A blade for a wind turbine including heating means connected to power cables, a lightning protection system including a down conductor, and surge protection devices is provided. The heating means include a first radiant element and a second radiant element arranged adjacent to each other around a leading edge of the blade, the first radiant element being connected to the power supply cables through respective electrical connectors at the respective connection points, and the down conductor is connected to each power supply cable at the connection points through the respective surge protection device, the second radiant element being connected to the first radiant element so that the second radiant element is electrically supplied only through the first radiant element.

A blade for a wind turbine including heating means connected to power cables, a lightning protection system including a down conductor, and surge protection devices is provided. The heating means include a first radiant element and a second radiant element arranged adjacent to each other around a leading edge of the blade, the first radiant element being connected to the power supply cables through respective electrical connectors at the respective connection points, and the down conductor is connected to each power supply cable at the connection points through the respective surge protection device, the second radiant element being connected to the first radiant element so that the second radiant element is electrically supplied only through the first radiant element.

Wind turbine ice protection control systems and methods for controlling ice protection measures at a wind turbine are provided. The ice protection control system operates in multiple locations: the first being at least one remote wind turbine site and the second at least one offsite control office location. The ice protection control system includes sensors on at least one wind turbine at least one remote site for sensing internal and external environmental conditions and/or wind turbine outputs. The sensors output data which is received by a network at the wind turbine and then sent to a second network at an offsite location where it is analyzed to determine actions to be taken. In this way, multiple wind turbines at multiple wind turbine remote sites can be controlled by a single control system. Systems and methods for creating, retrieving, and storing sensor data within the ice protection control systems are also discussed.

A wind turbine comprising a plurality of wind turbine blades, a blade anti-ice system including a blade heating arrangement associated, wherein the anti-ice system includes a control system and a power supply configured to provide power to the blade heating arrangement, characterised in that the power supply comprises a power converter. A benefit of using a power converter to supply electrical power to the heating devices is that power can be applied in a stepless manner. A much finer degree of control is therefore achieved over the thermal energy applied to the blade since the power can be ramped up gradually as the system controller determines that the icing conditions are becoming more severe. As a result of the use of the power converter, the magnitude of thermal energy that is applied to the blade can be increased gradually and smoothly.

A method of operating an electrical heating element of a wind turbine rotor blade, the method includes: applying a voltage to the heating element, measuring a current flowing through the heating element, measuring the voltage applied to the heating element, calculating a reference current by applying a normalization factor to the measured current, wherein the normalization factor corresponds to the ratio of a nominal voltage to the measured voltage, triggering an action when the reference current is outside a first predetermined reference current range.

A wind turbine blade includes: an aerodynamic shell body with a suction side shell part and a pressure side shell part that extends in a longitudinal direction between a root and a tip and in a transverse direction between a leading edge and a trailing edge, and a de-icing system. The de-icing system includes: a number of heating layers each having electrically conductive fibres extending substantially in the longitudinal direction of the wind turbine blade along a longitudinal section of the aerodynamic shell body to provide resistive heating to the longitudinal section of the aerodynamic shell body; a number of metallic patches including a first metallic patch, the number of metallic patches being arranged to contact at least the number of heating layers; and a conductor cable that is electrically connected to the number of metallic patches and further is configured for electrically connecting to a power source.

A method is for operating an electrical heating element of a wind turbine rotor blade. The method includes: applying a voltage to the heating element, measuring a current flowing through the heating element, measuring the voltage applied to the heating element, calculating a reference current by applying a normalization factor to the measured current, wherein the normalization factor corresponds to the ratio of a nominal voltage to the measured voltage, triggering an action when the reference current is outside a first predetermined reference current range.

The present invention relates to a method (300) for preventing ice formation at a blade (202) of a wind turbine (200), wherein the wind turbine (200) comprises at least one first electric heating mat (102) applied to the blade (202), and wherein the method (300) includes: providing the first electric heating mat (102) with a first electric power (P1) so that the first electric heating mat (102) maintains a first operating temperature (T1), and increasing the first electric power (P1) upon an indication of icing at the blade (202). The invention also relates to an arrangement and a wind turbine comprising such an arrangement.

Wind turbine ice protection control systems and methods for controlling ice protection measures at a wind turbine are provided. The ice protection control system operates in multiple locations: the first being at least one remote wind turbine site and the second at least one offsite control office location. The ice protection control system includes sensors on at least one wind turbine at least one remote site for sensing internal and external environmental conditions and/or wind turbine outputs. The sensors output data which is received by a network at the wind turbine and then sent to a second network at an offsite location where it is analyzed to determine actions to be taken. In this way, multiple wind turbines at multiple wind turbine remote sites can be controlled by a single control system. Systems and methods for creating, retrieving, and storing sensor data within the ice protection control systems are also discussed.

The present disclosure is directed to a system comprising a structure being prone to lightning strikes and icing, wherein the structure comprises a shielding arrangement electrically connected to a lightning arrangement, an electric heating arrangement connected to a power source for mitigating icing of the structure, and an electrical insulation arrangement being effectively provided between the shielding arrangement and the electric heating arrangement. A power source is configured for applying a predetermined amount of electric test- and/or maintenance-energy such that the electric test- and/or maintenance-energy is effectively present between the shielding arrangement and the electric heating arrangement. A determination device is electrically connected to the shielding arrangement and to the electric heating arrangement in a way that the shield-heating-voltage and/or the shield-heating-current being present between the shielding arrangement and the electric heating arrangement can be determined.