The invention relates to a drive system for interior wind turbines, consisting of a rotatable tower (5) with a rotor mounted at hub height, the generator (16) being located at the foot of the tower (5) on a drive/generator platform (13) and the rotor torque being transferred from above downwards to the generator (16). Particular requirements are placed on such a drive system as the height of the interior wind turbine increases. A steel-wire-cable-reinforced flat belt (18) is used as a transfer element, the ends of which are joined in a particular way to form an endless belt the pretensioning of which is regulated dependent on the properties of the wind, and automatic monitoring is provided which executes an immediate controlled shut-down of the drive system if damage occurs.

Provided herein are detection systems and related methods for detecting moving objects in an airspace surrounding the detection system. In an aspect, the moving object is a flying animal and the detection system comprises a first imager and a second imager that determines position of the moving object and for moving objects within a user selected distance from the system the system determines whether the moving object is a flying animal, such as a bird or bat. The systems and methods are compatible with wind turbines to identify avian(s) of interest in airspace around wind turbines and, if necessary, take action to minimize avian strike by a wind turbine blade.

The method according to the invention for operating a wind turbine, comprising a tower and a rotor arranged at the top of the tower and having at least one rotor blade, which can be adjusted about a blade setting axis, has a first operating mode in which the at least one rotor blade has an operating angular position about the blade setting axis and a wind-force-dependent rotation of the rotor is converted into electrical power using a generator unit, which power is delivered from the wind turbine into an electrical network and/or stored, and a second operating mode in which the at least one rotor blade is adjusted by at least 60° and/or max. 110° about the blade setting axis relative to the operating angular position into a damping angular position, and a counter torque braking the rotor is controlled based on a vibration of the tower.

A system and method are provided for reducing vibrations and loads in one or more rotor blades on a rotor hub of a wind turbine when the rotor hub is in a locked or idling condition. An electronically tunable mass damper is attached to a fixed location on one or more of the rotor blades. The mass damper is maintained on the rotor blades during the locked or idling condition of the rotor hub. The method includes sensing movement of a mass component of the mass damper from vibrations or oscillations induced in the rotor blade. The mass damper is automatically tuned based on the sensed movements of the mass component by automatically varying an electrical characteristic of the mass damper.

A method for constrained control of a wind turbine includes receiving a plurality of operating parameters corresponding to the wind turbine. The plurality of operating parameters includes a wind preview parameter and a plurality of constraint parameters. The method further includes generating a constraint parameter estimate corresponding to a future time instant for at least one constraint parameter of the plurality of constraint parameters based on the plurality of operating parameters and a wind preview model. The method also includes predicting an extreme event corresponding to the at least one constraint parameter based on the constraint parameter estimate. The method includes determining a control parameter value corresponding to a wind turbine control parameter among a plurality of wind turbine control parameters. The method also includes operating the wind turbine using a feedforward control technique based on the control parameter value to circumvent the extreme event.

A condition monitoring device for a wind turbine power generating apparatus provided with an auxiliary motor power supply system including a power-supply-side line connected to a power supply and a plurality of auxiliary-motor-side lines diverging from the power-supply-side line and connected to a plurality of auxiliary motors, respectively, comprises: a current measurement device for measuring a current flowing through the power-supply-side line; and a control device for controlling the plurality of auxiliary motors. The control device is configured to, when a generator of the wind turbine power generating apparatus is in a standby state where power generation is stopped at a low wind speed, execute a single sequential operation mode in which each of the plurality of auxiliary motors is singly and sequentially operated. The current measurement device is configured to measure a current flowing through the power-supply-side line during execution of the single sequential operation mode by the control device.

A system and method are provided for controlling a wind turbine. Accordingly, a controller of the wind turbine detects a loss of traction of the slip coupling based on a difference between data indicative of a rotor operating parameter and data indicative of a generator operating parameter. The controller then determines an angle of slip corresponding to the loss of traction as a function of the difference. Based, at least partially on the angle of slip, a degradation value for the slip coupling is determined. A control action is implemented based on the degradation value.

A method (1000-1004) for operating a wind turbine (10, 11) including a drive train (64) including a generator (42) and a rotor shaft (44) mechanically connected with the generator (42) and having an axis (30) of rotation, and a rotor (18) having rotor blades (22-22c). The rotor (18) is mechanically connected with the rotor shaft (44) and rotatable about the axis (30) of rotation. The method (1000-1004) includes determining (1100) that the generator (42) is not operating in a power generating mode, and operating (1200) the rotor (18) to move around a predefined desired angular orientation (α.sub.des) with respect to the axis (30) of rotation in an alternating fashion.

The invention provides a method of controlling operation of a wind turbine having a tower. The method includes determining an overall control output including lateral oscillation control for dampening lateral oscillation of the tower, and using the overall control output to control wind turbine operation. The method further includes receiving lateral oscillation sensor data indicative of a level of lateral oscillation of the tower, determining a rated lateral oscillation control output in dependence on the received lateral oscillation data, and receiving an indication of yaw error of the wind turbine. A lateral oscillation control output included in the overall control output is determined to be de-rated from the rated lateral oscillation control output when the indicated yaw error is above a predetermined lower threshold level.

Provided is a safety system for a wind turbine, the wind turbine including a nacelle, a hub and a rotor blocking system with several rotor locks, each engageable into a locked position for blocking a rotor of the wind turbine from rotating, the safety system including a central switching unit comprising one switch for each of the rotor locks for manually engaging a corresponding rotor lock into the locked position when activating the related switch, and a feedback unit generating and providing a safe-signal in a safe state of the hub, in which every rotor lock is engaged into the locked position. A method for providing safety to a person in the wind turbine as well as a wind turbine with the inventive safety system is also provided.