Frontier Wind, Llc.

The United States of America As Represented by the Department of Energy

Ge Infrastructure Technology, LLC

Thomas Jay Green

Leigh Zalusky

Erick James Rickards

Peter E Brooks

Edward Anthony Mayda

Jonathon Paul Baker

Nathan John Burgess

Myron Floyd Miller

Joshua P Karch

Peter Everett Brooks

Systems and methods are disclosed for deterring wildlife, such as bats and birds, from drawing too proximate to an operating wind turbine. Wildlife species may be sensitive to transmitted frequencies, such as ultrasonic frequencies above the range of human hearing. For example, bats may avoid areas where ultrasonic frequencies are being emitted, either because the emitted ultrasonic frequency interferes with the echolocation of the bat, or because encountering the ultrasonic frequency is uncomfortable for the bat. In some aspects, acoustic transmitters may be arranged along a length of a blade of a wind turbine. A controller may direct the acoustical transmitters to transmit signals having ultrasonic frequencies to deter wildlife encounters. The controller may direct the transmitters to transmit only during periods where wildlife encounters are likely to occur (e.g. at night, during migration seasons, during favorable weather conditions, or the like).

Wildlife deterrence system arranged in wind turbine blade

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for actuating one or more load management devices on a wind turbine and/or a wind turbine blade. Each actuator may exhibit one or more beneficial qualities including appropriate actuation speed/force characteristics, size and/or weight characteristics, and/or increased reliability and consistent operation in a variety of operating conditions. According to some aspects, the actuator may be a direct pneumatic actuator, a ramp slide pneumatic actuator, a scissor actuator, a linear induction actuator, a belt actuator, a closed cam follower actuator, a screw drive actuator, a solenoid actuator, a rack and pinion actuator, a cylindrical cam follower actuator, a Y-belt actuator, an offset rotary drive actuator, a tape style actuator, a rigid tape actuator, a deformable membrane actuator, a memory alloy actuator, and/or a crank slide actuator.

Actuation mechanisms for load management devices on aerodynamic blades

An active sensing system for wind turbines is described. The sensing system may include a plurality of ports, a local sensing device and a load mitigation device and may be operably coupled to a control system. The plurality of ports, local sensing device, and load mitigation device may be operably coupled and configured to monitor air pressure on wind turbine blades, determine if proper sensing operation is occurring, and eradicate an obstruction if proper sensing operation is being prevented by the obstruction. Associated methods performing the sensing and eradication of the obstruction including purging and deicing are disclosed. Wind turbines and wind turbine blades with the active sensing system are also described.

Wind turbine load mitigation device and port configuration

Port purging and deicing system

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Roseville, CA, United States of America

Thomas Jay Green