Vestas Wind Systems A/s

Thomas S Bjertrup Nielsen

Peter Bjørn Andersen

Torben Juul Larsen

Mikkel Kiilerich Østerlund

Torben Ladegaard Baun

Kristian Balschmidt Godsk

Robert Thomas Rudolf

Lars Helle

Fabio Caponetti

Keld Hammerum

Søren Dalsgaard

Julio Xavier Vianna Neto

Peter Bøttcher

Aksel Petersen

Morten Lindholm

Kim Hylling Sørensen

Brian Jørgensen

Torben Petersen

Imad Abdallah

Niels Christian M Nielsen

Peng Wang

Mohammed Fajar

Mikkel Kiilerich ØSterlund

Kim Hylling SØRENSEN

Carsten Hein Westergaard

A wind turbine comprising includes a tower, a nacelle mounted on the tower, and a rotor mounted to the nacelle. The rotor comprises a hub and at least three pitchable wind turbine blades connected to the hub via respective pitch mechanisms. The airfoil profile of each blade has a thickness being the greatest distance between the windward and leeward sides orthogonal to the chord. Each blade comprises a connection point located at a first radial position between the blade root and the blade tip. The wind turbine further comprises one or more blade connecting members connected between the connection point and a corresponding connection point on a neighbouring blade. The thickness and/or the relative thickness of each blade is substantially constant or has a local minimum within an inboard portion of the blade between the blade root and the connection point.

Wind turbine

A pitch controlled wind turbine () comprising a tower (), a nacelle () mounted on the tower (), a hub () mounted rotatably on the nacelle (), and at least three wind turbine blades () is disclosed. Each wind turbine blade () extends between a root end () connected to the hub (), and a tip end (). The wind turbine () further comprises at least three blade connecting members (), each blade connecting member () extending between a connection point () on one wind turbine blade () and a connection point () on a neighbouring wind turbine blade (). The wind turbine blades () each comprises an inboard blade part () comprising the root end () and an outboard blade part () comprising the tip end (), the inboard blade part () and the outboard blade part () being connected to each other at a split position (). The split position () is arranged between the root end () and the connection point ().

Pitch controlled wind turbine with blade connecting members and split blades

A pitch controlled wind turbine comprising a tower, a nacelle mounted on the tower, a hub mounted rotatably on the nacelle, and at least three wind turbine blades is disclosed. Each wind turbine blade extends between a root end connected to the hub via a pitch mechanism, and a tip end. The wind turbine further comprises at least three blade connecting members, each blade connecting member extending between a connection point on one wind turbine blade and a connection point on a neighboring wind turbine blade, the connection points being arranged at a distance from the root end and at a distance from the tip end of the wind turbine blade. The wind turbine further comprises at least three pre-tension members, each pre-tension member being connected to one of the blade connecting members and to a hub part, the pre-tension members thereby providing pre-tension in the blade connecting members.

Pitch controlled wind turbine with blade connecting members

A wind park with wind turbines and airborne wind energy systems where a first zone and a second zone is defined for at least one of the airborne wind energy systems such that the risk of collision between apart of that airborne wind energy systems and a part of one of the wind turbines is higher when the airborne unit of that airborne wind energy system is in the second zone than when it is in the first zone, and different control parameters are applied to the control of at least one of the wind turbine and the airborne wind energy system depending on the position of the airborne unit relative to the defined zones.

Wind energy park comprising a wind turbine and an airborne wind energy system

A wind turbine comprising one or more wind turbine blades arranged to perform pivot movements between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle, each wind turbine blade extending between an outer tip and an inner tip, wherein each wind turbine blade has an outer portion extending between the hinge and the outer tip and having a first length, and inner portion extending between the hinge and the inner tip and having a second length, wherein a coning angle of the blade carrying structure is larger than zero and/or a tilt angle of the rotor axis is larger than zero, and wherein a horizontal distance from the tower at a vertical position defined by a position of the hinge at tower passage to a point of connection between the blade carrying structure and the hub is equal to or less than the second length.

Hinged blade wind turbine with tilted axis and/or coned rotor

A wind turbine () comprising a tower (), a nacelle () and a hub () is disclosed. The hub () comprises a blade carrying structure () with one or more wind turbine blades () connected thereto. Each of the wind turbine blades () defines an aerodynamic profile having a chord which varies along a length of the wind turbine blade (). Each of the wind turbine blades () is connected to the blade carrying structure () via a hinge () at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (), each wind turbine blade () thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure () between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The hinge position is arranged at a distance from the inner tip end () and at a distance from the outer tip end (), and the chord at the hinge position is larger than or equal to the chord at the inner tip end () and larger than the chord at the outer tip end ().

Wind turbine with blades hinged at an intermediate position

A wind turbine () comprising a tower (), a nacelle () mounted on the tower () via a yaw system, a hub () mounted rotatably on the nacelle (), the hub () comprising a blade carrying structure (), and one or more wind turbine blades () connected to the blade carrying structure () via a hinge () is disclosed. Each wind turbine blade () is thereby arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure () between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The blade carrying structure () is provided with one or more elements () configured to improve aerodynamic properties of a surface of the blade carrying structure () by increasing a lift and/or decreasing a drag of the blade carrying structure. The increase in lift and/or decrease in drag varies as a function of angle of attack (AOA) between the blade carrying structure () and the incoming wind.

Wind turbine with a blade carrying structure having aerodynamic properties

A horizontal axis wind turbine () with a wind turbine blade () is disclosed, the wind turbine blade () comprising a hinge () arranged to connect the wind turbine blade () to a blade carrying structure () of the wind turbine (), at a non-zero distance from an inner tip () and at a non-zero distance from an outer tip () of the wind turbine blade (). An outer blade part () is arranged between the hinge region and the outer tip (), and an inner blade part () is arranged between the hinge region and the inner tip (). The outer blade part () extends from the hinge region along a first direction and the inner blade part () extends from the hinge region along a second direction, and the first direction and the second direction form an angle, &#x3b1;, there between, where 0&#xb0;&#x3c;&#x3b1;&#x3c;90&#xb0;.

Hinged wind turbine blade defining an angle in a flap-wise direction

A wind turbine () comprising a tower (), a nacelle () and a hub () is disclosed. The hub () comprises a blade canying structure () with one or more wind turbine blades () connected thereto. Each of the wind turbine blades () is connected to the blade canying structure () via a hinge () at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (), each wind turbine blade () thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure () between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The wind turbine () further comprises a stop mechanism arranged to move the wind turbine blades () to a safe pivot angle in the case of an emergency, the stop mechanism comprising a release mechanism () and at least one wire () interconnecting the release mechanism () and each of the wind turbine blades (). Activation of the release mechanism () causes an abrupt change in a pulling force applied to the wind turbine blades () by the wire(s) (), the change in pulling force causes the wind turbine blades () to move immediately to the safe pivot angle.

Wind turbine with a pivoted rotor blades, wire and release mechanism for stopping

The present invention relates to wind energy park connected to an electrical grid, having airborne wind energy systems (AWES), e.g. with kites. The wind energy park has an electrical DC network connecting the plurality of AWES and a grid converter unit for converting DC to AC, and transmit AC to the electrical grid. The wind energy park control unit controls the AWES to produce electrical power to the electrical grid by alternating between a power production phase, and a recovery phase so to balance the supply of power to the electrical grid according a demanded setpoint. An advantage is that the grid converter may be smaller, as compared to an AC network, because the power is evened out with the negative power from the AWES being in recovery phase. In this way, the invention stabilizes the grid and has a grid forming capability.

Wind energy park with airborne wind energy systems and a direct current (DC) internal grid

The present invention relates to a method for operating a wind turbine (). The wind turbine () comprises one or more wind turbine blades (), each wind turbine blade () being connected to a blade carrying structure () mounted on a hub (), via a hinge () at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (), each wind turbine blade () thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure () between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The method comprises the steps of detecting an airborne object entering a predefined zone around the wind turbine (), comparing a current tip height (H) of the wind turbine () to a maximum tip height value, the maximum tip height value representing a maximum allowable tip height under currently prevailing conditions. In the case that the current tip height (H) exceeds the maximum tip height value, a pivot angle (P) of wind turbine blades () is adjusted in order to decrease the tip height (H) of the wind turbine () to a value below the maximum tip height value.

Method for controlling a tip height of a wind turbine

A wind turbine () comprising a tower (), a nacelle () and a hub () is disclosed. The hub () comprises a blade carrying structure () with one or more wind turbine blades () connected to thereto. Each of the wind turbine blades () defines an aerodynamic profile having a thickness which varies along a length of the wind turbine blade (). Each of the wind turbine blades () is connected to the blade carrying structure () via a hinge () at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (), each wind turbine blade () thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure () between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The hinge position is arranged at a distance from the inner tip end () and at a distance from the outer tip end (), and the thickness, or the thickness-to chord ratio, at the hinge position is larger than the thickness, or the thickness-to-chord ratio, at the inner tip end () and larger than the thickness, or the thickness-to-chord ratio, at the outer tip end ().

Wind turbine with hinged blades having a hinge position between inner and outer tip end of the blades

A wind energy farm () comprising at least one first wind turbine () and at least one second wind turbine () is disclosed. Each wind turbine () comprises a tower () mounted on a foundation, and at least one rotor () with a hub carrying a set of wind turbine blades (). The at least one first wind turbine () is provided with at least three stay cables (), each stay cable () being connected at one end to the tower () of said at least one first wind turbine () and at the other end to a stay cable foundation. At least one of the stay cable foundations and the foundation of one of said at least one second wind turbines () of the wind energy farm () are combined into a single combination foundation.

Wind energy farm with cable stayed wind turbines

A wind turbine comprising a tower, a nacelle, a rotor including a plurality of blades, an electrical generator operatively coupled to the rotor, and a control system. The control system comprises: a sensing system operable to output a signal indicative of the torsional oscillation frequency of the nacelle; a torsional damping module configured to monitor the torsional oscillation signal and to determine one or more blade pitch command signals for damping the torsional oscillation of the tower, and a filter module configured to receive the one or more blade pitch command signals as inputs and to output a respective one or more modified blade pitch command signals, wherein the filter module is configured to filter the one or more blade pitch command input signals to exclude frequency components greater than the torsional oscillation frequency. Aspects of the invention also relate to a method, a computer program software product and a controller for implementing the method.

System and method to manage torsional oscillation of a wind turbine tower

The invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a number of airborne wind energy systems arranged in a wind energy park, where each airborne wind energy system comprising a wind engaging member being coupled to a ground station via a cable. The method comprises the determination of an operational parameter of each of the airborne wind energy systems, such as the flight trajectory, the cable tension, or the power production. A first airborne wind energy system is controlled according to a fault control mode if its operational parameter deviates more than a predetermined threshold parameter from the operation parameters of the other airborne wind energy system. The method further comprises operating one or more neighbouring airborne wind energy systems according to a safe control mode.

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Randers SV, Denmark

Thomas S Bjertrup Nielsen