Wind turbine with integrated hydrogen generation
AssigneeVestas Wind Systems A/S
InventorsCatalin Gabriel Dincan, Rui Wu, Philip Carne Kjær
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Abstract
An off-grid wind turbine system comprising a wind turbine with an electric generator for generating an initial electric power output. An electrolyzer system with a hydrogen electrolyzer located inside the nacelle or tower of the wind turbine, so as to generate hydrogen by an electrolysis process. An electric converter system serves to convert the initial electric power output into a DC electric power output dedicated for powering the electrolyzer. The produced hydrogen is stored in a hydrogen storage tank.
Claims19
An off-grid wind turbine system comprising:
- a wind turbine comprising a tower, a nacelle, and a blade system arranged to drive an electric generator for generating an initial electric power output;
- an electrolyzer system comprising an electrolyzer arranged to generate hydrogen to a hydrogen output by an electrolysis process, wherein at least part of the electrolyzer is located inside the wind turbine;
- an electric converter system arranged to convert the initial electric power output into a DC electric power output dedicated for powering the electrolyzer;
- and
- a hydrogen storage system comprising a hydrogen storage tank arranged to receive hydrogen from the hydrogen output in order to store hydrogen generated by the electrolyzer system, and
- wherein the DC electric power output powers a compressor located inside the wind turbine, wherein the compressor is connected to the hydrogen output and the compressor is operable to compress hydrogen from the hydrogen output;
- and wherein the electric generator is a synchronous generator, and wherein the electric converter system comprises a modular converter with a plurality of converter modules, and wherein each of the plurality of converter modules is arranged to generate a DC electric power output for powering respective electrolyzer modules.
A method for storing energy based on wind power, the method comprising:
- generating an initial electric power output by an electric generator in a wind turbine comprising a tower, a nacelle, and a blade system arranged to drive the electric generator;
- converting, using an electric converter system, the initial electric power output into a DC electric power output dedicated for powering an electrolyzer;
- generating hydrogen by applying the DC electric power output to the electrolyzer, wherein at least part of the electrolyzer is located inside the wind turbine;
- and
- storing the generated hydrogen in a hydrogen storage tank, and
- wherein the DC electric power output powers a compressor located inside the wind turbine, wherein the compressor is connected to a hydrogen output of the electrolyzer and the compressor is operable to compress hydrogen from the hydrogen output;
- and wherein the electric generator is a synchronous generator, and wherein the converting method comprises a modular converter with a plurality of converter modules, and wherein each of the plurality of converter modules is arranged to generate a DC electric power output for powering respective electrolyzer modules.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.