Modular Wind Turbine Nacelle With Height-Adjustable Auxiliary Units
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing size of wind turbine components poses challenges in transporting them within standard shipping freight containers, leading to high transportation and handling costs, and limits the modularity and ease of design and maintenance of wind turbines.
Innovation Solution
A wind turbine nacelle is designed with a main unit and at least one auxiliary unit, where the auxiliary unit can transition between a transportation configuration and an assembled configuration, allowing it to fit within standard shipping freight containers and expand to a higher height for assembly, facilitating easier handling and installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If the nacelle is designed as a single large unit to accommodate increasing wind turbine components, then the power output and component size are improved, but the transportation cost and handling difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The nacelle is divided into multiple separate units (main unit and auxiliary units) that can be transported independently using standard shipping containers. Each unit houses specific components, allowing modular transportation and assembly at the installation site, thereby reducing transportation costs while maintaining the capability to support large power output components.
2Volume of moving object
If the auxiliary unit is designed with a higher height to accommodate larger power conversion components, then the component size and power output are improved, but the transportation feasibility using standard containers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The auxiliary unit is designed with a transformable structure that can change its height configuration. During transportation, the auxiliary unit adopts a lower height configuration to fit within standard shipping container dimensions. At the installation site, it can be extended or reconfigured to a higher height to accommodate larger power conversion components, thus achieving both transportation feasibility and component accommodation requirements.
3Ease of operation
If the nacelle is split into separate units to improve transportation efficiency, then the transportation cost is reduced, but the structural complexity and assembly requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The separate units (main unit and auxiliary units) are designed with standardized interfaces and universal connection mechanisms that simplify assembly. The units can be transported independently and then easily connected at the installation site using standardized procedures, reducing the overall assembly complexity despite the modular structure. The standardized design allows for repeated use of the same connection methods across different units.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a wind turbine nacelle (2) configured for mounting on a wind turbine tower (3) and housing a rotor-supporting assembly supporting a rotor, the nacelle further housing a power conversion assembly, the nacelle comprising: —a main unit (20, 101) arranged to be connected to the wind turbine tower (3) and housing the rotor-supporting assembly, and—at least one auxiliary unit (21, 22, 102) housing an operative component (34, 35, 104) forming part of the power conversion assembly, wherein the main unit (20, 101) and the auxiliary unit (21, 22, 102) are separate units configured to be connected by a unit fixation structure at an interface, and wherein the at least one auxiliary unit has a first height in an assembled configuration and a second height in a transportation configuration, the first height being higher than the second height.