101results about "Passive/reactive control" patented technology

A method and apparatus for improving wind turbine performance by alleviating loads and controlling the rotor. The invention employs the use of a passively adaptive blade that senses the wind velocity or rotational speed, and accordingly modifies its aerodynamic configuration. The invention exploits the load mitigation prospects of a blade that twists toward feather as it bends. The invention includes passively adaptive wind turbine rotors or blades with currently preferred power control features. The apparatus is a composite fiber horizontal axis wind-turbine blade, in which a substantial majority of fibers in the blade skin are inclined at angles of between 15 and 30 degrees to the axis of the blade, to produces passive adaptive aeroelastic tailoring (bend-twist coupling) to alleviate loading without unduly jeopardizing performance.

The invention concerns a method of operating a wind turbine, wherein for a reduction of a wind load impacting on the wind turbine the rotational speed of the rotor and / or the electrical power output of the wind turbine are reduced depending on a deviation of the wind speed from the average wind speed. Moreover the invention concerns a wind turbine comprising a calculating unit adjusted for executing the inventive method.

A method for controlling a wind turbine having twist bend coupled rotor blades on a rotor mechanically coupled to a generator includes determining a speed of a rotor blade tip of the wind turbine, measuring a current twist distribution and current blade loading, and adjusting a torque of a generator to change the speed of the rotor blade tip to thereby increase an energy capture power coefficient of the wind turbine.

A machine that is a self regulating rotor with a set of cups or vanes that are pivotally attached about a central axis such that they form a closed three dimensional shape when closed, and when rotated into an open orientation form an S-shaped rotor, when viewed as a horizontal cross section, a cup shaft to which each cup is attached, such that the cup can pivot or rotate from a closed shape to an open S-shaped rotor, end plates through which cup shafts are pivotally supported, a central shaft to which end plates are attached, a rotational energy connecting element attached to the cup shafts, that control rotation of cup shafts, a rotational speed sensor, and a braking device.

A variable blade pitch wind turbine and method of passively varying the blade pitch is presented. Each blade of the turbine rotor can individually and passively rotate about a respective blade axis to continuously vary the pitch of the blades to adjust to the ever changing wind speed and direction without active controls or other mechanical or electrical induced inputs to force rotational movement of the blades. Sections of each blade can respectively rotate to change the blade twist. In one example, a second rotor is used to increase the electrical generation and efficiency of the blade turbine.

A machine that is a self regulating rotor with a set of cups or vanes that are pivotally attached about a central axis such that they form a closed three dimensional shape when closed, and when rotated into an open orientation form an s-shaped rotor, when viewed as a horizontal cross section, a cup shaft to which each cup is attached, such that the cup can pivot or rotate from a dosed shape to an open s-shaped rotor, end plates through which cup shafts are pivotally supported, a central shaft to which end plates are attached, a rotational energy connecting element attached to the cups shafts, that control rotation of cup shafts, a rotational speed sensor, and a breaking device.

COMPENSATED MOTOR TORQUE WIND TURBINE, constituted by a single blade (12) rotor (1) attached to a low speed shaft (3) with spindle (2) sustained in a nacelle (9), on gear bearing (7), at the end of the tower (8), being the power train elements: multiplier (5), generator (6) and brake (13) suspended from the nacelle (9) through a first bearing (4) aligned with the low speed shaft (3), forming a pendulum set (28) that allows them to rotate, compensating in its angular motion the rotor (1) torque, said pendulum set (28) accumulates potential energy when rising in its angular motion and releases it when the gust stops by descending and turning in the opposite direction of the rotation of the turbine's rotor (1) restituting turns to the generator's (6) rotor, being this effect a power regulator.

A system for driving a wind turbine blade (46) into a feathered position during an emergency stopping process of a wind turbine rotor. The system comprises a hydraulic actuator (3) functionally connected to the blade (46) for changing the pitch of the blade (46) during movement of the hydraulic actuator (3) and an emergency accumulator (8) connected to the hydraulic actuator (3) for driving the hydraulic actuator (3) with fluid from the emergency accumulator (8). The emergency accumulator (8) comprises a resilient member for accumulating the fluid in the emergency accumulator (8) under resilient pressure or a weight member (74) comprising a weight member upon the fluid in the emergency accumulator. The resilient member (14) or weight member (74) is configured for driving the fluid out of the emergency accumulator due to the expansion or retraction of the resilient member.

A wind turbine generator system is provided with a nacelle supporting a wind turbine rotor, a nacelle rotation mechanism, an anemometer, and a control apparatus controlling the nacelle rotation mechanism. Said control apparatus calculates the wind direction deviation from the wind direction measured by the anemometer and the direction of the wind turbine rotor. Said control apparatus performs a yaw rotation of the nacelle by the nacelle rotation mechanism when any of conditions (1) and (2) is satisfied; the condition (1) is a condition under which a state where the absolute value of said wind direction deviation is equal to or more than a first threshold value continues for a first duration predetermined, and the condition (2) is a condition under which a state where the absolute value of said wind direction deviation is equal to or more than a second threshold value larger than said first threshold value continues for a second duration shorter than said first duration.

Provided is a speed controller hydraulic slave system median self-diagnosis self-positioning self-adaptive method. The method comprises: a speed controller electrical control system acquiring main distribution position feedback M, main distribution position set Mset and other data; detecting whether a speed controller hydraulic slave system is in a static balance, criterion including main distribution position set Mset being constant, if the criterion being satisfied, performing speed controller proportional valve median self-diagnosis, if not, waiting the criterion condition to be satisfied;performing speed controller proportional valve median drifting self-diagnosis, criterion including the main distribution position feedback M not being equal to the main distribution position set Mset;if M=Mset, setting of a proportional valve median set value B0 being rational, the proportional valve median set value B0 being equal to a proportional valve actual median value B0actual, entering amain distribution electrical median diagnosis step; if M is not equal to Mset, median of a proportional valve drifting, and setting of the proportional valve median set value B0 being not rational, performing proportional valve electrical median positioning correction. The method solves problems that a speed controller hydraulic slave system frequently adjusts and guide vane opening cannot be adjusted in place and other adjusting quality caused by drifting of the speed controller main distribution and the proportional valve electrical median, so as to adapt to current operating working conditions.

A method controlling a wind turbine to avoid tonal noise production is provided. The method comprises acquiring noise data representing noise produced by a wind turbine and acquiring data from a plurality of vibration sensors positioned at different locations about the wind turbine. The method further comprises identifying a region of interest in the noise data, the region of interest being a candidate for containing tonal noise generated by the wind turbine, and identifying a vibration sensor, the data for which correlates with the noise data in the region of interest. The method further comprises determining a threshold vibration level for the identified vibration sensor, the threshold being based on the vibration level detected by the identified vibration sensor in the region of interest, and adjusting one or more wind turbine operating parameters in response to the vibration level detected by the identified vibration sensor exceeding the threshold.

The present invention provides a system and method for converting wave energy into electric energy in an intelligent, practical, and efficient manner. The system utilizes a power input shaft coupled with a vertically reciprocating buoy to rotate a crank gear and a ratchet gear meshing therewith. An intelligent control system is included to monitor, control, and optimize the operations of the system. The length of the power input shaft is adjusted in response to water level fluctuations so that the rotational motion of the crank gear is intelligently controlled within a predetermined desirable region for maximum efficiency.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a wind turbine that comprises a generator, is provided to feed electrical power into an electricity supply grid but has not yet been connected to the electricity supply grid, comprising the steps: generating electrical power using the generator and supplying electrical elements of the wind turbine with the power generated, and to a wind turbine for generating electrical power from the wind and for feeding the electrical power generated into an electricity supply grid, wherein a method according to one of the preceding claims is carried out.

A variable blade pitch wind turbine and method of passively varying the blade pitch is presented. Each blade of the turbine rotor can individually and passively rotate about a respective blade axis to continuously vary the pitch of the blades to adjust to the ever changing wind speed and direction without active controls or other mechanical or electrical induced inputs to force rotational movement of the blades. Sections of each blade can respectively rotate to change the blade twist. In one example, a second rotor is used to increase the electrical generation and efficiency of the blade turbine.

A method for controlling loads of a wind turbine includes receiving sensor signals from one or more sensors being indicative of a movement of a nacelle of the wind turbine from a reference point. More particularly, the movement corresponds, at least, to a tilt and / or a displacement of the wind turbine tower and / or nacelle. The method also includes generating a deflection profile of the tower along its overall length from a bottom end to a top end thereof based on the sensor signals. Further, the method includes determining at least one of a thrust or a tower load of the wind turbine from the deflection profile. In addition, the method includes implementing a control action for the wind turbine based on the thrust and / or the tower load.

A method and associated system for operating a power generation system to provide real and reactive power to a load includes, with a power converter having switching elements, receiving power from a generator and generating the reactive power within an operating range of generator rotor speed. As the generator rotor speed changes and approaches synchronous speed, a control command is generated to decrease a switching frequency of the switching elements in the power converter from a first switching frequency to a second switching frequency, wherein the reactive power output of the power converter is maintained or increased at the second switching frequency.

The invention relates to control of a wind turbine comprising a plurality of multi-axial accelerometers mounted at different positions in the nacelle and / or in a top portion of the tower. The position and orientation of each accelerometer as mounted is obtained, accelerations in at least two different directions by each accelerometer are measured during operation of the wind turbine. From a number of predetermined mode shapes for the movement of the wind turbine is then determined an absolute position of at least one of the accelerometers during operation of the wind turbine based on the measured accelerations, the mount position and orientation of each accelerometer and the pre-determined mode shapes. Hereby a more precise absolute position during operation is obtained which can be used in the controlling of the turbine.

The present invention includes a rotor blade (20) having a blade body (30) with a leading edge (26) and a trailing edge (28) and opposed first and second surfaces (34, 36) extending there between defining an airfoil shape (32) in cross-section. A passageway (42) extends through the blade body (30) between the first and second surfaces (34, 36). A flexible member (60) is sealed over one end (50) of the passageway (42). Advantageously, the flexible member (60) is passively responsive to changes in a differential pressure between the first and second surfaces (34, 36) to move between a deactivated position (62) and an activated position (64) where the flexible member (60) extends away from the airfoil shape (32) to function as a load mitigation device (40) for the wind turbine rotor blade (20).

A method, controller, wind turbine, and computer program product are disclosed for collecting data from wind turbines in a wind farm. An example method generally includes receiving, from a client device, a subscription request identifying a plurality of data points to collect from a set of wind turbines. A wind farm server establishes a client interface with the client device. The wind farm server receives data points form the plurality of wind turbines and buffers the identified collected data points from the set of wind turbines in a data repository. Through the client interface, the wind farm server receives a request for data points collected from at least one wind turbine over a specified time period, and responsive to the request, transmits the requested data points to the client device. The wind farm server also may push collected data points from wind turbines to a data analysis system.

Provided is a speed controller proportional valve median adjusting method based on hydraulic slave system static balance. The method comprises: step 1, keeping given power of a unit speed controller in a grid connected power mode constant, or switching a speed controller to an electric manual state, to make a speed controller hydraulic slave system in static balance; step 2, a speed controller electrical control system acquiring main distribution position feedback M, main distribution position set Mset data; determining whether the main distribution position feedback M is equal to the main distribution position set Mset; if M<Mset, using the highest unit precision i of a proportional valve median set value as step length, gradually increasing the proportional valve median set value B0, returning to the step 2; if M>Mset, using i as the step length, gradually reducing the proportional valve median set value B0, returning to the step 2; if the main distribution position feedback M is equal to the main distribution position set Mset, the B0 value being a proportional valve actual median value B0actual, an adjusting process ending. The method can accurately determine the speed controller proportional valve median, and solves a problem of adjusting quality of a speed controller hydraulic slave system caused by inaccurate setting of the speed controller proportional valve median.

Provided is a trailing edge assembly of a wind turbine rotor blade, which includes a mounting portion; a flap portion flexibly connected to the mounting portion so that a flap angle subtended between the mounting portion and the flap portion can be altered; a volume adjustable chamber arranged between the mounting portion and the flap portion and realised to alter its volume between a minimum volume associated with a minimum flap angle and a maximum volume associated with a maximum flap angle; and at least one tube to face into an airflow passing over the airfoil region of the rotor blade, and an inner orifice arranged to face into the interior of the volume adjustable chamber such that an airflow between the outer orifice and the inner orifice alters the volume of the volume adjustable chamber. Embodiments of the invention further describe a wind turbine rotor blade.

A multirotor wind turbine (1) comprising a tower structure (2) and at least one load carrying structure (3, 4), each load carrying structure (3, 4) being arranged for carrying two or more energy generating units (5, 7) comprising a rotor (6, 8). At least two of the rotors are upwind or downwind rotors (6), the energy generating units (5) comprising upwind or downwind rotors (6) being arranged with their centres of gravity at a first distance behind the tower structure (2) along a direction of the incoming wind, substantially at the same vertical level, and at opposite sides of the tower structure (2) at substantially the same second distance to the tower structure (2) along a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of the incoming wind. The multirotor wind turbine (1) is self-yawing, even under turbulent wind conditions.

A wind turbine generator unit maximum wind energy capture control method based on the dynamic torque limiting value includes the following steps that firstly, the Cp-lambda curve family of a unit is determined according to the aerodynamic characteristics of paddles, and when beta=betafine=constant and lambda=lambdaopt=constant, the maximum value of Cp=Cpmax is obtained; secondly, the optimal modal gain coefficient is calculated according to the numerical values of Cpmax and lambdaopt; thirdly, the torque of the quadric curve of the optimal wind energy capture is obtained; fourthly, the proportionality coefficient Kp and the integral coefficient Ki of a torque PI controller are determined according to the performance index requirement of the torque controller; and fifthly, the reference rotation speed [omega]ref, the maximum torque Tmax and the minimum limiting value Tmin of the controller are dynamically calculated according to the current generator rotation speed value, and therefore the torque controller can work along the ideal running trace curve, and the maximum wind energy capture is achieved. The wind turbine generator unit maximum wind energy capture control method based on the dynamic torque limiting value can effectively achieve the maximum wind energy capture and is large in energy efficiency conversion rate and high in electric energy quality.