Vestas Wind Systems A/s

Bladerobots A/s

Paul Badger

Luke Spandley

Stephen Buggy

Arran Wood

Tomas Vronsky

Karl Gregory

Angela Thwaites

Brian Daugbjerg Nielsen

Peter Tranum Thomsen

Servet Sert

Darren Rogers

Benjamin Rowlinson

A method of inspecting a wind turbine blade having an electro-thermal heating element and a surface protection layer. The method includes: exposing a test point of the electro-thermal heating element; contacting the test point to establish an electrical connection between the test point and a sensor; and electrically connecting the sensor to the surface protection layer. The sensor is operated to measure a resistance value indicative of an electrical resistance between the test point and the surface protection layer. The resistance value is analysed to determine a condition of the wind turbine blade. The invention provides a method of inspecting a wind turbine blade which enables damage or defects to be detected which may be difficult to detect by visual inspection or traditional non-destructive testing techniques.

Inspecting wind turbine blade

A wind turbine rotor blade spar cap includes a stack of layers of conductive material. An intermediate layer is bonded between adjacent layers of the conductive material. The intermediate layer includes a portion of conductive material which is electrically coupled to the adjacent layers of conductive material so as to equipotentially bond the adjacent layers of the conductive material via the intermediate layer.

Equipotential bonding of wind turbine rotor blade spar cap

There is provided a method of avoiding edgewise vibrations during a non-operational period of a wind turbine. The method comprises defining a non-operational period for a wind turbine arranged at a specific site, determining expected wind conditions at the specific site during the non-operational period and defining a plurality of potential yaw orientations for the wind turbine. The method further comprises determining the relative probability of edgewise vibrations occurring during the non-operational period for each potential yaw orientation based upon the expected wind conditions during the non-operational period, determining one or more preferred yaw orientations, which are the yaw orientations in which the probability of edgewise vibrations occurring is lowest, and arranging the wind turbine in one of the preferred yaw orientations during the non-operational period.

Method of avoiding edgewise vibrations during non-operational periods of a wind turbine

A wind turbine blade having an electro-thermal heating element is provided. The electro-thermal heating element has a sheet of electrically resistive material, which is folded so as to provide a plurality of heat zones. Each heat zone includes one or more layers of the sheet. At least two of the heat zones have a different number of layers of the sheet.

Heating a wind turbine blade

A wind turbine blade comprising an electro-thermal heating element with a tapering width. The electro-thermal heating element comprises: electrically resistive sheet material; a first electrode which is in electrical contact with the sheet material and positioned at a first end of the element; and a second electrode which is in electrical contact with the sheet material and positioned at a second end of the sheet material. An electrically conductive strip extends across a width of the element. The sheet material has a first part on a first side of the strip and a second part on a second side of the strip. The strip is in electrical contact with the first and second parts of the sheet material. The first part of the sheet material has a first width, and the second part of the sheet material has a second width which is different to the first width.

Wind turbine blade with electro-thermal heating element

A first aspect of the invention provides a wind turbine blade having a blade shell that defines a suction side, pressure side, leading edge, and a trailing edge of the blade. The blade further comprises a blade heating system comprising one or more heating elements configured to heat the blade in first and second heating areas, wherein the first heating area is closer to the leading edge than the second heating area is, and the heating system is configured to generate heat fluxes in the first and second heating areas such that the heat flux generated in the first heating area is lower than the heat flux generated in the second heating area.

The present invention relates to a method and controller for heating a wind turbine blade that comprises a plurality of heating zones. An icing factor is determined based on environmental conditions and one or more heating zones are determined based on the determined icing factor, wherein each heating zone comprises one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements. The one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements corresponding to the determined heating zones are activated to generate heat.

Electro-thermal heating

The present invention relates to methods and electro-thermal heating elements in which the electro-thermal heating element comprises a cut-out. Forming at least one multi-resistance patch for the cut-out and attaching the at least one multi-resistance patch to the electro-thermal heating element proximate to the cut-out.

Electro-thermal heating elements

The present invention relates to a method of controlling an electro-thermal heating system in a wind turbine blade, comprising measuring a supply voltage to the electro-thermal heating system, determining a duration of a variable time based enforced off period based on the measured supply voltage, and inserting the variable time based enforced off period between subsequent switching duty cycles that controls the electro-thermal heating system. The present invention also relates to a wind turbine that comprises one or more wind turbine blades wherein each wind turbine blade comprises an electro-thermal heating system and a processor adapted to perform the method.

Electro-Thermal Heating system for wind turbine blades

A wind turbine blade () comprising an outer shell () incorporating a metallic foil component (), a conductive blade component () in-board of the metallic foil component (), and a fabric sheet assembly () positioned between the metallic component () and the conductive blade component (). The fabric sheet assembly comprises: one or more non-conductive fabric sheets () which define first and second outer surfaces () of the fabric sheet assembly (); and at least one conductive thread stitch () penetrating a depth of the one or more fabric sheets () and being exposed at the outer surfaces (); thereby to enable equipotential bonding between the conductive blade component () and the metallic foil component ().

Relating to structural components for wind turbine blades

Examples of the present disclosure generally relate to wind turbine blades configured to minimize or eliminate buildup of ice on the blades. In order to maintain an ice free surface on a wind turbine blade, one or more ETH panels are embedded in the wind turbine blade to heat the wind turbine blade. One or more busbars are electrically connected to each of the one or more ETH panels for conducting electrical power to the ETH panels. The busbars may be disposed in an overlapping configuration to provide uniform heating of the wind turbine blade.

Busbars in a stacking arrangement

A method of securing a cable () to a wind turbine blade is described. The method involves providing a pre-assembled cable assembly () comprising a cable () and a plurality of mounts (-) pre-attached to the cable () at intervals along the length of the cable (). The plurality of mounts (-) is attached to a surface () of a wind turbine blade such that the mounts (-) are spaced apart along the surface () of the blade. The spacing between adjacent mounts (-) when the mounts (-) are attached to the blade is less than the length of the cable () between said adjacent mounts (-) such that a predetermined amount of slack is provided in the cable () between said adjacent mounts (-). A pre-assembled cable assembly for use in the method is also described together with a method of assembling the cable assembly.

Method of securing cables to a wind turbine blade

A wind turbine blade includes a plurality of layered sections coupled together end-to-end. Each section includes a side wall that forms a tubular structure and includes at least one bore. When the sections are coupled together, the bores generally align to form a conduit. A strengthening element extends through the conduit and is configured to reinforce the blade under load during use of the wind turbine. A wind turbine includes a tower, a nacelle, and a rotor including a hub and at least one wind turbine blade including a plurality of layered sections extending from the hub. A method of forming a wind turbine blade through an additive manufacturing process is also disclosed.

Wind turbines, wind turbine blades, and methods for manufacturing wind turbine blades

The present invention relates to a method, controller, wind turbine and wind farm that advantageously determines an ice throw risk zone () for a wind turbine (), wherein the ice throw risk zone () defines an area surrounding the wind turbine () within which ice can be thrown from one or more blades of the wind turbine (); determining whether the determined ice throw risk zone () impinges one or more exclusion zones; and if the determined ice throw risk zone () impinges one or more exclusion zones, determining an alteration to one or more operating parameters of the wind turbine () in order to alter the ice throw risk zone () such that the determined ice throw risk zone () does not impinge the one or more exclusion zones.

Wind turbine safety system

A method of repairing erosion on a wind turbine blade while on a wind turbine includes placing a scanning device on an erosion zone. The device scans the erosion zone to gather an image and/or digital data. A printing system deposits a material according to the image and/or digital data. The repair system may include a frame such that scanning and/or depositing are with respect to the frame. A processing system interprets the image and/or digital data and produces an instruction file. Depositing the material may include depositing the material according to the instruction file. An unmanned aerial vehicle may be operated to position at least one of the scanning device and the printing system on the wind turbine blade. Alternatively, a rope/wire system may be operated to lower at least one of the scanning device and the printing system along the wind turbine blade.

Growing community of inventors

Salisbury, United Kingdom

Paul Badger