Method of controlling a wind turbine and apparatus therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11401915-B2
Application number	US-202017015919-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2020
Priority date	Sep 11, 2019
Publication date	Aug 2, 2022
Grant date	Aug 2, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a method of controlling a wind turbine. According to the method, a control command for the wind turbine or another wind turbine is received and detected to conflict with at least one stored control command. In addition, a priority and a reception time of the received control command is detected and the received conflicting control command is stored in a memory with the priority and the reception time as a stored control command. In addition, a sequence of the stored conflicted control commands is created or updated based on the priorities and the reception times of the stored conflicted control commands and the stored control command with the highest priority and the oldest reception time is executed as the currently executed control command. Provided is a computer program and an apparatus for carrying out the method and a system including the apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a wind turbine, comprising:
receiving a control command for the wind turbine or another wind turbine of a plurality of wind turbines;
determining that the received control command conflicts with at least one stored control command;
detecting a priority and a reception time of the received control command;
storing the received control command in a memory, as a stored control command, with the priority and the reception time;
preparing or updating a sequence of stored conflicting control commands, the sequence depending on respective priorities and reception times of the stored conflicting control commands; and
executing a stored control command of the sequence of stored conflicting control commands a highest priority and an oldest reception time as a currently executed control command.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein a control abort command is associated with each stored control command and when the control abort command is received, the stored control command associated with the received control abort command:
is deleted if a same control abort command is stored for later execution, or
is terminated and deleted if it is being executed as the currently executed control command, wherein a stored command stored in the sequence as next to the currently executed control command is executed as a new currently executed control command.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein each stored control command includes an identifier of a controller which issued the control command and a priority is associated with each identifier so that the priority is detected on the basis of the identifier.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein:
each stored control command includes an identifier of a controller which issued the control command and when the received control command has an identifier identical to an identifier of a previously stored conflicting control command, detecting the priority and the reception time of the received control command, storing the received control command, preparing or updating the sequence, and executing the stored control command are performed based on the identifier, wherein:
when a sub-priority is associated with the received control command, a sequence of the stored conflicting control command with the same identifier is additionally created or updated based on the sub-priority; and
when a sub-priority is not associated with the control command, the previously stored conflicting control command with the same identifier is deleted.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the received control command is associated with one or more predefined control types, wherein the received control command is determined to conflict with the at least one stored control command if the received control command and the at least one stored control command are associated with the same control type and are intended for the same wind turbine.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein each control command has one of at least three priorities, wherein control commands have the highest priority if they are sent by a wind turbine manufacturer, the control commands have a lowest priority if they are sent by a wind turbine operator, and/or the control commands have a priority between the lowest and the highest priority when they are sent by a controller of the wind turbine.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the control commands having the lowest priority additionally have a sub-priority such that a plurality of operators have a plurality of different sub-priorities.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the control commands associated with the same control type that serves to stop the wind turbine if the control commands are for:
transferring the wind turbine into a state with a completely stopped rotor; and/or
transferring the wind turbine into a spinning mode; and/or
transferring the wind turbine into a special operating mode or protection mode that include an animal protection mode, a bat or bird protection mode with a reduced and/or predefined maximum rotary speed of the rotor and/or a shadow casting mode for preventing predefined shadow casting of the rotor.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein when no control command associated with the control type that serves to stop the wind turbine is stored, the wind turbine is operated in at operating point predetermined by a further control command or with a predetermined operating curve.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control command is associated with a control type for operation of the wind turbine and the control command includes at least one target setting for operation of the wind turbine, wherein the at least one target setting includes at least one of:
an active power target value,
a reactive power target value,
an apparent power target value,
a voltage target value,
a current target value, or
a phase angle target value.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein in the control commands associated with the control type for the operation of the wind turbine and control commands associated with a control type that serves to stop the wind turbine are conflicting control commands.

12. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed by a computer that is a control center, a cluster controller, a wind farm controller or a wind turbine controller, cause the computer to perform the method according to claim 1 .

13. An apparatus for carrying out the method according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a control center, a cluster controller, a wind farm controller or a wind turbine controller of the wind turbine, and wherein the apparatus includes at least one data interface for connection to a plurality of controllers that generate the control commands and control abort commands.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the apparatus is the wind farm controller, and the wind farm controller includes:
at least one data connection configured to connect the wind farm controller to the plurality of wind turbines; and
the memory configured to store the control commands, wherein the control command with the highest priority and the oldest reception time is selected as the currently executed control command and transmitted to the wind turbine associated with the control command by way of the at least one data connection.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the memory has a plurality of memory regions, wherein each memory region is associated with one wind turbine which can be connected to the apparatus, wherein the conflicting control commands of the wind turbine are stored in a memory region of the plurality of memory regions associated with the wind turbine.

16. A system, comprising:
the apparatus according to claim 13 ;
the plurality of controllers for generating the control commands and the control abort commands; and
the plurality of wind turbines for executing the control commands.

Assignees

• Wobben Properties Gmbh

Inventors

• Giertz Helge

Classifications

• F03D7/047

  characterised by the controller architecture, e.g. multiple processors or data communications · CPC title

• F03D7/048 Primary

  controlling wind farms · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F03D7/044

  with PID control · CPC title

• G06F15/163

  Interprocessor communication · CPC title