Bird or bat detection and identification for wind turbine risk mitigation
AssigneeIdentiflight International, LLC
InventorsEric S. Wenger, Andrew G. Oliver, Victor L. Babbitt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automated system for mitigating risk from a wind turbine includes a plurality of optical imaging sensors. A controller receives and analyzes images from the optical imaging sensors to automatically send a signal to curtail operation of the wind turbine to a predetermined risk mitigating level when the controller determines from images received from the optical imaging sensors that an airborne animal is at risk from the wind turbine.
Claims19
A method for mitigating risk of an airstrike to an airborne animal by a wind turbine, the method comprising the steps of:
- optically imaging an airborne animal with an optical imaging sensor;
- providing images from the optical imaging sensor to a controller;
- analyzing the optical images with the controller to determine if the airborne animal is a likely member of a predetermined species;
- sending a first signal to curtail operation of the wind turbine to a predetermined risk mitigating level for the airborne animal that is determined by the controller to be a member of the predetermined species and is at risk from the wind turbine;
- and
- wherein the controller determines if the airborne animal is a member of the predetermined species at a distance from the wind turbine that is greater than a distance the predetermined species flies at a characteristic speed in a time required to curtail operation of the wind turbine to the predetermined risk mitigating level, wherein the characteristic speed is a maximum flight speed or an average flight speed of the predetermined species.
A method for mitigating risk of an airstrike to an airborne animal by a wind turbine, the method comprising the steps of:
- optically imaging an airborne animal with an optical imaging sensor;
- providing images from the optical imaging sensor to a controller;
- analyzing the optical images with the controller to determine if the airborne animal is a likely member of a predetermined species;
- sending a first signal to curtail operation of the wind turbine to a predetermined risk mitigating level for the airborne animal that is determined by the controller to be a member of the predetermined species and is at risk from the wind turbine;
- wherein the controller determines if the airborne animal is a member of the predetermined species at a distance from the wind turbine that is greater than 600 m.
A method for mitigating risk of an airstrike to an airborne animal by a wind turbine, the method comprising the steps of:
- optically imaging an airborne animal with an optical imaging sensor;
- providing images from the optical imaging sensor to a controller;
- analyzing the optical images with the controller to determine if the airborne animal is a likely member of a predetermined species and approaching the wind turbine;
- and
- sending a signal to deploy a deterrent to the airborne animal if the controller determines the airborne animal is a member of the predetermined species, is closer than 600 m to the wind turbine and is approaching the wind turbine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.