Wind turbine and operating same
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsHartmut Scholte-Wassink, Anders Wickstroem, Martin Essing
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for operating a wind turbine erected in a body of water, comprising: measuring vibrations of the wind turbine during operation; identifying at least one periodic component of said measured vibrations, wherein said periodic component is associated with interaction of said body of water and said wind turbine; and, operating at least one controller of said wind turbine so that water-induced vibrations are reduced.
Claims18
A method for operating a wind turbine erected in a body of water, comprising:
- (a) measuring vibrations of the wind turbine during operation;
- (b) identifying at least one periodic component of said measured vibrations, wherein said periodic component is associated with interaction of said body of water and said wind turbine, and wherein identifying the at least one periodic component includes identifying a frequency, an incoming direction, a wavelength or a peak height of water waves interacting with the wind turbine;
- and
- (c) operating at least one controller of said wind turbine so that the water-induced vibrations are reduced.
A method of reducing water-induced oscillations in a wind turbine, comprising:
- (a) providing at least one mechanical oscillation sensor at a first position of the wind turbine;
- (b) reading oscillation data from the at least one mechanical oscillation sensor during operation of the wind turbine;
- (c) determining a water-induced periodic oscillation of the wind turbine by determining a frequency, an incoming direction, a wavelength or a peak height of water waves interacting with the wind turbine;
- and
- (d) controlling at least one of a pitch angle, a yaw angle or a generator torque of said wind turbine so that an amplitude of the water-induced periodic oscillation is reduced.
A wind turbine comprising:
- a support structure for supporting the wind turbine;
- a tower mounted to the support structure;
- a nacelle mounted on top of the tower;
- a rotor hub mounted to the nacelle, wherein at least two rotor blades are attached to the rotor hub;
- a pitch drive system configured to individually adjust a pitch angle of each of the at least two rotor blades;
- a yaw drive system configured to adjust a yaw angle of the wind rotor;
- at least one sensor for measuring a vibration of the wind turbine;
- and,
- a wind turbine control system configured to receive measurement data from the at least one sensor, and configured to analyze said measurement data to identify a water-induced vibration pattern, wherein the control system is further configured to control the pitch drive system to adjust at least one pitch angle of at least one rotor blade so that the water-induced vibration pattern is reduced, and to control the yaw drive system to adjust the yaw angle of the wind turbine so that the water-induced vibration pattern is reduced.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.