Floating body device for suppressing vibration of tower

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11268275-B2
Application number	US-201815999662-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2018
Priority date	Sep 11, 2017
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

A floating body device for suppressing vibration of enclosure includes a floating body surrounding the enclosure and an excitation device which can excite the floating body to float up and down. The excitation device includes a tether connected to the floating body to prevent the floating body from falling off from the enclosure. When the floating body floats up and down, an airflow boundary layer on an outer wall of a tower can be destroyed, and a cause of vortex-induced vibration can be directly suppressed. In addition, a change of an aerodynamic configuration is obtained. The up and down floating of the floating body disrupts both upper and lower sections of a nearby flow field, thus weakening a combined action thereof, thereby preventing the vortex induced vibration of the tower.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A floating body device for suppressing vibration of an enclosure, comprising a floating body surrounding the enclosure and an excitation device configured to excite the floating body to float up and down; wherein the excitation device comprises a tether connected to the floating body to prevent the floating body from falling off from the enclosure; and wherein
the excitation device further comprises a rope actuator, one end of the tether is connected to the floating body, the other end of the tether is connected to the rope actuator; the rope actuator is configured to control the tether to extend and retract, so as to actively excite the floating body to float up and down; and further comprises:
a follow-up system supporting and rotating platform on which the rope actuator is arranged,
a track fixed on a foundation base or the enclosure, and
a driving motor used to drive the follow-up system supporting and rotating platform to move along the track, wherein
the follow-up system supporting and rotating platform is configured to rotate around the enclosure when moving along the track, to allow the tether, the rope actuator and the floating body to follow.

2. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , wherein the rope actuator comprises a winch wound around by the tether and a servo motor used to control the winch to rotate.

3. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , further comprising a pulley, wherein the tether is connected to the rope actuator via the pulley, and the pulley maintains the tether to pull the floating body in a vertical direction.

4. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 3 , comprising at least two tethers controlled by the same rope actuator to extend and retract, wherein each of the tethers enters the same rope actuator via the corresponding pulley.

5. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 4 , wherein the pulleys corresponding to the tethers each comprises a guiding pulley and a height-limiting pulley;
after an outer side of the tether being wound around the guiding pulley, a direction of the tether is changed to be parallel with a direction of extension and retraction controlled by the rope actuator, and the tether is connected to the rope actuator via the height-limiting pulley; the height-limiting pulley is fixed with respect to the enclosure; and wherein
further comprising a rotating ring, wherein the rotating ring runs through each of the guiding pulleys, and the rotating ring functions as an axle of all the guiding pulleys.

6. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , wherein the follow-up system supporting and rotating platform is provided with a balance weight.

7. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller, wherein the controller controls the rope actuator and/or the driving motor to start or stop.

8. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 7 , further comprising a vibration monitoring element for detecting the vibration of the enclosure and/or a wind speed sensor for measuring a wind speed at a location where the enclosure is located, wherein the controller controls the rope actuator to start or stop according to a detected vibration signal and/or a detected wind speed signal.

9. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 8 , wherein the controller controls, by the rope actuator, a reciprocating extension/retraction range and a reciprocating extension/retraction speed of the tether.

10. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 9 , further comprising a height detecting element for detecting a height at which the floating body is located, wherein the controller controls, according to the detected height, an extension/retraction range of the tether driven by the rope actuator.

11. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 10 , wherein by combining a change of the vibration signal after the floating body is driven by the reciprocating extension/retraction of the tether to rise and fall, and the height at which the floating body is located, the controller analyzes a vibration controlling law of the floating body under a predetermined wind speed and height, so as to control the float body to determine a range and a speed of rise and fall according to the wind speed and the height.

12. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 11 , further comprising a wireless receiver for receiving a signal from the height detecting element, wherein the height detecting element is arranged on the floating body, and the wireless receiver is arranged on the follow-up system supporting and rotating platform.

13. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 7 , further comprising a wind indicator for detecting a wind direction of a location where the enclosure is located, wherein the controller controls the driving motor according to the detected wind direction, to make the follow-up system supporting and rotating platform follow the floating body to rotate;
or further comprising a direction detecting element for detecting a direction of the floating body, wherein the controller controls the driving motor according to the detected direction of the floating body, to make the follow-up system supporting and rotating platform follow the floating body to rotate.

14. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 13 , wherein the floating body has a streamlined front edge, and the front edge can face toward an upwind incoming flow, to allow the upwind incoming flow to form a positive attack angle and/or a negative attack angle; and
the floating body also has a tail portion opposite to the front edge, and a distance between the front edge and an outer wall of the enclosure is smaller than a distance between the tail portion and the outer wall of the enclosure, so that under an action of the upwind incoming flow, the front edge can automatically align with the upwind incoming flow.

15. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , wherein the tether is an elastic tether, or the tether has at least one elastic section, to collect turbulent fluctuating energy of the upwind incoming flow, to excite and increase an up and down floating range of the floating body.

16. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , wherein the floating body is annular, and a lateral dimension of a central through-hole of the floating body satisfies the requirement that, at a top of the enclosure, a predetermined distance is provided as a gap between an inner wall of the central through-hole of the floating body and the outer wall of the enclosure, to break a buoyancy force generated by the upwind incoming flow, so as to achieve self-balance.

17. The floating body device for suppressing vibration of the enclosure according to claim 1 , wherein the enclosure comprises a tower of a wind turbine generator system, a television tower or an anemometer tower.

Assignees

• Beijing Goldwind Science & Creation Windpower Equipment Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ma Shengjun

Classifications

• F03D80/00

  Details, components or accessories not provided for in groups F03D1/00 - F03D17/00 · CPC title

• E04H12/00

  Towers; Masts or poles; Chimney stacks; Water-towers; Methods of erecting such structures (cooling towers E04H5/12; derricks for oil drilling E21B15/00) · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F03D17/00

  Monitoring or testing of wind motors, e.g. diagnostics (testing during commissioning of wind motors F03D13/30) · CPC title

• F05B2260/96

  Preventing, counteracting or reducing vibration or noise · CPC title