Operating a wind turbine for wake control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12546286-B2
Application number	US-202218558515-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2022
Priority date	May 7, 2021
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

A method of operating a wind turbine for controlling wake wherein the wind turbine includes at least a rotor blade and a plurality of aerodynamic devices for influencing the airflow flowing on the rotor blade, the aerodynamic device being movable between at least a respective first configuration and a second respective configuration, the method including the step of moving the aerodynamic device between the first configuration and the second configuration for influencing a wake generated by the wind turbine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method of operating a wind turbine for controlling wake effects on a downstream wind turbine, the wind turbine including at least a rotor blade and a plurality of aerodynamic devices for influencing an airflow flowing on the rotor blade, each aerodynamic device being movable between at least a respective first configuration and a second respective configuration, the method comprising:
moving each aerodynamic device between the first configuration and the second configuration controlled to induce turbulence and increase mixing with ambient wind flow for influencing a wake generated by the wind turbine and for wake recovery due to increased mixing with the ambient wind flow, and, as a function of influencing the wake, a recovery to the free-stream conditions that improve power production on the downstream wind turbine; wherein each rotor blade comprises more than one aerodynamic device, each aerodynamic device being moved between the first configuration and the second configuration depending on a radial position of the aerodynamic device along the rotor blade.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein in each rotor blade, any of the aerodynamic devices is moved to an active configuration for at least a complete rotation of the rotor blade.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a first step of moving the plurality of aerodynamic devices from a first initial configuration to a second final configuration, and a second step of moving the plurality of aerodynamic devices back to the first initial configuration.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the first step and the second step of the method are performed periodically.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein each aerodynamic device is moved depending on an azimuth angle of the respective rotor blades on a rotor plane.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the wind turbine is located in a wind park having at least two wind turbines, wherein the aerodynamic device is moved in such a way that a wake region generated by the wind turbine is divided in a first sub-region and in a second sub-region, the first sub-region being more subject to turbulences induced by the aerodynamic device than the second sub-region so that first sub-region recovers to ambient conditions faster than the second sub-region, a rotor disk of a second downstream wind turbines at least partially overlapping with the first sub-region of the wake region.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first configuration and the second configurations are active and inactive configurations of the aerodynamic device.

8 . A wind turbine comprising:
at least one rotor blade; a plurality of aerodynamic devices on the rotor blade being movable between at least a respective first configuration and a respective second configuration for influencing an airflow flowing on the rotor blade; and a controller executing the method according claim 1 .

9 . A wind park including the plurality of wind turbines according to claim 8 .

Assignees

• Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy As

Inventors

• Esbensen Thomas
• Gebraad Pieter M O
• Hoegh Gustav

Classifications

• F03D1/06495

  Aerodynamic elements attached to or formed with the blade, e.g. flaps, vortex generators or noise reducers · CPC title

• F05B2270/204

  taking into account the wake effect · CPC title

• F05B2240/3052

  adjustable · CPC title

• F05B2240/3062

  Vortex generators · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title