A wind turbine (1) comprising a tower (2), a nacelle (3) and a hub (7) is disclosed. The hub (7) comprises a blade carrying structure (4) with one or more wind turbine blades (5) connected thereto. Each of the wind turbine blades (5) defines an aerodynamic profile having a chord which varies along a length of the wind turbine blade (5). Each of the wind turbine blades (5) is connected to the blade carrying structure (4) via a hinge (6) at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (5), each wind turbine blade (5) thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure (4) between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The hinge position is arranged at a distance from the inner tip end (5a) and at a distance from the outer tip end (5b), and the chord at the hinge position is larger than or equal to the chord at the inner tip end (5a) and larger than the chord at the outer tip end (5b).

The invention relates to a wind turbine that includes a rotor rotating about a horizontal axis of rotation substantially parallel to the direction of the wind, the rotor having a front face facing into the wind and substantially perpendicular to the axis of the wind, and a rear face situated toward a support of the rotor. At least two distinct families of blades are distributed on the rotor, each family of blades including at least two blades having a free end and a blade root end connected to said rotor. Each family of blades includes a catching blade guiding the wind toward a force blade having a surface arranged substantially perpendicular to the axis of the wind, the blade root ends of each family of blades are successively offset on an exterior surface of the rotor along the axis of rotation thereof.

Described is a system for monitoring deflection of turbine blades of a wind turbine comprising a tower. The system comprises a position detecting apparatus mounted to the wind turbine, the position detection apparatus comprising position detection components each detecting a presence or absence of a corresponding one of the segments of the turbine blades; and a deflection controller configured to receive the presence or absence detection and to use the presence or absence detection to determine a distance of each of the segments of the turbine blades relative to the tower, whereby the distance of each of the segments of the turbine blades relative to the tower is representative of the deflection of the turbine blades.

Provided is a method of setting and clearing a full-power flag in a control process running on a wind turbine controller, the method including (a) acquiring a set of measured values and/or reference values for: rotor speed, output power, blade pitch angle, and activation level of an adaptive flow regulating system, (b) determining that a first condition is fulfilled when the value of the rotor speed equals a speed limit value and the output power reference value equals a power limit value, (c) determining when the blade pitch angle reference value fulfills a pitch condition and the activation level of the adaptive flow regulating system fulfills an adaptive flow regulating condition, or when the measured value of the rotor speed is below the speed limit value, (d) setting the full-power flag, and (e) clearing the full-power flag. Furthermore, a wind turbine controller and a wind turbine including such a controller.

A method for controlling a wind turbine (1) is disclosed. The wind turbine (1) comprises one or more wind turbine blades (5), each wind turbine blade (5) being connected to a blade carrying structure (4) mounted on a hub (3), via a hinge (6) at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (5), each wind turbine blade (5) thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure (4) between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. A maximum noise level value representing a maximum allowable noise to be generated by the wind turbine (1) is received. An optimal pair of tip speed for the wind turbine (1) and rotational speed of the wind turbine (1) is derived, based on the received maximum noise level value. The pivot angle of the wind turbine blades (5) is then adjusted to a pivot angle which results in the derived optimal pair of tip speed and rotational speed.

The present invention relates to a method for operating a wind turbine (1). The wind turbine (1) comprises one or more wind turbine blades (5), each wind turbine blade (5) being connected to a blade carrying structure (4) mounted on a hub (3), via a hinge (6) at a hinge position of the wind turbine blade (5), each wind turbine blade (5) thereby being arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure (4) between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The method comprises the steps of detecting an airborne object entering a predefined zone around the wind turbine (1), comparing a current tip height (H) of the wind turbine (1) to a maximum tip height value, the maximum tip height value representing a maximum allowable tip height under currently prevailing conditions. In the case that the current tip height (H) exceeds the maximum tip height value, a pivot angle (P) of wind turbine blades (5) is adjusted in order to decrease the tip height (H) of the wind turbine (1) to a value below the maximum tip height value.

A wind turbine (1) comprising a tower (2), a nacelle (3) mounted on the tower (2) via a yaw system, a hub (4) mounted rotatably on the nacelle (3), the hub (4) comprising a blade carrying structure (5), and one or more wind turbine blades (6) connected to the blade carrying structure (5) via a hinge (7) is disclosed. Each wind turbine blade (6) is thereby arranged to perform pivot movements relative to the blade carrying structure (5) between a minimum pivot angle and a maximum pivot angle. The blade carrying structure (5) is provided with one or more elements (8) configured to improve aerodynamic properties of a surface of the blade carrying structure (5) by increasing a lift and/or decreasing a drag of the blade carrying structure. The increase in lift and/or decrease in drag varies as a function of angle of attack (AOA) between the blade carrying structure (5) and the incoming wind.

A wind turbine is provided. The turbine includes a support having an axis of rotation, a generator, a plurality of blades rotatably mounted on the support about the axis of rotation, the blades being moveable between a retracted position generally parallel with the axis of rotation and a fully deployed position generally perpendicular with the axis of rotation, the blades being connected to the generator such that rotation of the blades in a direction induced by wind causes the generator to produce electricity, and the provision of electricity to the generator rotates the blades, and a controller connected to the generator and configured to deliver a flow of current to the generator that is sufficient to move the blades from the retracted position toward the fully deployed position and insufficient to move the blades all the way to the fully deployed position. The flow of current induces rotation of the blades in the direction induced by wind, which creates a centrifugal force that moves the blades from the retracted position toward the fully deployed position. As the blades move from the retracted position, the blades have increasing exposure to ambient wind to receive additional rotational force from ambient wind, and the additional rotational force being sufficient to, either alone or in combination with the flow of current, move the blades into the fully deployed position.

The present disclosure provides a control method and device for avoiding run-away, and a wind turbine. The method may include: determining whether a brake system of the wind turbine has failed; if the brake system has failed, calculating an initial crosswind position based on a current wind direction angle, and enabling a yaw system of the wind turbine to perform a crosswind operation based on the initial crosswind position; performing a long-period and short-period filter processing on wind direction data acquired during a crosswind process to obtain an average and instantaneous wind direction angle respectively; determining whether a wind direction has a sudden change based on the average and instantaneous wind direction angle; and if the wind direction has a sudden change, calculating a new crosswind position based on the average wind direction angle, and enabling the yaw system to perform a crosswind operation based on the new crosswind position.

A friction limiting turbine gyroscope is a compact and efficient means to convert the energy of a moving fluid into electrical energy. The gyroscope's flywheel rotates when a fluid passes through its spokes while magnets located along the perimeter act upon proximate movable field coils to produce electricity. The spokes of the flywheel are optimized for the flow and density of the fluid with the ability to trans mutate using shaped memory alloys as well as rotate about their center of pressure allowing the flywheel to capture more of the energy from the fluid passing over their surfaces in all conditions. Mechanical energy losses are reduced because of the inherent stabilizing effects created by the gyroscope. Because of the stabilization, a magnetic bearing field effectively supports the gyroscope eliminating mechanical interference in rotation.