141 results about "Floating wind turbine" patented technology

A floating wind turbine platform includes a floatation frame (105) that includes three columns (102, 103) that are coupled to each other with horizontal main beams (115). A wind turbine tower (111) is mounted above a tower support column (102) to simplify the system construction and improve the structural strength. The turbine blades (101) are coupled to a nacelle (125) that rotates on top of the tower (111). The turbine's gearbox generator and other electrical gear can be mounted either traditionally in the nacelle, or lower in the tower (111) or in the top of the tower-supporting column (102). The floatation frame (105) includes a water ballasting system that pumps water between the columns (102, 103) to keep the tower (111) in a 10 vertical alignment regardless of the wind speed. Water-entrapment plates (107) are mounted to the bottoms of the columns (102, 103) to minimize the rotational movement of the floatation frame (105) due to waves.

A floating wind turbine system with a tower structure that includes at least one stability arm extending therefrom and that is anchored to the sea floor with a rotatable position retention device that facilitates deep water installations. Variable buoyancy for the wind turbine system is provided by buoyancy chambers that are integral to the tower itself as well as the stability arm. Pumps are included for adjusting the buoyancy as an aid in system transport, installation, repair and removal. The wind turbine rotor is located downwind of the tower structure to allow the wind turbine to follow the wind direction without an active yaw drive system. The support tower and stability arm structure is designed to balance tension in the tether with buoyancy, gravity and wind forces in such a way that the top of the support tower leans downwind, providing a large clearance between the support tower and the rotor blade tips. This large clearance facilitates the use of articulated rotor hubs to reduced damaging structural dynamic loads. Major components of the turbine can be assembled at the shore and transported to an offshore installation site.

A system of floating and weight-stabilized wind turbine towers with separately floodable compartments and aerodynamic overwater encasement and the appertaining semisubmersible mooring structures including anchorage on the seabed, a horizontally floating underwater mooring meshwork and an actinomorphic buoy-cable-mooring to the wind turbine towers. Also, a method to transport wind turbine towers from the manufacturing plants on-shore to the final off-shore destination by towing the vented towers in a horizontal position with towboats. Further, a method to erect the wind turbine towers at the final destination, including the assembly of the wind turbines. The worldwide potentials of off-shore wind farming in deep waters to produce electricity in an ecologically and economically sound way in order both to satisfy men's requirements and to help to reduce the need to rely on critical fossil and nuclear resources being immense.

A container for underwater placement on a sea, lake or river bottom. The container has openings in the sides, top and bottom and is filled with ballast of large boulders, cobble, crushed coral, cast concrete modules or other materials. The openings allow water and water currents, as well as marine organisms, to pass freely therethrough. Over time, a wide assortment of marine organisms infiltrate and colonize the nooks, crevices and cavities of the ballast, thus utilizing the habitat as they would an artificial reef. One or more hitch points are provided on the container for attaching mooring lines for ships, boats, floating wind turbines or other floating structures, thereby allowing the artificial reef to anchor such structures.

The invention discloses a tension-leg offshore floating wind turbine foundation capable of floating and being installed by self and an installation method thereof. The tension-leg offshore floating wind turbine foundation comprises three rectangular floating boxes on a same horizontal plane and of which any two are at an included angle of 120 degrees, a center floating box connecting the three rectangular floating boxes, a center pillar connected with the upper end of the center floating box and used for supporting a wind turbine tower, three peripheral pillars which are in a one-to-one connection with the three rectangular floating boxes and separated from each other, three cantilever beams respectively and correspondingly arranged at the top of the three peripheral pillars and extending outwardly, a heave plate connected to the bottom of the three rectangular floating boxes and the center pillar, transverse braces and diagonal braces for connecting the center pillar and the peripheral pillars, a subsea base part and tension legs for connecting the cantilever beams and the subsea base part. The tension-leg offshore floating wind turbine foundation capable of floating and being installed by self according to an embodiment of the invention has the advantages of low cost for later maintenance, convenient installation and low installation cost.

A method of constructing and assembling a floating wind turbine platform includes constructing pre-stressed concrete sections of a floating wind turbine platform base, assembling the floating wind turbine platform base sections to form the base at a first location in a floating wind turbine platform assembly area, and moving the base to a second location in the floating wind turbine platform assembly area. Pre-stressed concrete sections of floating wind turbine platform columns are constructed, and the column sections are assembled to form a center column and a plurality of outer columns on the base to define a hull at the second location in the floating wind turbine platform assembly area. The hull is then moved to a third location in the floating wind turbine platform assembly area. Secondary structures are mounted on and within the hull, and the hull is moved to a fourth location in the floating wind turbine platform assembly area. A wind turbine tower is constructed on the center column, and a wind turbine is mounted on the wind turbine tower, thus defining the floating wind turbine platform. The floating wind turbine platform is then moved to a launch platform in a fifth location and launched into a body of water.

A method for coordinating a floating wind turbine installation. The wind turbine installation includes a buoyant body (1), a tower (2) arranged over the buoyant body, a generator (3) mounted on the tower which is rotatable in relation to the wind direction and fitted with a wind rotor (4), and an anchor line arrangement (5) connected to anchors or anchor points on the sea bed. Static heeling, φ_{s<sub2>—</sub2>max}, at full wind load on the wind turbine is as low as possible, but preferably less than 8 degrees, and all eigenperiods for the installation are outside the waves' period range. The eigenperiod in pitch, T₀₅ (roll, T₀₄), is preferably less than 80% of the T₀₃ eigenperiod in heave. Moreover, the ratio between T₀₃ and T₀₅ is not close to 0.5 or 1.

A vertically installed Spar-type floater for offshore wind turbine and related construction method are provided. The floating system is a gravity stabilized deep-draft floater including a plurality of vertically extending columns, each column containing a ballast material; a ballast tank coupled to the lower end of each of the columns; a top deck having a plurality of through-bores approximate its periphery coupled to the upper end of each of the columns; a wind turbine assembly supported by the top deck at the center; a plurality of mooring lines linking the floating system to the sea floor. The floating system has a temporary vertically towing configuration which: allows the entire, floating wind turbine system to be assembled at a quayside and towed vertically to an offshore site, and self-installed into operating configuration.

Provided is a floating wind turbine including a hull, a wind turbine mounted on top of the hull and a counterweight suspended below the hull by a counterweight suspension is described. Also, a method for the installation is described. The counterweight includes one or more counterweight buoyancy tanks. When the internal volume of the buoyancy tanks is filled with air, the total buoyancy of the counterweight is close to or greater than its weight. Hereby it is capable of floating in a towing/maintenance position with moderate or no support in the vertical direction from the hull or other vessels. During towing, the hull substantially has the character of a barge, substantially relying on a large waterplane area and shallow draft to maintain stability.

The invention discloses a method of load shedding of a floating wind turbine generator system based on semi-active structure control of a magneto rheological damper. The method includes the following steps: (1) analyzing the structure of the magneto rheological damper, obtaining a force-displacement relationship of the magneto rheological damper; (2) establishing an equation of motion of a multi-degree of freedom system of an offshore floating wind turbine generator system which is configured with the magneto rheological damper, and establishing equations of motion of the wind turbine generator system and the magneto rheological damper; (3) controlling the magneto rheological damper through a LQR controller and a Fuzzy controller so as to reduce the pitch angle of the floating wind turbine generator system and the longitudinal displacement of a nacelle. According to the invention, the method overcomes the defects of passive control and active control in structural control of a damper, requires less extra energy, requires simple apparatus and is not less susceptible to stability loss, can effectively reduce total load of the floating wind turbine generator system, guarantees stability of a platform, and further increases service life and energy quality of output electricity of a wind turbine generator.

The invention discloses an integral mounting assisting device and a mounting method for a tension leg type offshore floating wind turbine. The integral mounting assisting device comprises assisting modules, eye plates, stop pins, a plurality of oil cylinders, positioning winches and steel wires, wherein the assisting modules are mounted outside a multi-column tension leg type offshore floating foundation of the wind turbine, the eye plates are detachably connected on circumferential columns of the multi-column tension leg type offshore floating foundation, the oil cylinders are disposed on the lateral sides and the bottom surfaces of the assisting modules, the cylinder bodies of the oil cylinders are fixed on the assisting modules, the stop pins are hinged with cylinder rods of the oil cylinders and are driven to be inserted into holes of the eye plates by the oil cylinders, the positioning winches are fixed on the tops of the assisting modules, one ends of the steel wires are connected with the positioning winches, and the other ends of the steel wires are connected with positioning anchors thrown to the seabed. Sufficient stability, buoyancy and assisting positioning can be provided for mounting of the tension leg type offshore floating wind turbine, offshore operation time is greatly saved, mounting cost is reduced, and the integral mounting assisting device is applicable to construction of a large-scale offshore floating wind power plant.

A container for underwater placement on a sea, lake or river bottom. The container has openings in the sides, top and bottom and is filled with ballast of large boulders, cobble, crushed coral, cast concrete modules or other materials. The openings allow water and water currents, as well as marine organisms, to pass freely therethrough. Over time, a wide assortment of marine organisms infiltrate and colonize the nooks, crevices and cavities of the ballast, thus utilizing the habitat as they would an artificial reef. One or more hitch points are provided on the container for attaching mooring lines for ships, boats, floating wind turbines or other floating structures, thereby allowing the artificial reef to anchor such structures.

A device of floating wind turbines comprises a floating foundation, the wind turbine mounted on the floating foundation, and a seabed anchor attached to the floating foundation, wherein the floating foundation is installed with two wind turbines and is attached to the seabed anchor by a tether, the two wind turbines are configured such that one of the two wind turbines has blades rotated in clockwise direction while the other of the two wind turbines has blades rotated in counter-clockwise direction, both turbines have an approximately equal speed and output power; whereby, due to both turbines having an approximately equal speed and output power, the torques existed in the wind turbines can be naturally counterbalanced, such that the wind turbines and the floating foundation can be maintained at a balance.

The invention discloses a four-upright semi-submersible type floating wind turbine foundation with a ballast. The four-upright semi-submersible type floating wind turbine foundation comprises four uprights, wherein three uprights are side uprights, and the other one is the middle upright. The three side uprights are arrayed at equal intervals to define an equilateral triangle. Each side upright isequipped with a square cabin, and the three side uprights are vertically arranged on the corresponding square cabins. The middle upright is located at the centroid of the equilateral triangle and isequipped with a circular cabin, and the middle upright is arranged on the circular cabin. Each square cabin and the circular cabin are connected through a variable cross-section rectangular buoy. A transition platform is arranged at the connecting position of the top of the middle upright and a tower tube of a wind turbine, an inclined strut is adopted between the tradition platform and each variable cross-section rectangular buoy to transmit the bending moment load of the whole wind turbine, and connecting bridges are arranged between the inclined struts and the variable cross-section rectangular buoys. The four-upright semi-submersible type floating wind turbine foundation with the ballast provides a safe, reliable and cost-controllable offshore supporting structure for large megawatt wind turbine unit (above 7MW), and guarantees stable, safe and reliable operation of the large megawatt wind turbine unit.

A device of floating wind turbine comprises a floating foundation, wind turbines provided on the floating foundation, and a seabed anchor attached to the floating foundation, wherein the floating foundation is symmetrically provided with two wind turbines; the floating foundation and the two wind turbines are attached to the seabed anchor by tethers, whereby when the wind turbines are driven to generate electrical power, they respectively exert an upward force and a downward force at a center portion of the floating foundation between the two wind turbines; both turbines have an approximately equal speed and output power; whereby the upward force can be counterbalanced by the downward force, so that the wind turbines and the floating foundation can be maintained at a balanced condition.

A method in connection with a wind turbine installation for damping tower vibrations, in particular a floating wind turbine installation comprising a floating cell, a tower arranged over the floating cell, a generator mounted on the tower that is rotatable in relation to the wind direction and fitted with a wind turbine, and an anchor line arrangement connected to anchors or foundations on the sea bed. The tower's eigenvibrations, ω_eig, are damped by, in addition to control with the controller in the constant power or RPM range of the wind turbine, an increment, Δβ, being added to the blade angle of the turbine blades on the basis of the tower velocities, ΔZ, so that the eigenvibrations are counteracted. The vibrations in β that have frequency ω_eig can expediently be damped by means of a stabiliser with the transfer function H_stab(s) between the tower velocities, ΔZ, and the blade angle, Δβ, which is such that the loop transfer function H−_β-ΔZ-dot{jω_eig)H_stab(jω_eig)=−b, which means that: (I) where “b” is a variable depending on the moment and thrust characteristics of the turbine blades.