Vestas Wind Systems A/s

Nathan A Brilliant

Andrew Leaver

Lasse Lykkegaard

Toby Collard

Angela Thwaites

Chris Sutton

Anders Niels Hansen

Leon Barton

Rens Christiaan Verhoef

Gurmukh Singh

Vijayasankar Irissappane

Julian Anaya Calvo

Lyle Stratton

Bo Birkelund Mogensen

A split wind turbine blade includes a connection joint for coupling a first and a second blade portion together. At least one of the blade portions includes electrically conductive material, and a hole formed in an end surface of the blade portion. A portion of the electrically conductive material is revealed on a surface of the hole. The connection joint includes a metal insert embedded in the hole such that the metal insertforms an electrical path with the electrically conductive material revealed on the surface of the hole.

Connection joint for a split wind turbine blade

A wind turbine blade having at least two blade modules extending in the spanwise direction of the blade and being configured for connection end-to-end at a connection joint An electromagnetic shield is positioned in electrically conductive contact with the blade modules and extending across the connection joint in the spanwise direction.

Modular wind turbine blade with lightning protection system

Embodiments herein describe a discharge filter, located in a root of a wind turbine blade, which includes one or more cables wound into large scale inductors using an internal or external surface of the root as a mandrel. These cables provide power inputs to an electrical panel for one or more a powered systems that are located in a body of the wind turbine blade. The electrical panel is connected to a lightning protection system that selectively provides a path to ground, and the inductors form a high-impedance barrier that shunts power away from the cables and onto the lightning protection system in the event of a lightning strike or other electrical discharge traveling from the powered systems to the electrical panel.

Large inductors for lightning protection of power systems

The present invention provides a wind turbine comprising a lightning protection system for providing an electrical conduction path suitable for conducting lightning from the rotor to electrical ground. The lightning protection system comprises a shroud which is electrically coupled to a wind turbine bearing housing and a wind turbine hub and/or the front end of the main shaft. The shroud forms part of the electrical conduction path so to electrically couple a wind turbine rotor to the bearing housing via a short circuit path that bypasses the bearing arrangement.

Wind turbine comprising a lightning protection system

A wind turbine blade comprising a lightning protection system, which is at least partly disposed in an inboard portion of the blade. The lightning protection system comprises a plurality of inboard down conductor cables and a diverging electrical junction. The lightning protection system may comprise a down conductor cable having root and tip portions having insulation with different electrical breakdown voltages and/or a down conductor cable portion and a supporting component to hold the cable portion in free space in a position near or on a camber line of the blade aerofoil section, so that the cable portion is spaced apart from at least one electrically conductive structural component.

Wind turbine lightning protection system

A wind turbine blade comprising a lightning protection system, which is at least partly disposed in an inboard portion of the blade. The lightning protection system comprises a down conductor cable portion and a supporting component to hold the cable portion in free space in a position near or on a camber line of the blade aerofoil section, so that the cable portion is spaced apart from at least one electrically conductive structural component. The lightning protection system may comprise a plurality of inboard down conductor cables and a diverging electrical junction; and/or a down conductor cable having root and tip portions having insulation with different electrical breakdown voltages.

A wind turbine blade comprising a lightning protection system, which is at least partly disposed in an inboard portion of the blade. The lightning protection system comprises a down conductor cable having root and tip portions having insulation with different electrical breakdown voltages. The lightning protection system may comprise a down conductor cable portion and a supporting component to hold the cable portion in free space in a position near or on a camber line of the blade aerofoil section, so that the cable portion is spaced apart from at least one electrically conductive structural component; and/or a plurality of inboard down conductor cables and a diverging electrical junction.

A wind turbine rotor blade having a blade shell with a generally chordwise layup of fibre plies and a generally spanwise spar cap. A lightning conductor extends over the spar cap, and the spar cap includes conductive material. An equipotential bonding element electrically bonds the lightning conductor to the spar cap. The equipotential bonding element extends between an outboard edge of one stack of the fibre plies and an inboard edge of an adjacent stack of the fibre plies, which overlap to define an overlapping edge region.

Equipotential bonding of wind turbine rotor blade

Improvements relating to wind turbine blades A wind turbine blade is described that comprises a main blade and one or more separate edge modules attached to the main blade module. The main blade module defines a main body of the blade, and the separate edge module(s) defines at least part of a leading edge or a trailing edge of the blade. A down conductor for a blade lightning protection system is embedded within the edge module.

Relating to wind turbine blades

A wind turbine rotor blade lightning receptor arrangement () is provided with an electrically conductive block () and a shielding component (). In use, the electrically conductive block () forms an electrical bridge between a receptor element () of a lightning protection system and a down conductor () of the lightning protection system. The electrically conductive block () comprises a first engagement surface () for, in use, receiving the receptor element (). The shielding component () overlays a portion of the first engagement surface () of the electrically conductive block (), while leaving open an area for receiving the receptor element ().

Growing community of inventors

Arvada, CO, United States of America

Nathan A Brilliant