Wind turbine and method of construction of a wind turbine

Abstract

Disclosed is a wind turbine with a nacelle and a rotor, the rotor including a number of blades and a hub, the nacelle and the hub being connected with each other in an interface region, the wind turbine further including a transport system for transporting hydraulic and/or pneumatic fluid from the nacelle into the hub. The transport system includes a rotary unit as a connection through which the fluid passes and a part of which rotates in operation together with the hub which rotary unit is positioned in the hub at a position distanced from the interface region facing away from the nacelle, the transport system further including a pipe system leading from the interface region into the hub to the rotary unit and being fixed in its position. The disclosure also concerns a method of construction of such wind turbine.

Claims

1. A wind turbine, comprising: a rotor comprising a hub and a plurality of blades; a nacelle connected to the hub in an interface region, wherein the nacelle and rotor are aligned along a rotational axis, wherein the interface region between the hub and the nacelle is essentially hollow with no main functional elements of the wind turbine situated in the interface region; a transport system for transporting fluid from the nacelle into the hub, the transport system comprising a rotary unit and a pipe system, wherein the rotary unit is positioned in the hub at a distance away from the interface region, a first part of the rotary unit rotatable with the hub and a second part of the rotary unit is stationary within the hub, the fluid is transported through the rotary unit, wherein the pipe system leads from the interface region into the hub to the rotary unit and being fixed in its position within the hub via a rail projecting from the nacelle in-to the hub, and wherein the fluid is hydraulic fluid and/or pneumatic fluid.

2. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the wind turbine is direct drive with a drive train directly connecting the rotor with a generator.

3. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the rail extends from the nacelle to the rotary unit.

4. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the rail is equipped with a cavity in which a pipe of the pipe system is positioned.

5. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the rail is fixed to the nacelle such that the interface region the rail is situated closely to an inner surface of the nacelle.

6. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the rotary unit is directly connected to a hydraulic and/or pneumatic pitch system in the hub.

7. The wind turbine according to claim 1, further comprising: a pump situated in the nacelle, the pump configured to provide for an increased pressure of the fluid in the transport system.

8. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the rotation axis of the rotary unit is positioned at a rotation axis of a drive train connecting the rotor with a generator.

9. A wind turbine, comprising: a rotor comprising a hub and a plurality of blades; a nacelle connected to the hub in an interface region; a transport system for transporting fluid from the nacelle into the hub, the transport system comprising a rotary unit and a pipe system, wherein the rotary unit is positioned in the hub at a distance away from the interface region, a first part of the rotary unit rotatable with the hub and a second part of the rotary unit is stationary, the fluid is transported through the rotary unit wherein the pipe system leads from the interface region into the hub to the rotary unit and being fixed in its position within the hub via a rail projecting from the nacelle into the hub, and wherein the fluid is hydraulic fluid and/or pneumatic fluid.

10. The wind turbine according to claim 9, wherein the rail extends from the nacelle to the rotary unit.

11. The wind turbine according to claim 9, wherein the rail is equipped with a cavity in which a pipe of the pipe system is positioned.

12. The wind turbine according to claim 9, wherein the rail is fixed to the nacelle such that the interface region the rail is situated closely to an inner surface of the nacelle.

Description

(1) In the drawings, like reference numbers refer to like objects throughout. Objects in the diagrams are not necessarily drawn to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(2) FIG. 1 shows a wind turbine 1 with a nacelle 5 and a rotor 8. The rotor 8 comprises a hub 7 and rotor blades (not shown), which can be inserted into openings 9 within the hub 7. The nacelle 5 is positioned on top of a tower 3. At its inside it comprises inside sufaces 12, 14, i.e. a bottom floor 12 and a ceiling 14.

(3) The wind turbine 1 is realized as a direct drive wind turbine 1 with a generator 22 which directly transfers the rotational energy of the rotation of the hub 7 into electrical energy. The generator 22 comprises a stator 21 and a generator rotor 19 which generator rotor 19 is moved rotatingly along bearings 25 relative to the stator 21 around a rotation axis A of the rotor 8. This rotation axis A therefore also constitutes the rotation axis A of a drive train which includes those parts of wind turbine 1 which project from the rotor 8 into the generator 22.

(4) Due to the movement of the generator rotor 19 which is directly connected to the hub 7 electric current is induced in the windings of the stator 21 which electric current can then be transferred to users. Between the nacelle 5 and the hub 7 there is an interface region 17. This interface region 17 extends from a division line D1 which is defined by the outside limits of the nacelle 5 both into the nacelle 5 and into the hub 7 about 0,5 metres, in some cases less, for instance 0,2 metres (depending on the size of the wind turbine 1 in question). A strict definition of the interface region only includes the division line D1 itself in the inside of the wind turbine 1 as the interface region.

(5) In wind turbines according to the state of the art the positioning of the rotor blades, i.e. their pitch, is normally controlled by an electric pitch system. If one wishes to use a hydraulic pitch system instead a problem arises concerning the transport of the hydraulic or pneumatic fluid to the pitch system. The hydraulic pitch system is positioned at that end of the inside of the hub 7 which faces away from the nacelle 5. The transport of the hydraulic fluid needs to be done by means of transport system supported by a pump providing the pressure within the transport system to feed the pitch system in the hub 7. Due to the movement of the rotor 8 such transport is particularly difficult as normal pipes of the transport system would quickly be twisted due to the rotation movement of the rotor.

(6) FIGS. 2 and 3 show a detailed view of a direct drive wind turbine 1′ according to an embodiment of the invention. Again, the wind turbine 1′ comprises a rotor 8 and a nacelle 5 to which the rotor 8 is rotatably fixed so that it can be rotated along a rotation axis A. In the wind turbine 1′ a hydraulic pitch system 30 is installed which controls the pitch of the rotor blades 10. In FIG. 3 it can be seen that the hydraulic pitch system 30 comprises an accumulator block 2 and three blade blocks 4 which are each connected to one of the rotor blades 10 in order to control their pitch. In the accumulator block 2 the hydraulic fluid is collected and the blade blocks 4 adjust the position of the rotor blades 10 induced by the pressure of the fluid. Directly connected with the accumulator block 2 there is a rotary unit 13 comprising a first (stationary) part 13a and rotatable (non-stationary) part 13b which rotates together with the hub 7 of the rotor 8. The rotary unit 13 will be described in more detail in the context of FIG. 4. In order to feed the rotary unit 13 with hydraulic fluid, in this case oil, a pipe system 11 is led from the nacelle 5 where a pump 15 is situated into the hub 7 to the first part 13a of the rotary unit 30. The pipe system 11 comprises a solid or rigid pipe which is further supported by a rail 6 underneath it. The rail 6 is firmly fixed to the nacelle 5 on an inside surface 12, namely on the bottom floor 12. The rail 6 thus runs along the bottom floor 12 and projects further into the cavity of the inside of the hub 7 of the rotor 8. The rail 6 therefore stabilizes the position of the pipe system 11 and holds the pipe system 11 in position within the hub 7.

(7) As can be seen in FIG. 3 the pipe system 11 comprises a pipe of hollow shape lying upon the rail six and then projecting (cf. FIG. 2) up to the rotation axis A of the hub 7. The rotation axis A of the hub 7 is also the rotation axis B of the rotary unit 13. The pump 15, the pipe 11 supported by the rails 6 and the rotary unit 13 make up a transport system 20 for the hydraulic fluid. This way hydraulic fluid can flow from the pump 15 in the direction of the rotary unit 13 and back while staff can easily walk through the interface region 17 essentially without being hindered by any parts of the transport system 20 projecting into the passage.

(8) FIG. 4 depicts a more detailed side view of the rotary unit 13 with parts of the hydraulic pitch system 30 and parts of the transport system 20. As outlined before, the rotary unit 13 comprises a first stationary part 13a and a second rotatable part 13b which rotates around the rotation axis B. The stationary part 13a is partially inserted into a cavity 16 in the rotatable part 13b and lead along a bearing 24 which also hermetically seals the connection between the first part 13a and the second part 13b. Into the rotary unit 13 there leads a pipe of the pipe system 11 which is supported by the rail 6 as outlined in the context of FIGS. 2 and 3. From where the pipe of the pipe system 11 is connected to the first part 13a of the rotary unit 13 there is a channel 14 inside of the stationary part 13a leading into the direction of the rotatable part 13b. This (first) channel 14 of the first part 13a leads into a second channel 18 in the rotatable part 13b. This second channel 18b leads into the accumulator block 20 where hydraulic fluid is collected and led further into the direction of the blade blocks for adjusting the pitch of the rotor blades 10 (cf. FIGS. 2 and 3). Hydraulic fluid can thus be transported to and fro from the pump 15 (cf. FIGS. 2 and 3) into the hydraulic pitch system 30 and back. Thereby, the rotation of the hub 7 and thus of the rotatable part 13b of the rotary unit 13 does not prevent a safe flow of the fluid from the pump 15 into the pitch system 30 and back.

(9) FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of a wind turbine 1″ according to the invention, again realized as a direct drive wind turbine 1″. In contrast to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 no use is made of a rail 6, but rather the transport system 20 is mainly assembled in a ceiling area of the wind turbine 1″. The pump 15 is located close to the ceiling 14 of the nacelle 5 and the pipe system 11 is led along the ceiling part 14a of the cavity formed by the generator 22, which cavity ends in the interface region 17 of the wind turbine 1″. The pipe system 11 is firmly fixed to the ceiling 14 and the ceiling part 14a. It comprises a rigid, solid pipe made of metal which is stable enough to hold itself in position and which describes an essentially linear way from the pump 15 into the hub 7 where it then turns slightly down into the direction of the rotary unit 13 situated diagonally below. An advantage of this embodiment can be seen in the fact that staff are not in danger of even stepping on a part of the transport system 20 so that one is even less hindered during passage of the interface region 17.

(10) It may be understood that the transport system 20 may comprise different elements and/or different outlays of elements, in particular concerning the pipes and the channels 14, 18 as well as the connections between rotatable parts and stationary parts. For instance, the pipe system 11 may also comprise plastic pipes and also (if sufficiently supported in critical regions, particularly the hub) flexible pipes rather than non-flexible, rigid ones.

(11) Although the present invention has been disclosed in the form of preferred embodiments and variations thereon, it will be understood that numerous additional modifications and variations other than those mentioned could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention.

(12) For the sake of clarity, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an” throughout this application does not exclude a plurality, and “comprising” does not exclude other steps or elements.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(13) 1, 1′, 1″ wind turbine 3 tower 4 blade blocks 5 nacelle 6 rail 7 hub 8 rotor 9 openings 10 rotor blades 11 pipe system 12 inside suface—bottom floor 13 rotary unit 13a first (stationary) part 13b second, (rotatable, non-stationary) part 14 ceiling part 14 first channel 14 inside suface—ceiling 15 pump 16 cavity 17 interface region 18 second channel 19 generator rotor 2 accumulator block 20 transport system 21 stator 22 generator 24 bearing 25 bearings 30 hydraulic pitch system A rotation axis B rotation axis D.sub.1 division line