Wind Turbine Tower Stays with Parallel Elements for Transport Ovalization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The transport of large-diameter, heavy steel tower sections for wind turbines results in ovalization, leading to stay deformation and potential failure, which can cause substantial financial loss due to damage.
Innovation Solution
The use of at least two parallel and adjacent stay elements connected to the platform and tower shell, with sliding or slipping movements allowed between them, reduces bending moments and enhances deflection before yield, thereby increasing the stay's resistance to buckling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single stay is used to connect the platform to the tower shell, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the stay undergoes plastic deformation and fails when tower shell ovalization occurs during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The single stay is divided into multiple parallel stay elements (at least two) that work together to support the platform. This segmentation allows each element to share the load and reduces the bending moment on individual elements, preventing plastic deformation while maintaining overall structural integrity during transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The stay structure uses a composite configuration of multiple steel elements arranged in parallel, creating a composite structural system that combines the strengths of individual elements to achieve higher overall reliability and resistance to ovalization-induced deformation.
2Productivity
If the tower shell diameter is increased to support higher towers for greater energy production, then the energy production capability increases, but the tower shell becomes very heavy and prone to ovalization during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is segmented into multiple parallel stay elements that distribute the mechanical stresses caused by tower shell ovalization, allowing the tower to maintain larger diameters for height support while preventing stay failure during transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The stay configuration changes from a single element to multiple parallel elements, fundamentally altering the mechanical parameters (moment of inertia, load distribution) to accommodate the increased tower shell diameter and weight while maintaining transport integrity.
3Speed
If acceleration and deceleration occur during transport of the tower section, then the transport process becomes more dynamic, but tower shell ovalization and stay damage are aggravated
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple parallel stay elements distribute the dynamic loads generated during acceleration and deceleration, reducing the peak bending moments on individual elements and preventing plastic deformation even under aggravated transport conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-element stay configuration acts as a pre-designed cushioning system that absorbs and distributes dynamic shocks and vibrations during transport, protecting against stay failure before damage can occur.
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
This configuration allows for two to three times more maximum deflection before yield, maintaining tensile strength and reducing the risk of stay failure during transport, thus preventing tower section damage.
Implementation Method 1
there is, when the stay is bent, a slipping or sliding movement allowed at the interface surface between the at least two stay elements which provides for the increased deflection below the yield limit of the stay
Implementation Method 2
The inventors found that the moment of inertia, which is key to the bending moments which occur in the stays, can be reduced by replacing a single stay by at least two stay elements arranged in parallel and adjacent to each other
Implementation Method 3
stays get damaged by plastic deformation, i.e., when a stay bends beyond its yield stress
Implementation Method 4
increasing the stay's resistance to buckling
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
A tower (6) or tower section (7, 8, 9) for a wind turbine (1), comprising: a tower shell (10), a platform (11), and a plurality of stays (12), each stay (12) connecting the platform (11) to the tower shell (10), wherein each stay (12) is comprised of at least two stay elements (24, 25) arranged in parallel and adjacent to each other, wherein each of the at least two stay elements (24, 25) is connected at its one end (19) to the platform (11) and at its other end (20) to the tower shell (10).