Wind energy installation

Abstract

The invention relates to a wind energy installation (10) having a rotor (18) which can be driven by wind and has at least one rotor blade (22), having a generator for conversion of the mechanical energy of the rotor (18) to electrical energy, and having a tower (14) on which the rotor (18) is arranged, in which the rotor blade (22) has one or more additional masses (36, 40) and / or active and / or passive oscillation dampers (24), which are designed in such a manner that movements of the rotor blade (22), in particular oscillations, which are initiated by external influences and are directed towards the tower or away from it are prevented and / or damped. The invention also relates to a method for operation of a wind energy installation, preferably of an off-shore wind energy installation, in which one or more components of the wind energy installation, preferably the tower (14), have opposing vibration applied to them in order to reduce / prevent sound waves which result from component vibration and disturb animals and / or people, which opposing vibration counteracts vibration (which produces sound) of the component (14), and reduces or prevents this component vibration.

Description

STATEMENT OF RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims convention priority on German Patent Application No. 10 2005 053 145.8, having a filing date of 4 Nov. 2005, and German Patent Application No. 10 2006 022 266.0, having a filing date of 11 May 2006, both of which are incorporated herein by this reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Technical Field [0003] The present invention relates to a wind energy installation having a rotor which can be driven by wind and has at least one rotor blade, having a generator for conversion of the mechanical energy of the rotor to electrical energy, and having a tower on which the rotor is arranged. The present invention also relates to a method for operation of a wind energy installation such as this. [0004] 2. Related Art [0005] Various components in wind energy installations such as these, in particular the rotor blades as well as the tower, have a tendency to start to oscillate, in particular as a result of external influe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] One object of the present invention is to specify a wind energy installation in which the abovementioned damaging movements / oscillations, in particular vibration, of the rotor blade and / or of other components, in particular of the tower, of the wind energy installation are prevented, reduced and / or damped. A further object of the present invention is to specify a method for operation of the wind energy installation such as this.

[0013] The rotor blade accordingly and advantageously has additional masses and / or active and / or passive oscillation dampers, which are designed in such a manner that movements or movement components of the rotor blade, in particular oscillations, which are initiated by external influences and are directed towards the tower and / or away from it are prevented and / or damped or reduced. Thus, according to the invention, the aim is to restrict or prevent those movement components of the movements of the rotor blade which run out of the rotor plane or rotor blade blade plane which runs at right angles to the rotor shaft.

Problems solved by technology

Various components in wind energy installations such as these, in particular the rotor blades as well as the tower, have a tendency to start to oscillate, in particular as a result of external influences.

This is because the tower, which is arranged behind the rotor blade with respect to the wind direction, represents an obstruction for the wind.

Even with the normal dimensions of the individual components, in particular of the rotor blades, nowadays, oscillations such as these have a negative effect on the life of the components.

This problem is becoming more serious because of the trend to design wind energy installations with ever larger dimensions.

In the worst case, this can lead to catastrophic resonance (as is known in systems which can oscillate), resulting in destruction of the components.

These oscillations, which are referred to in the following text as vibration, lead to acoustic signals, that is to say noise which is disturbing or even dangerous to people and / or animals.

Component vibration such as this is frequently caused by natural oscillations of the generator or of other components in the wind energy installation.

Component vibration can be extremely problematic, particularly in the case of off-shore wind energy installations.

Vibration of the tower, in particular of that tower section which is located in the water, can lead to noise which disturbs or even drives away animals in the sea, for example all types of fish.

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