Vestas Wind Systems A/s

Rasmus Molgaard Hviid Knudsen

Martin Ansbjerg Kjær

Poul Brandt Christensen

Ali Zaib

Martin Møller Sørensen

Peter Koldkjær

Michael Houlind Jensen

Maryam Soleimanzadeh

Arvishwa Kumar Singh

To efficiently nm a wind turbine in varying wind speeds, the wind turbine may be configured to switch between two different electrical configurations that offer different efficiencies depending on wind speed. For example, a star configuration may be preferred during low wind speeds while a delta configuration is preferred for high wind speeds. Before switching, the power output by the turbine's generator may be driven to zero. Doing so, however, removes load from the rotor blades which cause the rotor speed to increase. Instead, the rotor speed may be controlled such that the speed stays at or above the speed of the rotor immediately before the generator power is ramped down. Maintaining rotor speed at or slightly above the current speed while switching between electrical configurations may mitigate the torque change experienced by the turbine and reduce the likelihood of structural failure.

Speed management of a wind turbine when switching electrical configurations

Growing community of inventors

Randers, Denmark

Rasmus Molgaard Hviid Knudsen