Noise reducer for rotor blade in wind turbine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRoger Drobietz, Klaus Ulrich Koegler, Kevin Wayne Kinzie, Murray Fisher, Jamie Livingston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotor blade assembly for a wind turbine is disclosed. The rotor blade assembly includes a rotor blade having surfaces defining a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, and a trailing edge extending between a tip and a root. The rotor blade further includes a noise reducer configured on a surface of the rotor blade, the noise reducer comprising a plurality of serrations, each of the plurality of serrations defining a centerline. The centerline of each of the plurality of serrations defines a individual tailored angle dependent on at least one of span-wise location, local chord, width, length, bend angle, and thickness.
Claims15
A rotor blade assembly for a wind turbine, comprising:
- a rotor blade having surfaces defining a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, and a trailing edge extending between a tip and a root, the rotor blade further defining a pitch axis;
- and,
- a noise reducer configured on a surface of the rotor blade, the noise reducer comprising a plurality of serrations, each of the plurality of serrations defining a centerline,
- wherein the centerline of each of the plurality of serrations is in the range between approximately 10 degrees from perpendicular to the pitch axis and approximately perpendicular to the pitch axis,
- wherein a cross-section of each of the plurality of serrations is approximately parallel to a local flow streamline defined for that serration, and
- wherein each of the plurality of serrations is individually oriented based on the centerline, and wherein a bend angle of each of the plurality of serrations is individually set to a pre-calculated orientation based on the local flow streamline, the cross-section and the span-wise location of that serration.
A rotor blade assembly for a wind turbine, comprising:
- a rotor hub defining a center point,
- a rotor blade extending from the rotor hub, the rotor blade having surfaces defining a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, and a trailing edge extending between a tip and a root;
- and,
- a noise reducer configured on a surface of the rotor blade, the noise reducer comprising a plurality of serrations, each of the plurality of serrations defining a centerline,
- wherein a line is defined for each of the plurality of serrations between the centerline of each of the plurality of serrations and the center point of the rotor hub, the line intersecting the centerline of each of the plurality of serrations at a base of each of the plurality of serrations, and wherein the centerline of each of the plurality of serrations is in the range between approximately 10 degrees from perpendicular to the line and approximately perpendicular to the line,
- wherein a cross-section of each of the plurality of serrations is approximately parallel to a local flow streamline defined for that serration, and
- wherein each of the plurality of serrations is individually oriented based on the line defined for that serration, and wherein a bend angle of each of the plurality of serrations is individually set to a pre-calculated orientation based on the local flow streamline, the cross-section of that serration and the span-wise location of that serration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.