Rotating unbalanced rotor hubs and installing wind turbine rotor blades

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12372065-B2
Application number	US-202418617848-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2024
Priority date	Mar 28, 2023
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods for rotating a locked rotor of a wind turbine in case of an imbalance in a rotor plane of the rotor, comprising: rotating the rotor using an inching tool to apply torque on a drive train of the wind turbine to reduce the imbalance in the rotor plane; and removing a locking pin from a locking disc operatively connected to the rotor after reducing the imbalance in the rotor plane. The methods further comprise estimating a direction of a torque load due to the imbalance in the rotor plane using one or more sensors, and impeding the inching tool to apply torque on the drive train of the wind turbine in the estimated direction of the torque load due to the imbalance. The present disclosure further relates to inching tools and to methods for installing rotor blades on a hub of a wind turbine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for rotating a rotor of a wind turbine that is locked due to an imbalance of the rotor in a rotor plane, the method comprising:
rotating the rotor using an inching tool to apply torque on a drive train of the wind turbine to reduce the imbalance in the rotor plane;
removing a locking pin from a locking disc operatively connected to the rotor after reducing the imbalance in the rotor plane;
rotating the rotor to a desired position;
wherein rotating the rotor to reduce the imbalance in the rotor plane comprises:
estimating a direction of a torque load on the rotor due to the imbalance in the rotor plane using one or more sensors, wherein estimating the direction of the torque load comprises measuring a load on or deflection of the locking disc, and wherein estimating the direction of the torque load comprises measuring a distance between the locking disk and a frame of the wind turbine; and
impeding the inching tool from applying torque on the drive train of the wind turbine in the estimated direction of the torque load on the rotor due to the imbalance.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the sensors comprises a strain gauge.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensors are optical sensors.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein estimating the direction of the torque load comprises comparing readings from a plurality of sensors while the rotor is subjected to the imbalance.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein estimating the direction of the torque load comprises measuring a load on or deflection of the locking pin.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the imbalance on the rotor in the rotor plane is due to installing blades on a hub of the rotor.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, after mounting less than all of the blades on the hub, mounting a further blade on the hub.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein mounting the further rotor blade comprises:
rotating the rotor to a further mounting position;
locking the rotor in the further mounting position; and
mounting the further blade while the rotor hub is in the further mounting position.

Assignees

• General Electric Renovables Espana Sl

Inventors

• Gomez Mora Daniel
• Garry Michael A
• Molinari Jorge
• Abram Arianna

Classifications

• F05B2230/608

  for adjusting the position or the alignment, e.g. wedges or excenters · CPC title

• F03D13/104

  Rotor installation, e.g. installation of blades · CPC title

• F05B2260/31

  Locking rotor in position · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F05B2270/606

  mechanical actuators (F05B2270/602 takes precedence) · CPC title