Methods and apparatus for twist bend coupled (TCB) wind turbine blades
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsEmilian Mieczyslaw Moroz, David Lawrence LeMieux, Kirk Gee Pierce
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Abstract
A method for controlling a wind turbine having twist bend coupled rotor blades on a rotor mechanically coupled to a generator includes determining a speed of a rotor blade tip of the wind turbine, measuring a current twist distribution and current blade loading, and adjusting a torque of a generator to change the speed of the rotor blade tip to thereby increase an energy capture power coefficient of the wind turbine.
Claims33
A method for controlling a wind turbine having twist bend coupled rotor blades on a rotor mechanically coupled to a generator, said method comprising:
- determining a speed of a rotor blade tip of the wind turbine;
- measuring a current twist distribution and current blade loading;
- and
- adjusting a torque of a generator to change the speed of the rotor blade tip to thereby increase an energy capture power coefficient of the wind turbine.
A twist-bend coupled rotor blade for a wind turbine, said rotor blade comprising:
- a leading edge and a trailing edge;
- a laminate lay-up configured for twist-bend coupling;
- a passive twist-bend coupling section;
- one or more shear webs inside the rotor blade;
- and
- a twist-bend control system inside the passive twist-bend coupling section.
A wind turbine having twist bend coupled rotor blades on a rotor mechanically coupled to a generator, said wind turbine also having a controller configured to:
- determine a speed of a tip of a rotor blade;
- measure a current twist distribution and current blade loading;
- and
- adjust a torque of the generator to change the speed of the rotor blade tip to thereby increase an energy capture power coefficient of the wind turbine.
A wind turbine having a generator, a rotor mechanically coupled to said generator, and twist-bend coupled rotor blades on said rotor, said blades comprising:
- a leading edge and a trailing edge;
- a laminate lay-up configured for twist-bend coupling;
- a passive twist-bend coupling section;
- at least one shear webs inside the rotor blade;
- and
- a twist-bend control system inside the passive twist-bend coupling section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.