System and method for real-time load control of a wind turbine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9261077-B2
Application number	US-201313847084-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2013
Priority date	Mar 19, 2013
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for load control of a wind turbine is disclosed. The method includes: selecting a plurality of wind turbine components for load monitoring; defining a load envelope for each of the selected components and storing the load envelopes in a controller, the load envelopes defining a maximum acceptable load capacity for the respective component that may be at or near the component's design capability; directly or indirectly monitoring loads on the selected components and generating corresponding load signals that are communicated to the controller; with the controller, determining if the loads acting on each of the selected components are within the component's respective load envelope; and the controller initiating corrective action in the event that the load acting on any one of the selected components exceeds the component's load envelope.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for load control of a wind turbine, comprising:
selecting a plurality of wind turbine components for load monitoring;
prior to load monitoring, generating, via a computer-generated model, a plurality of load vectors the X, Y, and Z directions for each of the selected Components, the load vectors based on at least one of wind turbine test data or real-time wind turbine operating data;
plotting the load vectors on a three-dimensional graph;
defining, via the computer-generated model, a three-dimensional load envelope based on the plotted load vectors for each of the selected components;
storing the load envelopes in a controller, the load envelopes providing a maximum acceptable load capacity for the respective component, the load envelopes being defined as a function of the component's design yield limit in the X, Y, and Z directions and at least one of stress, strain, or deformation of the component in the X, Y, and Z directions such that the maximum acceptable load capacity is designed at or near the component's design load capability, but below a load capacity that would result in a catastrophic failure of the component;
directly or indirectly monitoring real-time loads on the selected components and generating corresponding load signals that are communicated to the controller;
after defining the three-dimensional load envelope within the load vectors for each of the selected components and storing the load envelopes in the controller, determining, with the controller, if the monitored real-time loads acting on each of the selected components are within the component's respective three-dimensional load envelope; and
initiating, via the controller, corrective action in the event that the load acting on any one of the selected components exceeds the component's three-dimensional load envelope.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the selected components include any combination of blade, pitch bearing or drive, hub, main shaft, gearbox, bed plate, generator frame, yaw bearing or drive, tower, or tower foundation.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the corrective action initiated by the controller includes reducing the load on the respective component.

4. The method as in claim 3 , wherein the corrective action is tailored to the respective component to provide appropriate load reduction.

5. The method as in claim 4 , wherein the corrective action includes any combination of alarm generation, blade pitching, braking the rotor, stalling the rotor, or shutting down the wind turbine.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the load envelopes are defined as a function of the component's design yield limits in the X, Y, or Z directions and allow some degree of yielding along one or more of the X, Y, or Z axis.

7. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the controller computes the stress, strain, or deformation from the load signals communicated thereto.

8. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the load envelopes are stored as individual respective modules within the controller, wherein any one of the modules can be replaced or modified.

9. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the load envelopes are adjusted as a function of component time in service.

10. A wind turbine, comprising:
a tower;
a nacelle mounted atop the tower;
a rotor, the rotor having a rotatable hub and at least one rotor blade for converting wind energy into electrical energy via a shaft, gearbox, and a generator;
a control system configured for load control of the wind turbine, the control system further comprising:
a plurality of sensors disposed to directly or indirectly measure real-time loads acting on a plurality of wind turbine components selected for load monitoring, and to generate corresponding load signals;
a controller in communication with the plurality of sensors, the controller configured to perform one or more operations, the one or more operations comprising;
prior to load monitoring, generating a plurality of load vectors in the X, Y, and Z directions, for each of the selected components, the load vectors based on at least one of wind turbine test data or real-time wind turbine operating data,
plotting the load vectors on a three-dimensional graph,
defining, via the computer-generated model, a three-dimensional load envelope based on the plotted load vectors for each of the selected components,
the load envelopes providing a maximum acceptable load capacity for the respective component, the load envelopes being defined as a function of the component's design yield limit in the X, Y, and Z directions and at least one of stress, strain, or deformation of the component in the X, Y, and Z directions such that the maximum acceptable load capacity is designed at or near the component's design load capability, but below a load capacity that would result in a catastrophic failure of the component;
based on the received real-time load signals, the controller configured to determine if the loads acting on the selected wind turbine components are within the component's three-dimensional load envelope; and
the controller further configured to initiate a corrective action in the event that the load acting on one of the selected components exceeds the component's three-dimensional load envelope.

11. The wind turbine as in claim 10 , wherein the selected wind turbine components include any combination of blade, pitch bearing or drive, hub, main shaft, gearbox, bed plate, generator frame, yaw bearing or drive, tower, or tower foundation.

12. The wind turbine as in claim 10 , wherein the corrective action initiated by the controller includes reducing the load on the respective component.

13. The method as in claim 12 , wherein the corrective action is tailored to the respective component to provide appropriate load reduction.

14. The wind turbine as in claim 13 , wherein the corrective action includes any combination of alarm generation, blade pitching, braking the rotor, stalling the rotor, or shutting down the wind turbine.

15. The wind turbine as in claim 10 , wherein the load envelopes are defined as a function of the respective wind turbine component's design yield limits in the X, Y, or Z directions and allow some degree of component yielding along one or more of the X, Y, or Z axis.

16. The wind turbine as in claim 10 , wherein the load envelopes are stored as individual respective modules within the controller, wherein any one of the modules can be replaced or modified.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Tirumalai Suresh S
• Johnson Mark Andrew
• Sivanantham Mohan Muthu Kumar
• Ron Giridhar Nagraj

Classifications

• F05B2270/332

  Maximum loads or fatigue criteria · CPC title

• Y02E10/723

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F03D7/0204 Primary

  for orientation in relation to wind direction · CPC title

• F03D7/0292 Primary

  to reduce fatigue · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title