Wind Turbine Yaw Sensor Rotary Switches Prevent Cable Over-Twist
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing yaw sensors in wind turbines require manual disassembly for maintenance, which is time-consuming, costly, and risky, and may fail to activate safety contacts due to potential transmission failures, leading to cable over-twist and damage.
Innovation Solution
A yaw sensor system with multiple rotary switches and an absolute encoder that activates and deactivates electrical contacts based on yaw rotation, allowing for simultaneous activation of multiple contacts to prevent over-rotation and includes a controller to estimate yaw position and direction, ensuring safe operation even if one switch fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single cam switch with electrical contacts is used to prevent cable over-twist, then safety protection is provided, but the device complexity increases and manual disassembly for maintenance becomes necessary
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the safety monitoring function into multiple independent rotary switches (first rotary switch, second rotary switch, third rotary switch) instead of using a single cam switch. Each rotary switch has its own electrical contacts that can be independently activated. This segmentation allows the system to maintain safety protection while reducing the complexity of manual maintenance, as the distributed architecture enables more flexible monitoring and potential remote diagnostics.
2Ease of repair
If manual disassembly of the sensor is performed for safety contact activation, then safety contacts can be checked, but time is lost and assembly errors may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-monitoring system where a controller automatically receives activation signals from the electrical contacts of multiple rotary switches and determines based on these signals whether the yaw sensor is functioning correctly. This eliminates the need for manual disassembly and checking of safety contacts, as the system continuously self-monitors its own safety functionality through the distributed rotary switches that activate contacts during normal operation.
3Ease of operation
If transmission components are used to couple the yaw sensor to the yaw drive, then the sensor can function, but transmission failures may occur that prevent safety contact activation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent distributes multiple rotary switches with electrical contacts at different locations in the yaw sensor system, each capable of independently activating safety functions. Instead of relying on a single transmission path from the yaw drive to the cam switch, the system has multiple localized sensing points. This ensures that even if one transmission component fails, other rotary switches can still detect yaw position and activate safety contacts, maintaining reliability through localized redundancy.
4Reliability
If multiple rotary switches with interleaved activation ranges are used, then safety protection is enhanced and manual intervention is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the controller receives activation signals from electrical contacts of multiple rotary switches and uses these signals to continuously monitor yaw sensor functionality. The controller determines based on the pattern of activated contacts whether the sensor is operating correctly. This feedback system enhances safety protection by providing continuous monitoring while managing complexity through intelligent signal processing rather than purely mechanical complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A yaw sensor for a wind turbine comprises a plurality of rotary switches, each configured to be coupled to a yaw drive gearbox of a wind turbine nacelle, the rotary switches each being operable to activate and deactivate respective associated electrical contacts in dependence on an amount of yaw rotation of the nacelle relative to a start position.Each electrical contact is active at a plurality of first yaw rotation ranges with respect to the start position, and inactive at a plurality of second yaw rotation ranges with respect to the start position, the first and second yaw rotation ranges being interleaved.