Wind turbine transformer arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9679691-B2
Application number	US-201414319243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2014
Priority date	Sep 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

An improved transformer arrangement of a wind turbine is provided. A wind turbine transformer arrangement comprises a transformer that is arranged in the wind turbine. The transformer comprises a housing. The transformer housing is filled with an oil. The transformer arrangement comprises at least one decompression chamber and the interior of the transformer housing is connected to the interior of the decompression chamber by a pressure release tube in a way that an increase in the pressure in the transformer housing due to a malfunction of the transformer is transferred through the pressure release tube into the decompression chamber.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wind turbine transformer arrangement comprising:
a transformer arranged in a transformer housing, the transformer housing being filled with an oil; and
at least one decompression chamber partially filled with oil and connected to the transformer by a tube, wherein the oil of the transformer housing flows into the at least one decompression chamber and back into the transformer housing through the same tube positioned between the transformer and the at least one decompression chamber;
wherein an interior of the transformer housing is connected to an interior of the at least one decompression chamber by a pressure release tube in a way that an increase in a pressure in the transformer housing, due to a malfunction of the transformer, is transferred through the pressure release tube into the at least one decompression chamber;
wherein the transformer housing is arranged in a nacelle of the wind turbine, and connected to a support structure of the nacelle, the support structure of the nacelle being two mainly parallel bars of the nacelle, further wherein the transformer housing is connected to the two mainly parallel bars at connections points such that the transformer housing hangs between the two mainly parallel bars of the support structure of the nacelle.

2. The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure release tube comprises a valve that opens when the pressure in the transformer housing is increasing.

3. The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one decompression chamber is oil tight, so that oil that spills from the transformer housing through the pressure release tube, when pressure is released from the transformer housing through the pressure release tube into the at least one decompression chamber, is collected in the at least one decompression chamber.

4. The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one decompression chamber is used as a compensation tank for the oil in the transformer housing to compensate varying oil levels in the transformer housing.

5. The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein
the two mainly parallel bars are arranged mainly horizontal in the nacelle,
whereby the transformer is connected to the two mainly parallel bars at least at one point per bar,
whereby a first end of a rod is connected to the transformer at a third point,
whereby the three point define a triangle,
whereby the second end of the rod is attached to the support structure in a way that the vibrations of the transformer are damped and an oscillation of the transformer is reduced.

6. The arrangement according to claim 5 , wherein the transformer is arranged mainly below the two mainly parallel bars of the support structure.

7. The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the transformer is a high voltage transformer.

8. The arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the transformer is connected to a cooling circuit to cool the transformer and that the oil present in the transformer housing is used as a cooling fluid.

9. The arrangement according to claim 1 ,
whereby a wall of the at least one decompression chamber is more flexible than a wall of the transformer housing,
so that the at least one decompression chamber experiences a plastic deformation at a lower pressure than the transformer housing,
so that, in the case of an increase in the pressure in the transformer housing, the pressure that is transferred through the pressure release tube into the at least one decompression chamber first causes a plastic deformation of the at least one decompression chamber before it causes a plastic deformation of the transformer housing.

10. A wind turbine transformer arrangement comprising:
a transformer arranged in a transformer housing, the transformer housing being filled with an oil; and
at least one decompression chamber, wherein an interior of the transformer housing is connected to an interior of the at least one decompression chamber by a pressure release tube in a way that an increase in a pressure in the transformer housing is transferred through the pressure release tube into the at least one decompression chamber;
wherein the at least one decompression chamber is at least partially filled with spare oil and is connected to the transformer housing by a tube in a way that the spare oil can flow through the tube between the transformer housing and the at least one decompression chamber, so that the at least one decompression chamber is used as a compensation tank for the oil in the transformer housing to compensate varying oil levels in the transformer housing;
wherein the oil of the transformer housing flows into the at least one decompression chamber and back into the transformer housing through the same tube positioned therebetween.

11. The wind turbine transformer arrangement of claim 10 , wherein an oil level within the transformer housing is equalized to a spare oil level in the at least one decompression tank.

12. The wind turbine transformer arrangement according to claim 10 , wherein the pressure release tube comprises a valve that opens when the pressure in the transformer housing is increasing.

13. The wind turbine transformer arrangement according to claim 10 , wherein the at least one decompression chamber is oil tight, so that oil that spills from the transformer housing through the pressure release tube, when pressure is released from the transformer housing through the pressure release tube into the at least one decompression chamber, is collected in the at least one decompression chamber.

14. The wind turbine transformer arrangement according to claim 10 , wherein two mainly parallel bars are arranged mainly horizontal in a nacelle,
whereby the transformer is connected to the two mainly parallel bars at least at one point per bar,
whereby a first end of a rod is connected to the transformer at a third point,
whereby the three point define a triangle,
whereby the second end of the rod is attached to a support structure of the nacelle in a way that the vibrations of the transformer are damped and an oscillation of the transformer is reduced.

15. The wind turbine transformer arrangement according to claim 14 , wherein the transformer is arranged mainly below the two mainly parallel bars of the support structure.

16. The wind turbine transformer arrangement according to claim 10 , wherein the transformer is connected to a cooling circuit to cool the transformer and that the oil present in the transformer housing is used as a cooling fluid.

17. The wind turbine transformer arrangement according to claim 10 ,
whereby a wall of the at least one decompression chamber is more flexible than a wall of the transformer housing,
so that the at least one decompression chamber experiences a plastic deformation at a lower pressure than the transformer housing,
so that, in the case of an increase in the pressure in the transformer housing, the pressure that is transferred through the pressure release tube into the at least one decompression chamber first causes a plastic deformation of the at least one decompression chamber before it causes a plastic deformation of the transformer housing.

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Gaard Jesper
• Munk-Hansen Thorkil
• Nielsen Jacob Blach
• Rasmussen Carsten K

Classifications

• F03D80/82

  of electrical components · CPC title

• H01F27/125

  Cooling by synthetic insulating and incombustible liquid · CPC title

• H01F27/025

  Constructional details relating to cooling · CPC title

• H01F27/14 Primary

  Expansion chambers; Oil conservators; Gas cushions; Arrangements for purifying, drying, or filling · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title