Wind Turbine Cooling Subsystems With Fault-Tolerant Parallel Circuits
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing power density and number of components in wind power generator sets, particularly in offshore installations, lead to complex cooling systems that require more compact and reliable designs to maintain efficient heat dissipation and reduce failure rates.
Innovation Solution
A dual-system centralized fault-tolerant cooling system is designed, featuring two thermally coupled cooling subsystems that integrate multiple cooling circuits for different heating components. This system allows for parallel connections of cooling circuits and a pump station unit, enabling fault-tolerant operation and efficient heat dissipation even if one subsystem fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple independent cooling systems are used for different heating components, then each component can be cooled effectively, but the system complexity and space occupation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple cooling circuits (first cooling circuit for generator, second cooling circuit for converter, third cooling circuit for transformer) into a single integrated cooling system that shares common components including pump station, heat dissipation units, and control systems. This merging approach maintains the ability to cool different components effectively while reducing overall system complexity and space occupation compared to completely independent cooling systems.
2Volume of stationary object
If a centralized cooling system is designed to reduce space occupation, then space efficiency improves, but system reliability decreases due to single point of failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the cooling system into functionally independent cooling circuits (first cooling circuit, second cooling circuit, third cooling circuit) that can operate independently or in combination. Each circuit is dedicated to specific heating components, allowing selective operation and isolation of faults. This segmentation enables the centralized system to maintain high reliability by preventing single-point failures from affecting the entire system while still achieving space efficiency through shared infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates redundant pump stations and heat dissipation units that can serve multiple cooling circuits. These redundant components act as beforehand cushioning, ensuring that if one pump or heat dissipation unit fails, alternative components are already in place to maintain cooling functionality across all circuits, thereby preserving system reliability in the centralized compact design.
3Reliability
If cooling circuits are arranged in parallel to improve reliability, then fault tolerance increases, but the system layout becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs heat dissipation units and pump stations with multi-functionality, where a single heat dissipation unit can serve multiple cooling circuits (first, second, and third cooling circuits), and pump stations can supply coolant to multiple circuits simultaneously. This universality allows parallel arrangement of cooling circuits for improved fault tolerance while simplifying the overall layout by reducing the number of dedicated components for each circuit.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The cooling system achieves fault-tolerant operation, ensuring more than 75% of the cooling capacity is maintained even if one subsystem fails, thereby reducing system failure rates and optimizing the layout and efficiency of the cooling system in limited spaces.
Implementation Method 1
the cold end heat dissipation unit is arranged outside the closed space and can carry out heat exchange with the air environment
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
Figure 6
AI summary
A cooling system and a wind power generating set. The cooling system comprises two cooling sub-systems (S) thermally coupled to each other. Each cooling sub-system (S) comprises: a first cooling circuit (1) for cooling a first heat-generating component (100), a second cooling circuit (2) for cooling a second heat-generating component (200), a third cooling circuit (3) for cooling a third heat-generating component (300), a fourth cooling circuit (4) for cooling a fourth heat-generating component (400), a pump station unit (5) and a heat dissipation unit (6). The first cooling circuit (1) and the fourth cooling circuit (4) are connected in parallel to form a first branch, the second cooling circuit (2) and the third cooling circuit (3) are connected in parallel to form a second branch, and the first branch and the second branch are connected in parallel, and are connected to the pump station unit (5) and the heat dissipation unit (6). The cooling system may achieve the fault-tolerant operation of two cooling sub-systems (S).