Wind Turbine Blade Angle Control for Thrust Load Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wind turbine operation methods face challenges in managing dynamically fluctuating thrust forces, leading to high loading on the tower, which can result in costly design requirements and potential damage, and are susceptible to measurement faults due to calculations based on absolute values.
Innovation Solution
A method for operating a wind turbine that involves detecting a state variable reflecting the current thrust, calculating a short-term mean value and its difference, determining a target blade angle correction value, and adjusting the blade angle to reduce thrust loading, using a turbine controller that is robust to measurement drift and interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the tower is designed for high thrust loads to prevent damage, then the reliability and safety are improved, but the manufacturing cost and structural complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs preliminary actions by detecting thrust load trends before they reach dangerous levels and preemptively adjusting blade angles to reduce thrust, preventing the need for over-engineering the tower structure
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback control by monitoring thrust load state variables, comparing them against reference values, and automatically adjusting blade angles to maintain thrust within safe limits, replacing the need for costly static structural solutions with dynamic control
2Measurement precision
If calculations are based on absolute values of operating parameters, then the control accuracy is improved, but the measurement precision deteriorates due to susceptibility to measuring faults
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a reference value as an intermediary that represents the desired thrust level, allowing control decisions to be based on the difference between actual and reference states rather than on absolute measurements that are susceptible to drift and calibration errors
Solution Approach 2:
The control approach transitions from using absolute parameter values to using relative parameter changes and differences, where the control decision depends on the deviation from a reference state rather than the absolute magnitude, making the system invariant to measurement scale errors
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for operating a wind turbine, to a wind turbine designed to carry out the method, and to a computer program product. The method for operating a wind turbine comprising a rotor with rotor blades that can be angularly adjusted via a turbine controller, in which a state variable that reflects the current thrust of the rotor is detected, has the following steps: a) ascertaining a short-term average value of the state variable; b) ascertaining the difference between the short-term average value of the state variable and the detected current state variable; c) ascertaining a first target blade angle correction value from the ascertained difference; and d) taking into consideration the target blade angle correction value while adjusting the blade angle by means of the turbine controller.