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US 7,508,186 B2Granted
Registration of lightning strike in a wind turbine
AssigneeLm Glasfiber A/S
InventorIvan Mortensen
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AssigneeLm Glasfiber A/S
InventorIvan Mortensen
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to aspects of a method of registering lightning strikes in the blade of a wind turbine, use of such method, a system of exercising the method. The method according to the invention of registering lightning strikes involve that the method comprises that the lightning strike is captured in a receptor arranged in the blade (5) of the wind turbine, and the lightning current is conducted completely or partially through at least one electric resistor (10), thereby heating it, and that it is registered at least that the temperature of the resistor is or was at some point increased. The heating of the electric resistor, ie the increase in temperature, provides simple and reliable registration. This can be extended to also comprise measurement of the amount of energy contained in the lightning current in a very robust and hence very suitable manner for the task. By the invention it is acknowledged that if a lightning current is conducted through a suitable electric resistor, this will “capture” a share of the amount of energy in the same manner as eg an electric radiator or a furnace, ie the resistor is heated by the current as a function of the voltage and the duration and hence of the amount of energy.
A method of registering at least one lightning strike in the blade (5) of a wind turbine, characterised in that the method comprises that the lightning strike is captured by a receptor (6) in the blade of the wind turbine, from where a lightning current is completely or partially conducted through at least one electric resistor (10), thereby heating it;
A wind turbine (1) comprising means for grounding a lightning current, including at least one receptor (6) and at least one grounding connection (7) from the receptor to an external connection to ground (9), characterised in that the wind turbine comprises means (16) for measuring an increase in temperature in at least one electric resistor (10) and means for determining the amount of energy contained in a lightning strike on the basis of the magnitude of the increase in temperature, wherein the resistor (10) is connected to the receptor (6) or to the grounding connection (7) in a position between the receptor (6) and the connection to ground (9), preferably by being inserted serially in the grounding connection (7) and serially inserted between the grounding connection (7) and the receptor (6), respectively, or by being incorporated into a measurement shunt, a measuring bridge or other parallel circuit connected to the grounding connection (7) or to the receptor (6).
A system (8) for use in the registration of at least one lightning strike in a blade of a wind turbine, said system comprising means for grounding a lighting current, including at least one receptor (6) for mounting in the blade (5) of the wind turbine, and at least one lightning grounding cable (7) coupled to the receptor (6), characterised in that the system comprises means (16) for measuring an increase in temperature in at least one electric resistor (10), and characterized in that the system comprises means for determining the amount of energy contained in a lightning strike on the basis of the magnitude of the increase in temperature, wherein the at least one resistor is adapted to be coupled to the lightning grounding cable (7) or to the receptor (6) and be inserted between the ground (9) and the receptor (6), respectively, in such a manner that the resistor will be heated by a lightning current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.