An electricity generating device comprising a housing; a first lobed rotor and a second lobed rotor rotatably arranged in a fluid passage enclosed by the housing such that the lobes of the first and the second lobed rotor intermesh to create a barrier between a high-pressure and a low-pressure side of the housing during operation of the device; a first electricity generator to which the first lobed rotor is coupled, the first electricity generator being capable of varying the load of the first lobed rotor; and a second electricity generator to which the second lobed rotor is coupled, the second electricity generator being capable of varying the load of the second lobed rotor. There is also provided a method of synchronizing rotational positions of a first lobed rotor coupled to a first electricity generator and a second lobed rotor connected to a second electricity generator in a turbine.

A pitch control system for a wind turbine includes a backup battery bank assigned to each pitch drive motor, with each battery bank having a plurality of individual batteries connected in series. A battery charger is connected in parallel across each battery in the battery bank. A protective circuit is configured with each battery charger and includes a voltage comparator circuit that detects a reverse voltage applied to the battery charger above a threshold value to isolate the battery charger from the reverse voltage.

The invention relates to a safety system for a wind turbine, comprising a pitch system (23), which comprises a plurality of drive systems (15, 16, 17) and at least one safety switching device (24), by means of which each of the drive systems (15, 16, 17) can be controlled to carry out a travel to a safe position in accordance with at least one control signal, a safety circuit, which is provided in a machine part adjacent to the pitch system (23) and which comprises a transmission device (32) and a controller (29), by means of which the at least one control signal can be generated, which can be transmitted from the controller (29) to the safety switching device (24) by means of the transmission device (32), wherein the control signal can be generated and/or output by the controller (29) in the form of at least two control signals (EFC 1, EFC 2), the control signals (EFC 1, EFC 2) can be transmitted from the controller (29) to the safety switching device (24) by means of the transmission device (32), a safety-relevant error can be detected in the safety circuit by means of the safety switching device (29) by evaluating the control signals (EFC 1, EFC 2), and each of the drive systems (15, 16, 17) can be controlled to travel to a safe position if such an error is present.

A yaw sensor for a wind turbine comprises a plurality of rotary switches, each configured to be coupled to a yaw drive gearbox of a wind turbine nacelle, the rotary switches each being operable to activate and deactivate respective associated electrical contacts in dependence on an amount of yaw rotation of the nacelle relative to a start position. Each electrical contact is active at a plurality of first yaw rotation ranges with respect to the start position, and inactive at a plurality of second yaw rotation ranges with respect to the start position, the first and second yaw rotation ranges being interleaved.

There is provided a method of operating a wind turbine which has at least two rotor blades. A first ice detection method is performed by a first ice accretion detection unit. A first warning signal is output if an ice accretion which exceeds a first threshold value is detected at one of the rotor blades by the first ice detection method. A second ice detection method is performed by a second ice accretion detection unit. A second warning signal is output if an ice accretion which exceeds a second threshold value is detected at one of the rotor blades by the second ice detection method. An enable signal is output if a freedom from ice is detected at the at least two rotor blades by the second ice detection method. Intervention in the operation of the wind turbine is effected by a control unit if the first or second warning signal has been detected. Intervention in the operation of the wind turbine is deactivated by the control unit if the control unit receives an enable signal and has previously received the second warning signal.

Systems and methods for estimating a direction of wind incident on a wind turbine, the wind turbine comprising a tower; a rotor-nacelle-assembly (RNA) carried by the tower; a deflection sensor configured to sense a position of the RNA or a deflection of the tower; and a wind direction sensor. One approach includes: obtaining deflection training data from the deflection sensor; obtaining wind direction training data from the wind direction sensor; training a machine learning model on the basis of the deflection training data and the wind direction training data in order to obtain a trained machine learning model; obtaining further deflection data from the deflection sensor; inputting the further deflection data into the trained machine learning model; and operating the machine learning model to output a wind direction estimate on the basis of the further deflection data.

A method for monitoring a wind turbine where for each blade an activity signal is detected at subsequent time points, where for each time point predicting an activity signal of each blade at the respective time point by a separate data-driven model, where the predicted activity signal is an output value of the respective data-driven model and where one or more detected activity signals of blades other than the blade whose activity signal is the output value are input values of the respective data-driven model; b) determining for each data-driven model a residual between the predicted activity signal and the detected activity signal; checking a threshold criterion for one or more variables, where the values of the one or more variables depend on the residuals for all data-driven models determining an abnormal operation state of the turbine, if the threshold criterion is fulfilled, is provided.

Systems and methods for providing power to a blade pitch system in a wind turbine are provided. A blade pitch system can include one or more motors configured to pitch one or more blades of a wind turbine and a power source. The power source can include a plurality of energy storage devices coupled in series. The plurality of energy storage devices can be configured to provide power to the one or more motors during a power loss event. The power source can further include at least one bypass current device configured to allow a bypass current to provide power from at least one energy storage device to the one or more motors. The bypass current can be a current that bypasses one or more failed energy storage devices in the plurality of energy storage devices.

A method for wind converter management, first and second data associated with a group of first measurements and a second measurement of the wind converter may be collected respectively. An association between the group of first measurements and the second measurement of the wind converter may be obtained. A condition of the wind converter may be determined based on a comparison of the collected first and second data and the obtained association. Also, the apparatuses, systems, computer readable media and IoT systems for wind converter management.

There is provided a method of operating a wind turbine which has at least two rotor blades. A first ice detection method is performed by a first ice accretion detection unit. A first warning signal is output if an ice accretion which exceeds a first threshold value is detected at one of the rotor blades by the first ice detection method. A second ice detection method is performed by a second ice accretion detection unit. A second warning signal is output if an ice accretion which exceeds a second threshold value is detected at one of the rotor blades by the second ice detection method. An enable signal is output if a freedom from ice is detected at the at least two rotor blades by the second ice detection method. Intervention in the operation of the wind turbine is effected by a control unit if the first or second warning signal has been detected. Intervention in the operation of the wind turbine is deactivated by the control unit if the control unit receives an enable signal and has previously received the second warning signal.