Porous Pendulum Damping for Wind Turbine Tower Oscillations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wind turbine towers experience significant oscillations due to external forces like wind and waves, leading to fatigue damage and potential catastrophic failure, with existing damping solutions facing challenges in size, mass, transportation, and installation for larger turbines.
Innovation Solution
A damping system comprising a pendulum device with a porous structure submerged in a viscous medium, which creates turbulence to counteract oscillations without increasing the mass of the damping system, and a tuned mass damper with a suspended porous structure interacting with a viscous fluid to dampen oscillations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If large mass dampers are used to counteract oscillations in larger wind turbines, then oscillation damping effectiveness is improved, but transportation and installation difficulties increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies porous materials by submerging a porous structure (such as a porous plate or porous block) in a viscous medium within the pendulum device. The porous structure allows the viscous medium to flow through it, creating drag forces that enhance damping effectiveness. This enables achieving better oscillation control without proportionally increasing the mass, thereby facilitating easier transportation and installation while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes physical parameters by introducing a viscous medium with specific viscosity characteristics and configuring the porous structure with controlled porosity. These parameter changes enable the system to achieve enhanced damping performance through fluid-structure interaction rather than relying solely on increased mass, thus resolving the contradiction between damping effectiveness and ease of operation.
2Reliability
If large and heavy oscillation dampers are used, then oscillation damping performance is improved, but additional loading on the tower structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The porous structure submerged in viscous medium creates hydrodynamic drag forces that provide oscillation damping. This mechanism allows the system to achieve effective damping performance without requiring proportionally large and heavy masses, thereby reducing the additional loading and stress imposed on the tower structure while maintaining damping performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes hydraulic principles by employing a viscous medium (liquid) that interacts with the porous structure during pendulum oscillation. The fluid dynamics within the porous structure generate damping forces through viscosity and flow resistance, providing an alternative to purely mechanical mass-based damping that would impose greater structural loads.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If aerodynamic solutions such as helical strakes are used to reduce oscillations, then oscillation formation is limited, but sufficiency in certain use cases deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a viscous medium as an intermediary substance that interacts with the porous structure to provide damping forces. This intermediary mechanism complements aerodynamic solutions by providing additional damping through fluid-structure interaction, thereby enhancing overall damping sufficiency in cases where aerodynamic solutions alone are insufficient.
Solution Approach 2:
The damping system combines multiple mechanisms: the inertial effect of the pendulum mass, the drag forces from the viscous medium flowing through the porous structure, and potential aerodynamic elements. This composite approach integrates different damping mechanisms to achieve superior and more reliable oscillation control across various operating conditions and use cases.
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
Effectively reduces oscillations in wind turbine towers by minimizing the need for large mass dampers, improving stability and durability while simplifying installation and reducing costs.
Implementation Method 1
The porous structure is configured to allow the viscous medium to pass through it. The porous structure is at least partially submerged in the viscous medium
Implementation Method 2
A damping system comprising a pendulum device and a container which contains a viscous medium
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4A
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a damping system (10) for counteracting oscillations in a construction. The damping system (10) comprises a pendulum device (12) and a container (14) which contains a viscous medium (16). The pendulum device (12) comprises a mass (20) which comprises a porous structure (22). The porous structure (22) is configured to allow the viscous medium (16) to pass through it. The porous structure (22) is at least partially submerged in the viscous medium (16).