US 2023/0400012 A1Published application

Lightning protection system for wind turbine blade and wind power generation facility, and monitoring method for wind turbine blade

AssigneeMitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

InventorsSyusaku Yamamoto, Tatsufumi Aoi, Naoto Murata, Yoichiro Tsumura

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Abstract

A lightning protection system for a wind turbine blade, includes: a receptor disposed in a tip portion of the wind turbine blade; a leading edge protection portion made of a metal and electrically connected to the receptor and disposed so as to cover a leading edge of the wind turbine blade; a down conductor connected to the receptor; at least one connecting conductor for electrically connecting the leading edge protection portion and the down conductor at a position between the receptor and a blade root in a blade spanwise direction of the wind turbine blade; and a first current sensor for measuring a current flowing through a blade tip-side portion which is a portion, of the down conductor, between a blade tip and a connection point with the at least one connecting conductor in the blade spanwise direction.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A lightning protection system for a wind turbine blade, comprising:

a receptor disposed in a tip portion of the wind turbine blade;
a leading edge protection portion made of a metal and electrically connected to the receptor and disposed so as to cover a leading edge of the wind turbine blade;
a down conductor connected to the receptor;
at least one connecting conductor for electrically connecting the leading edge protection portion and the down conductor at a position between the receptor and a blade root in a blade spanwise direction of the wind turbine blade;
a first current sensor for measuring a current flowing through a blade tip-side portion of the down conductor, wherein the blade tip-side portion is between a blade tip and a connection point with the at least one connecting conductor in the blade spanwise direction;
at least one second current sensor disposed corresponding to the at least one connecting conductor, the at least one second current sensor being configured to measure a current flowing through a portion, of the down conductor, between the blade root and the connection point;
and
an identification part configured to identify a lightning-struck portion of the wind turbine blade based on a first current measured value which is a current measured value by the first current sensor and a second current measured value which is a current measured value by the second current sensor.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.