Wind turbine coupling to mitigate torque reversals
AssigneePt Tech, LLC
InventorsDavid C. Heidenreich, Richard E. Cole, Jr., Dustin J. Sadler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wind turbine power generating system, including a wind turbine connected to a speed-increasing gearbox having an output shaft. An electrical generator having an input shaft is also provided. A coupling interconnects the input and output shafts. The coupling includes a high torsional wind-up and/or displacement ability in parallel with a high frictional slip ability, such that during normal operation there is little or no frictional slippage and during a transient torque reversal the loads in the turbine drive system are decreased, thus decreasing the impact loads on the gearbox bearings.
Claims19
In a wind turbine power generating system comprising a wind turbine connected to a speed-increasing gearbox having a high-speed output shaft and an electrical generator having an input shaft, the improvement comprising:
- a coupling system interconnecting said output and input shafts, a torque path of said coupling system being split between at least one of a torsional wind-up and displacement component along with a torsional dampening component;
- wherein the torsional damping component is a frictional slip component set in a forward direction to at least 10% of a rated turbine torque;
- and
- wherein a torsional rotational displacement movement in a reverse direction is taken from the group of at least 10 degrees or greater for turbines with generators operating at 1000 rpm or more and for turbines with lower generator speeds in a range of 1 to 5 degrees per 100 rpm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.