Wind power turbine electric generator cooling system and method and wind power turbine comprising such a cooling system
AssigneeWilic S.AR.L.
InventorsMatteo Casazza, Georg Folie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cooling system for cooling an electric generator of a wind power turbine including, in one embodiment: (a) a first heat exchanger fittable to the wind power turbine to release heat, produced by the electric generator, to the outside; (b) a second heat exchanger fittable to the rotor of the electric generator to receive heat from the rotor by thermal conduction, and which rotates about the axis of rotation of the rotor with respect to the first heat exchanger; and (c) a closed circuit extending through the first and second heat exchanger to circulate cooling liquid.
Claims29
A wind power turbine electric generator cooling system, wherein a wind power turbine electric generator includes a stator and a rotator which rotates about a first axis of rotation with respect to the stator, the wind power turbine electric generator cooling system comprising:
- a first heat exchanger fittable to a wind power turbine to release heat produced by the wind power turbine electric generator to an area outside of the wind power turbine;
- a second heat exchanger fittable to the rotor of the wind power turbine electric generator to receive heat from the rotor of the wind power turbine electric generator by thermal conduction, said second heat exchanger configured to rotate about the first axis of rotation with respect to the first heat exchanger;
- and
- a closed circuit extending through the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger to circulate cooling liquid.
An electric energy producing wind power turbine comprising:
- a vertical support;
- a nacelle;
- a blade assembly configured to rotate with respect to the nacelle about a first axis of rotation;
- an electric generator including:
- a stator fitted to the nacelle, and
- a rotor connected to the blade assembly;
- and
- a cooling system configured to cool the electric generator, the cooling system including:
- a first heat exchanger fitted to the wind power turbine to release heat produced by the electric generator to an area outside of the wind power turbine,
- a second heat exchanger fitted to the rotor to receive heat from the rotor by thermal conduction, and configured to rotate about the first axis of rotation with respect to the first heat exchanger and the stator, and
- a closed circuit extending through the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger to circulate cooling liquid.
A method of cooling a wind power turbine electric generator including a stator and a rotor configured to rotate about a first axis of rotation with respect to the stator, said method comprising:
- circulating cooling liquid in a closed circuit extending through at least one of:
- a first heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger;
- transferring heat produced by the rotor of the wind power turbine electric generator, by thermal conduction, to the second heat exchanger fitted to the rotor, wherein the second heat exchanger is configured to rotate about the first axis of rotation with respect to the first heat exchanger;
- and
- releasing heat produced by the rotor of the wind power turbine electric generator to an area outside of the wind power turbine by the first heat exchanger.
A wind power turbine electric generator cooling system configured to operate with a wind power turbine electric generator including a stator and a rotor configured to rotate about a first axis of rotation with respect to the stator and includes a plurality of rotor segments, the wind power turbine electric generator cooling system comprising:
- a first heat exchanger configured to evacuate heat to an area outside of the wind power turbine electric generator;
- a second heat exchanger including a plurality of second heat exchanger modules, said second heat exchanger configured to evacuate heat from the rotor segments and configured to rotate about the first axis of rotation with respect to the first heat exchanger;
- and
- a closed circuit extending through the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger to circulate a cooling liquid.
An electric energy producing wind power turbine comprising:
- a vertical support;
- a nacelle;
- a blade assembly configured to rotate with respect to the nacelle about a first axis of rotation;
- an electric generator including:
- a stator fitted to the nacelle, and
- a rotor connected to the blade assembly;
- and
- a cooling system configured to cool the electric generator, the cooling system including:
- a first heat exchanger fitted to the nacelle;
- a second heat exchanger fitted to the rotor and configured to rotate about the first axis of rotation with respect to the first heat exchanger and the stator;
- and
- a closed circuit extending through the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger, said closed circuit configured to circulate a cooling liquid and including a rotary hydraulic fitting along the closed circuit to permit rotation of the second heat exchanger with respect to the first exchanger about a second axis of rotation coincident with the first axis of rotation.
An electric energy producing wind power turbine comprising:
- a vertical support;
- a nacelle;
- a blade assembly configured to rotate with respect to the nacelle about a first axis of rotation;
- an electric generator;
- and
- a temperature control system including:
- a first heat exchanger fitted to the nacelle and arranged outside the nacelle;
- a second heat exchanger arranged inside the nacelle and configured to rotate with respect to the first heat exchanger;
- a third heat exchanger arranged inside the nacelle;
- a closed circuit extending through the first heat exchanger, the second heat exchanger and the third heat exchanger to circulate a cooling liquid, said closed circuit including a rotary hydraulic fitting along the closed circuit to permit rotation of the second heat exchanger with respect to the first heat changer and the third heat exchanger about a second axis of rotation coincident with the first axis of rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.