Wind turbine rotor and methods of assembling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9249777-B2
Application number	US-201213683734-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2012
Priority date	Nov 21, 2012
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

A rotor for coupling to a shaft is provided. The rotor includes a space frame hub having a central portion coupled to the shaft and a first structural member coupled to said central portion, wherein the first structural member has a first length. The rotor further includes a first blade coupled to the first structural member and having a tip end spaced from the shaft at a second length that is longer than the first length.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rotor for coupling to a rotating shaft, said rotor comprising:
a space frame hub comprising a central portion fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft and a first structural member coupled to said central portion, wherein said rotating shaft is fixedly coupled to the central portion without extending therethrough, said first structural member having a first length; and
a first blade coupled to said first structural member and having a tip end spaced from the shaft at a second length that is longer than said first length.

2. The rotor of claim 1 , wherein said central portion comprises a plurality of interlocking strut members in a polyhedron shape.

3. The rotor of claim 1 , wherein said first structural member comprises a plurality of interlocking primary members and a plurality of interlocking secondary members.

4. The rotor of claim 1 , wherein said first structural member is aerodynamically shaped.

5. The rotor of claim 1 , further comprising a second structural member and a third structural member coupled to said central portion.

6. The rotor of claim 1 , further comprising a second structural member and a third structural member coupled to said central portion and a second blade coupled to said second structural member and a third blade coupled to said third structural member.

7. The rotor of claim 1 , wherein said first length is about 10% to about 40% of said second length.

8. The rotor of claim 1 , wherein said first blade comprises an aerodynamic fairing.

9. The rotor of claim 1 , further comprising a semi-circular dome coupled to said first structural member.

10. The rotor of claim 1 , further comprising a pitch assembly coupled to said first structural member and said first blade.

11. A wind turbine, comprising:
a tower;
a nacelle coupled to said tower;
a shaft rotatably coupled to said nacelle; and
a rotor fixedly coupled to said shaft, said rotor comprising:
a space frame hub comprising a central portion coupled to the shaft, wherein said shaft is fixedly coupled to the central portion without extending therethrough;
a plurality of structural members coupled to said central portion, each member of said plurality of structural members having a first length;
a plurality of blades, each blade of said plurality of blades coupled to a respective structural member of said plurality of structural members and each blade having a tip end spaced from said shaft at a second length that is longer than said first length; and
a pitch assembly coupled to each structural member of said plurality of structural members and to each blade of said plurality of blades.

12. The wind turbine of claim 11 , wherein said central portion comprises a plurality of interlocking structural members in a tetrahedron pattern.

13. The wind turbine of claim 11 , wherein each member of said plurality of structural members is aerodynamically shaped.

14. The wind turbine of claim 11 , said first length is about 10% to about 40% of said second length.

15. The wind turbine of claim 11 , wherein said first length is measured from an end of each said structural member of said plurality of structural members to the shaft and said second length is measured from a tip end of each said blade of said plurality of blades to the shaft and said first length is about 10% to about 40% of said second length.

16. The wind turbine of claim 11 , wherein each blade of said plurality of blades comprises a root end and an aerodynamic fairing coupled to said root end.

17. The wind turbine of claim 11 , wherein each structural member includes a first end and a second end and said pitch assembly is coupled to said second end.

18. A method of assembling a rotor to a rotating shaft, said method comprising:
radially coupling a space frame portion to a space frame, central portion;
coupling a pitch assembly to the space frame portion;
coupling a blade to the space frame portion and to the pitch assembly; and
axially coupling the space frame, central portion to the rotating shaft, wherein said central portion is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft without extending therethrough.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising coupling a semi-circular dome to the space frame portion.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising coupling an aerodynamic fairing to the blade.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Khan Zaeem Ashraf

Classifications

• Y02E10/721

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F03D1/0625

  of the whole rotor, i.e. form features of the rotor unit · CPC title

• F03D1/0666 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F03D1/0691

  of the hub · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title