Wind-turbine blade and method for reducing noise in wind turbine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAnurag Gupta, Thierry Maeder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Low-noise wind turbine blades are provided wherein metallic and/or polymeric cellular materials that are capable of bearing directional loads are used in the construction of wind turbine blade parts or entire sections. The use of such materials influences the air flow over them in such a way that the resulting boundary-layer turbulence is damped in a controlled way, thus weakening the noise scattering mechanism at the trailing edge, and the scattered acoustic waves are absorbed and attenuated by the material acting as an acoustic liner.
Claims22
A wind turbine blade having a pressure side and a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge and a tip region, at least a portion of said blade being formed from a cellular material, said cellular material portion defining a portion of an exposed surface of said blade, whereby aerodynamic noise is reduced via noise source reduction and/or noise attenuation and absorption by the cellular material,
- wherein said cellular material is provided as a surface layer on at least a portion of the blade, said surface layer being of a predetermined depth.
A wind turbine blade having a pressure side and a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge and a tip region, at least a portion of said blade being formed from a cellular material, said cellular material portion defining a portion of an exposed surface of said blade, whereby aerodynamic noise is reduced via noise source reduction and/or noise attenuation and absorption by the cellular material,
- wherein said cellular material comprises an open cell cellular material.
A wind turbine blade having a pressure side and a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge and a tip region, at least a portion of said blade being formed from a cellular material, said cellular material portion defining a portion of an exposed surface of said blade, whereby aerodynamic noise is reduced via noise source reduction and/or noise attenuation and absorption by the cellular material,
- wherein an aft portion of said blade is formed from cellular material, and
- wherein said cellular material has a plenum defined therein or is connected to a plenum through which the blade's transpiration can be actively controlled by blowing or suction to improve the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance of the blade.
A wind turbine blade having a pressure side and a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge and a tip region, at least a portion of said blade being formed from a cellular material, said cellular material portion defining a portion of an exposed surface of said blade, whereby aerodynamic noise is reduced via noise source reduction and/or noise attenuation and absorption by the cellular material,
- wherein at least a portion of said tip region is made of metallic foam and wherein said blade incorporates a lightening protection system operatively coupled to said metallic foam portion.
A method of reducing noise in a wind turbine via at least one of noise source reduction and noise attenuation and absorption by a wind turbine blade, the method comprising:
- providing a wind turbine blade for the wind turbine, said blade having a pressure side and a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge and a tip region;
- wherein at least a portion of said blade is formed from a cellular material and wherein said cellular material portion defines a portion of an exposed surface of the blade,
- wherein said cellular material is provided as a surface layer on at least a portion of the blade, said surface layer being of a predetermined depth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.