Foldable blades for wind turbines
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorsFabio Paolo Bertolotti, John DiDomenico
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turbine blade assembly includes an outboard blade section that folds onto an inboard blade section at a hinge located between the sections. When the outboard blade section is rotating to a folded position a longitudinal axis of the outboard blade section is transverse to a longitudinal axis of the inboard blade section. When the outboard blade section is in a fully folded position, the axes are parallel. The method of folding the outboard blade section includes adjusting the pitch of the turbine blade while it is rotating. Adjusting the pitch changes the pressure on a non-hinge side of the turbine blade and results in the outboard blade section folding with respect to the inboard blade section.
Claims19
A turbine assembly comprising:
- an inboard blade section;
- and
- an outboard blade section coupled to said inboard blade section for corotation with said inboard blade section in a rotational plane about a fulcrum, said outboard blade section and said inboard blade section each having an airfoil shape, said outboard blade section being radially outward of said inboard blade section relative to said fulcrum, said outboard blade section being moveable between a first position within said rotational plane and a second position folded toward said fulcrum and said inboard blade section and transverse to said rotational plane.
A method of moving an outboard section of a rotating turbine blade relative to an inboard section of the rotating turbine blade wherein the inboard blade section corotates with the outboard blade section in a rotational plane about a fulcrum, the method comprising the steps of:
- mechanically actuating the rotating turbine blade to change a pitch of the rotating turbine blade;
- and
- folding the outboard blade section of the rotating turbine blade toward the fulcrum and the inboard blade section of the rotating turbine blade in response to the change in the pitch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.