three-dimensional (3-D) reinforcement grid structure onto an inner surface of the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins. Further, the grid structure bonds to the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins as the grid structure is deposited. Moreover, the method includes printing at least one additional feature into the grid structure.

Methods for manufacturing wind turbine rotor blade panels having printed grid structures

The present disclosure is directed to a method for controlling a wind turbine using an adjusted aerodynamic performance map. In one embodiment, the method includes monitoring at least one of an actual wind parameter or operating data of the wind turbine using one or more sensors. Further, the method includes determining an adjustment factor for the aerodynamic performance map based, at least in part, on either or both of the measured actual wind parameter or the wind turbine operating data. Moreover, the method includes applying the adjustment factor to a first aerodynamic performance map to obtain an adjusted aerodynamic performance map. Thus, the method also includes controlling the wind turbine based on the adjusted aerodynamic performance map.

Adjustment factor for aerodynamic performance map

A rotor blade assembly for a wind turbine is disclosed. The rotor blade assembly includes a rotor blade having surfaces defining a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, and a trailing edge extending between a tip and a root. The rotor blade further includes a noise reducer configured on a surface of the rotor blade, the noise reducer comprising a plurality of serrations, each of the plurality of serrations defining a centerline. The centerline of each of the plurality of serrations defines a individual tailored angle dependent on at least one of span-wise location, local chord, width, length, bend angle, and thickness.

Noise reducer for rotor blade in wind turbine

A rotor blade assembly is disclosed. The rotor blade assembly includes a main rotor blade, the main rotor blade including a pressure side and a suction side extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge, and an auxiliary rotor blade associated with the main rotor blade, the auxiliary rotor blade including a pressure side and a suction side extending between a leading edge and a trailing edge. The rotor blade assembly further includes a support member connecting the auxiliary rotor blade to the main rotor blade. The auxiliary rotor blade is configured to modify a lift force associated with the rotor blade assembly.

Rotor blade assembly

A wind turbine includes an electrical stall sensor configured on a pressure surface of at least one turbine blade at a location to detect backflow in a stall condition. The stall sensor includes a flap pivotally configured on the respective pressure surface so as to be moved from a first position towards a second position by backflow over the pressure surface during a stall condition. A sensor circuit responds to movement of the flap between the first and second positions and generates a corresponding electrical signal that indicates the stall condition.

Wind turbine blade with integrated stall sensor and associated method of detecting stall of a wind turbine blade

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Simpsonville, SC, United States of America

Murray Fisher