A wind turbine with a belt drive gear arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016258418-A1
Application number	US-201415031488-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 20, 2014
Priority date	Oct 22, 2013
Publication date	Sep 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A wind turbine ( 1 ) comprising a nacelle, a hub ( 4 ), a rotating shaft ( 14 ) arranged to be connected to a generator ( 12 ) in order to transfer rotational movement to the generator ( 12 ), and a gear arrangement ( 7 ). The gear arrangement ( 7 ) comprises a number of pulleys ( 8, 9, 11 ) and a number of belts ( 15, 16 ) interconnecting the pulleys ( 8, 9, 11 ) in order to transfer rotational movements between the pulleys ( 8, 9, 11 ), thereby transferring rotational movements from the hub ( 4 ) to the rotating shaft ( 14 ). The hub ( 4 ) is arranged between the gear arrangement ( 7 ) and the nacelle in order to allow easy replacement of the belts ( 15, 16 ) of the gear arrangement ( 7 ).

First claim

1 . A wind turbine comprising:
a nacelle, a hub carrying one or more rotor blades, the hub being rotatably mounted on the nacelle, a rotating shaft arranged to be connected to a generator in order to transfer rotational movement to the generator, and a gear arrangement arranged to transfer rotational movements of the hub to rotational movements of the rotating shaft, the gear arrangement comprising a number of pulleys and a number of belts interconnecting the pulleys in order to transfer rotational movements between the pulleys, thereby transferring rotational movements from the hub to the rotating shaft,
wherein the hub is arranged between the gear arrangement and the nacelle.

2 . The wind turbine according to claim 1 , wherein the gear arrangement comprises:
a primary pulley being rotationally decoupled from the hub, two or more planetary pulleys, each planetary pulley being mounted on the hub, thereby rotating along with the hub, and each planetary pulley being provided with a planetary shaft, each planetary pulley being arranged to perform rotational movements about its planetary shaft, and a centre pulley being connected to the rotating shaft,
wherein at least one belt interconnects the primary pulley to each of the planetary shafts, and at least one belt interconnects each of the planetary pulleys to the centre pulley.

3 . The wind turbine according to claim 2 , further comprising a hollow king pin, wherein the primary pulley is mounted fixedly on the hollow king pin.

4 . The wind turbine according to claim 3 , wherein the hub is rotationally mounted on the king pin via a main bearing arrangement.

5 . The wind turbine according to claim 3 , wherein at least part of the rotating shaft is arranged inside the hollow king pin.

6 . A wind turbine according to claim 5 , further comprising a generator, wherein the generator is arranged inside the nacelle.

7 . The wind turbine according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more generators, wherein the generator(s) is/are arranged inside the hub.

8 . The wind turbine according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of the gear arrangement is partly enclosed by the hub.

Assignees

• Vestas Wind Sys As

Inventors

• Kudsk Henrik
• Neubauer Jesper Lykkegaard
• Baun Torben Ladegaard

Classifications

• F03D80/50

  Maintenance or repair · CPC title

• F03D80/70

  Bearing or lubricating arrangements · CPC title

• F03D15/10 Primary

  using gearing not limited to rotary motion, e.g. with oscillating or reciprocating members · CPC title

• F03D15/00 Primary

  Transmission of mechanical power · CPC title

• F03D9/25

  the apparatus being an electrical generator (F03D9/22 takes precedence) · CPC title