Hinged Blade Wind Turbine with Tilted Axis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional pitch-controlled wind turbines require maintenance-intensive sensor-based controllers and mechanical parts, making it difficult to manage and maintain, especially at remote locations, leading to potential extensive downtime due to long transportation times for maintenance personnel and spare parts.
Innovation Solution
A wind turbine design featuring hinged blades that can pivot between a minimum and maximum angle, with a coning angle of the blade carrying structure and/or a tilt angle of the rotor axis, allowing for reduced maintenance needs by enabling the blades to fold inward at high wind speeds, thereby reducing static and dynamic loads and allowing for a larger inner portion length, which enhances energy extraction at lower wind speeds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional pitch control with sensor-based controllers and mechanical parts is used, then power output control and load management are achieved, but maintenance requirements increase and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The wind turbine blades are designed to automatically pivot and fold inward at high wind speeds through passive aerodynamic forces and centrifugal effects, eliminating the need for active sensor-based controllers and mechanical drive units. The blades self-regulate their pitch angle based on wind conditions, reducing maintenance requirements while maintaining control functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention removes the complex sensor-based control system and mechanical pitch drive units from the wind turbine design. By extracting these maintenance-intensive components, the system achieves simpler operation with reduced maintenance requirements, particularly important for remote locations where maintenance access is difficult.
2Force
If the second length (L2) of the inner portion is increased, then the force required for pivoting is reduced, but the horizontal distance constraint from the tower is violated
Solution Approach 1:
The blade carrying structure is designed with a coning angle, tilting the rotor axis away from the horizontal plane. This dimensional change in the rotor configuration allows the hinge to be positioned farther from the tower horizontally while maintaining safe clearance, thereby enabling a longer inner portion (larger L2) that reduces the required pivoting force without violating the horizontal distance constraint.
3Length of stationary object
If the rotor axis is tilted or the blade carrying structure is coned, then the horizontal distance constraint is relaxed allowing larger L2, but the swept area at low wind speeds may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The wind turbine system dynamically adjusts the effective rotor diameter through passive pitch control. At low wind speeds, the blades operate at higher pitch angles that maximize the swept area for optimal energy extraction. At high wind speeds, the blades automatically fold inward to reduce the effective diameter and prevent excessive loads, providing adaptive performance across varying wind conditions.
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 design reduces the force required for pivoting the blades, allows for a larger swept area at lower wind speeds, and positions the center of mass closer to the inner portion, reducing mass and torque, while also enabling a smooth reduction in rotor diameter as wind speeds increase, thus improving energy extraction and reducing maintenance requirements.
Implementation Method 1
one or more wind turbine blades connected to the blade carrying structure via a hinge, 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
Implementation Method 2
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
Implementation Method 3
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
Implementation Method 4
A wind turbine comprising a tower, a nacelle mounted on the tower, a hub mounted rotatably on the nacelle
Data Source
AI summary
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.