System and method for wind turbine operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9658124-B2
Application number	US-201414533566-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2014
Priority date	Nov 5, 2014
Publication date	May 23, 2017
Grant date	May 23, 2017

Abstract

A method for determining a flow condition includes disposing a plurality of sensors on a surface and receiving a first sensor signal and a second sensor signal from the plurality of sensors. The method further includes determining at least one correlation parameter based on the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal. The method also includes receiving a plurality of stored parameters from a database, wherein each of the plurality of stored parameters is representative of a corresponding flow condition. The method also includes comparing the at least one correlation parameter with the plurality of stored parameters and selecting at least one matching stored parameter and determining a matching flow condition based on the at least one matching stored parameter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
disposing a plurality of sensors on a surface of an aerodynamic system;
receiving a first sensor signal and a second sensor signal from the plurality of sensors;
determining at least one correlation parameter based on the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal;
receiving a plurality of stored parameters from a database, wherein each of the plurality of stored parameters is representative of a corresponding flow condition;
comparing the at least one correlation parameter with the plurality of stored parameters and selecting at least one matching stored parameter; and
determining a matching flow condition based on the at least one matching stored parameter, wherein the matching flow condition comprises one of an attached and laminar flow condition, an attached and transitioning flow condition, an attached and turbulent flow condition, a separated flow condition, or a re-attached flow condition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises one of a plurality of pressure sensors and a plurality of velocity sensors.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aerodynamic system is a wind turbine and the surface is a blade surface of the wind turbine.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein disposing the plurality of sensors comprises disposing the plurality of sensors at a plurality of spanwise positions on the blade surface, wherein the plurality of spanwise positions include a first spanwise position and a second spanwise position.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein disposing the plurality of sensors comprises disposing the plurality of sensors at a plurality of chordwise positions on the blade surface, wherein the plurality of chordwise positions include a first chordwise position and a second chordwise position.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein receiving the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal comprises measuring a signal from a first sensor disposed at the first spanwise position and the first chordwise position, and another signal from a second sensor disposed at the second spanwise position and the second chordwise position respectively.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one correlation parameter is a cross correlation coefficient between the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of stored parameters corresponds to a plurality of cross correlation coefficients of a pair of sensor signals acquired at a plurality of known flow conditions.

9. A system, comprising:
at least one processor module and a memory module communicatively coupled to each other through a communications bus;
a database module storing a plurality of stored parameters, wherein each of the plurality of stored parameters is representative of a corresponding flow condition;
a data acquisition module configured to receive a first sensor signal and a second sensor signal from a plurality of sensors disposed on a surface of an aerodynamic system;
a correlation generation module communicatively coupled to the data acquisition module and configured to determine at least one correlation parameter based on the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal; and
a flow condition generator communicatively coupled to the database module and the correlation generator module and configured to:
compare the at least one correlation parameter with the plurality of stored parameters and selecting at least one matching stored parameter; and
determine a matching flow condition based on the at least one matching stored parameter, wherein the matching flow condition comprises one of an attached and laminar flow condition, an attached and transitioning flow condition, an attached and turbulent flow condition, a separated flow condition, or a re-attached flow condition;

wherein, at least one of the database module, the data acquisition module, the correlation generation module, and the flow condition generation module is stored in the memory and executable by the processor.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises one of a plurality of pressure sensors and a plurality of velocity sensors.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the correlation generation module is configured to determine at least one cross correlation parameter between the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the database stores a plurality of cross correlation parameters of a pair of sensor signals acquired at a plurality of known flow conditions.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the aerodynamic system is a wind turbine and the surface is a blade surface of the wind turbine.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of sensors are disposed at a plurality of spanwise positions, wherein the plurality of spanwise positions include a first spanwise position and a second spanwise position.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of pressure sensors are disposed at a plurality of chordwise positions, wherein the plurality of chordwise positions include a first chordwise position and a second chordwise position.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the data acquisition module is further configured to receive a signal from a first sensor disposed at the first spanwise position and the first chordwise position, and another signal from a second sensor disposed at the second spanwise position and the second chordwise position respectively; or any other combination of spanwise and chordwise sensor locations.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying one or more operating parameters of the surface based on the determined matching flow condition.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein modifying the one or more operating parameters of the surface comprises changing at least one of a pitch angle, a tip speed ratio, an angle of attack, and an angular speed of the surface based on the determined matching flow condition.

19. The system of claim 9 , wherein the flow condition generator is further configured to instruct an actuator to modify one or more operating parameters of the surface based on the determined matching flow condition.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the flow condition generator is further configured to modify one or more of a pitch angle, a tip speed ratio, an angle of attack and an angular speed of the surface based on the determined matching flow condition.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Drack Lorenz Edwin
• Petitjean Benoit Philippe
• Patil Pratish

Classifications

• G01F1/00

  Measuring the volume flow or mass flow of fluid or fluent solid material wherein the fluid passes through a meter in a continuous flow (measuring a proportion of the volume flow G01F5/00) · CPC title

• G01P3/80 Primary

  using auto-correlation or cross-correlation detection means · CPC title

• G01P5/14

  by measuring differences of pressure in the fluid · CPC title

• G01L11/00 Primary

  Measuring steady or quasi-steady pressure of a fluid or a fluent solid material by means not provided for in group G01L7/00 or G01L9/00 · CPC title

• G01P13/025

  indicating air data, i.e. flight variables of an aircraft, e.g. angle of attack, side slip, shear, yaw · CPC title