Wind turbine having sensor elements mounted on rotor blades
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
F03D-007/04
F03D-009/00
H02P-009/00
H02P-009/04
출원번호
US-0427998
(2003-05-02)
우선권정보
DE-0019664 (2002-05-02)
발명자
/ 주소
Weitkamp, Roland
출원인 / 주소
General Electric Company
대리인 / 주소
Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor &
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
53인용 특허 :
36
초록▼
The invention relates to a wind power plant with a tower, a rotor having at least one rotor blade being substantially radially distant with respect to a rotor axis and being rotatably supported with respect to a substantially horizontal rotation axis in a portion at the top of said tower, preferably
The invention relates to a wind power plant with a tower, a rotor having at least one rotor blade being substantially radially distant with respect to a rotor axis and being rotatably supported with respect to a substantially horizontal rotation axis in a portion at the top of said tower, preferably at machine nacelle rotatably supported on a rotation axis extending substantially along the gravitational direction, a sensor means associated to said rotor for generating sensor signals depending on the mechanical load of the rotor, and an analysis means, especially a data processing means, wherein at least two, preferably pair-wise mounted, sensor elements are associated to at least one, preferably to each, rotor blade of the rotor and the evaluation means is designed for determining evaluation signals representing the mechanical loads of at least one rotor blade on the basis of the sensor signals generated by the sensor elements associated to this rotor blade.
대표청구항▼
1. A wind turbine, comprising:a rotor having at least one rotor blade capable of rotating with respect to a rotor axis of the rotor; a sensor coupled to the rotor to generate sensor signals based on a mechanical load of the rotor, the sensor including at least two sensor elements pair-wisely mounted
1. A wind turbine, comprising:a rotor having at least one rotor blade capable of rotating with respect to a rotor axis of the rotor; a sensor coupled to the rotor to generate sensor signals based on a mechanical load of the rotor, the sensor including at least two sensor elements pair-wisely mounted on the at least one rotor blade of the rotor at opposite sides of a longitude axis of the rotor blade; and an evaluation unit coupled to the sensor to generate evaluation signals representing the mechanical loads of at least one rotor blade based on the sensor signals generated by the sensor elements. 2. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is configured to determine temperature, centrifugally, and gravitationally corrected evaluation signals.3. The wind turbine of claim 1, further comprising a control unit coupled to the evaluation unit to receive evaluation signals for adjusting at least one operating parameter including an angle of attack of a rotor blade.4. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the at least two sensor elements are pair-wisely mounted on opposite sides of the rotor blade according to a direction of the mechanical load to be measured.5. A wind turbine, comprising:a rotor having at least one rotor blade capable of rotating with respect to a rotor axis of the rotor; a sensor coupled to the rotor to generate sensor signals based on a mechanical load of the rotor, the sensor including at least two-sensor elements pair-wisely mounted on the at least one-rotor blade of the rotor; and an evaluation unit coupled to the sensor to generate evaluation signals representing the mechanical loads of at least one rotor blade based on the sensor signals generated by the sensor elements, wherein the evaluation unit receives additional signals from at least one of temperature sensor, revolutions, and rotor position sensor, wherein the evaluation unit determines influences of temperature, centrifugal force, and gravitation based on the received additional signals. 6. The wind turbine of claims 5,wherein the sensor elements are mounted on the same side of the rotor blade, directly adjacent or along a line extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rotor blade, to generate the sensor signals used by the evaluation unit for compensation of the influences of temperature, revolutions, and gravitation. 7. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the sensor includes a plurality of sensor elements chained via an optical fiber in a U-shaped loop.8. The wind turbine of claim 7, wherein both fiber ends are merged into a channel by an optical Y-coupler.9. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein at least one sensor element comprises a rod embedded within at least one rotor blade and a detection element detecting the displacement of said rod.10. The wind turbine of claim 9, wherein the rod embedded in the rotor blade is beared by two support elements which are spaced within said rotor blade, and the detection element is attached to one of said support elements.11. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the sensor elements are disposed in a way so that they substantially sense the mechanical loads in a shock direction of the rotor blade transverse to the plane of the rotor blade.12. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is operable to monitor operativeness of the sensor elements and to switch to a redundant operation mode on failure of at least one sensor element.13. The wind turbine of claim 12,wherein in the redundant operation mode, the evaluation unit generates data for temperature compensation and for quantifying parasitic effects based on the signals of the operable sensor elements. 14. The wind turbine of claim 1, further comprising;a gear suspension elastically beared on a machine nacelle rotatably supported on the rotor axis, wherein at least one sensor element is disposed at said elastic bearing of the gear suspension. 15. The wind turbine of claim 14,further comprising at least three distance sensor elements disposed at the elastic bearing of the gear suspension to measure a movement of the gear suspension, at least one distance sensor element to sense a horizontal displacement of the gear and at least at least one distance sensor element to sense a vertical displacement of the gear suspension, wherein the sensor signals delivered by said distance sensor elements are evaluated so that the pitch moment, yaw moment, and torque applied to the suspension gear are determinable by said evaluation unit from the measured displacements to adjust at least one operating parameter. 16. A wind turbine, comprising:a rotor having at least one rotor blade capable of rotating with respect to a rotor axis of the rotor; a gear suspension for supporting the rotor, the gear suspension including two rotor bearings to rotatably support the rotor on opposite sides with respect to the rotor axis; at least three distance sensor elements disposed on each rotor bearing, said distance sensor elements sensing the displacement of a cross section of the at least one rotor blade with respect to the rotor axis. 17. The wind turbine of claim 16wherein the at least three distance sensor elements are approximately disposed on a circle extending coaxially on each rotor bearing with respect to the rotor axis. 18. The wind turbine of claim 16further comprising at least four distance sensor elements are disposed on each rotor gearing in a pattern according to one of a rectangle and a square. 19. The wind turbine of claim 16wherein the at least three distance sensor elements are disposed at a rotor shaft coupled to the rotor and extending coaxially to the rotor axis. 20. The wind turbine of claim 16wherein the rotor is coupled to a planet gear via a rotor shaft and the at least three distance sensor elements are disposed in a region of the planet gear. 21. The wind turbine of claim 20wherein the at least three distance sensor elements are disposed at an outer periphery of a ring gear of the planet gear. 22. The wind turbine of claim 21wherein at least one distance sensor element is disposed axially spaced from a front side of said ring gear. 23. The wind turbine of claim 21wherein at least one of the distance sensor elements is disposed in a region of a housing cover attached to a front side of at least one of said ring gear, a torque support, and a region of the ring gear. 24. The wind turbine of claim 1wherein the at least two sensor elements spaced from each other in a direction of the rotor axis for sensing torques. 25. The wind turbine of claim 1wherein the sensor comprises at least one of an inductive, mechanical, optical, acoustical and magneto-resistive sensor element for sensing the displacement of components. 26. The wind turbine of claim 1wherein the control unit is operatable for generating an aerodynamical unbalance and a mechanical unbalance to calibrate the sensor elements for sensing pitch or yaw moments. 27. The wind turbine of claim 1 further comprisinga cavity rotational symmetric and extends collinear to the rotor axis, and a valve arrangement for selectively discharging a fluid contained in said cavity into a cavity formed in the rotor blade. 28. A method for operating a wind turbine, the method comprising:generating sensor signals using a sensor coupled to a rotor having at least one rotor blade capable of rotating with respect to a rotor axis of the rotor, the sensor including at least two sensor elements attached to the at least one rotor blade to generate the sensor signals based on a mechanical load of the rotor blade, the at least two sensor elements pair-wisely mounted at opposite side of a longitude axis of the rotor blade; and in response to failure of at least one of the at least two sensor elements, switching to a redundant operation mode in which the sensor signals are generated from a remainder of the at least two sensor elements that are operable, wherein signals from at least one failed sensor elements are ignored. 29. A method for operating a wind turbine, the method comprising:generating sensor signals using a sensor coupled to a rotor having at least one rotor blade capable of rotating with respect to a rotor axis of the rotor, the sensor including at least two sensor elements attached to the at least one rotor blade to generate the sensor signals based on a mechanical load of the rotor blade, the at least two sensor elements pair-wisely mounted at opposite side of a longitude axis of the rotor blade; in response to failure of at least one of the at least two sensor elements, switching to a redundant operation mode in which the sensor signals are generated from a remainder of the at least two sensor elements that are operable, wherein signals from at least one failed sensor elements are ignored; and compensating parasitic influences of temperature, gravitation, and centrifugal force on the remaining at least one operable sensor element. 30. The method of claim 30, further comprising calibrating the sensor elements using sensor signals for sensing pitch and yaw moments which are obtained after the generation of a predetermined aerodynamical and mechanical unbalance.31. The method of claim 30, further comprising discharging a fluid contained in a cavity extending collinear with respect to the rotor axis into at least one cavity formed in one of the rotor blades.
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