Wind turbine measurement system

Abstract

A measurement system is provided for a wind turbine having a plurality of rotor blades mounted to a spinner at the front of a nacelle and arranged to rotate in a rotor plane. The measurement system includes a measuring device for determining a pressure at a number of pressure measurement points. The pressure measurement points are arranged in front of the rotor plane, an analysis module for generating a control signal on the basis of the pressure measurements, and output means for issuing the control signal to a controller of the wind turbine.

Claims

1. A measurement system for a wind turbine comprising a plurality of rotor blades and a nacelle, the measurement system comprising: a spinner disposed at a front of the nacelle, wherein the plurality of rotor blades are mounted to the spinner and arranged to rotate in a rotor plane, the spinner having a cylindrical shape and comprising a flat frontal face that faces incoming wind flowing in a wind direction and an annular wall extending from the flat frontal face towards the nacelle, the flat frontal face and the annular wall of the spinner defining a single interior cylindrical cavity; a plurality of pressure measurement points disposed on the flat frontal face of the spinner, the plurality of pressure measurement points being openings that extend through the flat frontal face of the spinner to allow wind to flow through the flat frontal face of the spinner, wherein the plurality of pressure measurement points include a first opening located proximate a geometric center of the flat frontal face of the spinner and a second opening proximate an outer edge of the flat front face of the spinner, further wherein the first opening and the second opening are both disposed on the flat frontal face such that the first opening and the second opening are coplanar and on a same plane as the flat frontal face; and a wind measurement system disposed within the spinner, the wind measurement system comprising a pressure differential sensor connected to the plurality of pressure measurement points located behind the flat frontal face of the spinner within the interior cavity, the pressure differential sensor being configured to determine a difference in pressure between the plurality of pressure measurement points, wherein an output signal of the pressure differential sensor is analyzed to generate a control signal for a yaw drive to correct a yaw angle error between a longitudinal axis of the nacelle and the wind direction.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein a first duct connects the first opening to the pressure differential sensor and a second duct connects the second opening to the pressure differential sensor.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wind measurement system includes an analysis module configured to determine a stagnation pressure value and/or a dynamic pressure value.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the analysis module comprises a yaw angle correction module that generates the control signal, which is a yaw angle control signal that comprises a yaw angle correction signal for the yaw drive of the wind turbine.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the analysis module comprises a wind speed limit determination module that generates a control signal comprising a start-up/shut-down signal for a controller of the wind turbine, and wherein the start-up/shut-down signal is based on a dynamic pressure value.

6. A spinner for a wind turbine, comprising: a flat frontal face that faces incoming wind flowing in a wind direction; an annular wall extending from the flat frontal face towards a nacelle of the wind turbine to define a single interior cylindrical cavity of the spinner; a plurality of pressure measurement points disposed on the flat frontal face of the spinner, the plurality of pressure measurement points being openings that extend through the flat frontal face of the spinner to allow wind to flow through the flat frontal face of the spinner, wherein the plurality of pressure measurement points include a first opening located proximate a geometric center of the flat frontal face of the spinner and a second opening proximate an outer edge of the flat front face of the spinner, further wherein the first opening and the second opening are both disposed on the flat frontal face such that the first opening and the second opening are coplanar and on a same plane as the flat frontal face; a cavity defined by the flat frontal face and the annular wall, the cavity located behind and immediately adjacent to the flat frontal surface of the spinner; and a wind measurement system disposed within the spinner, the wind measurement system comprising a pressure differential sensor connected to the plurality of pressure measurement points located behind the flat frontal face of the spinner within the interior cavity, the pressure differential sensor being configured to determine a difference in pressure between the plurality of pressure measurement points, wherein an output signal of the pressure differential sensor is analyzed to generate a control signal for a yaw drive to correct a yaw angle error between a longitudinal axis of the nacelle and the wind direction.

7. The spinner according to claim 6, wherein the flat frontal surface of the spinner is a flat disc-shaped surface.

8. A wind turbine comprising: the wind measurement system according to claim 1.

9. The wind turbine according to claim 8, comprising a yaw drive controller adapted to receive the control signal from the measurement system and/or a blade pitch controller adapted to receive the control signal from the wind measurement system.

10. A method of controlling a wind turbine comprising a number of rotor blades mounted to a spinner at a front of a nacelle and arranged to rotate in a rotor plane, wherein the spinner has a cylindrical shape and comprises a flat frontal face that faces incoming wind flowing in a wind direction and an annular wall extending from the flat frontal face towards the nacelle, the flat frontal face and the annular wall of the spinner defining a single interior cylindrical cavity, and a plurality of pressure measurement points disposed on the flat frontal face of the spinner, the plurality of pressure measurement points being openings that extend through the flat frontal face of the spinner to allow wind to flow through the flat frontal face of the spinner, wherein the plurality of pressure measurement points include a first opening located proximate a geometric center of the flat frontal face of the spinner and a second opening proximate an outer edge of the flat front face of the spinner, further wherein the first opening and the second opening are both disposed on the flat frontal face such that the first opening and the second opening are coplanar and on a same plane as the flat frontal face, the method comprising: determining a pressure at the plurality of pressure measurement points, via a measuring device arranged in the interior cavity of the spinner; generating a control signal based on an output signal of the measuring device for a yaw drive to correct a yaw angle error between a longitudinal axis of the nacelle and the wind direction; and issuing the control signal to a corresponding controller of the yaw drive of the wind turbine.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising analyzing the pressure to further determine a pressure difference between any pair of the plurality of measurement points and/or to further determine a dynamic pressure and/or a stagnation pressure.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising establishing a reference relationship between a pressure measured at a first pressure measurement point and a second pressure measurement point while an airflow is directed at the spinner such that the airflow direction is essentially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the spinner.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed descriptions considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for the purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a plan view of a wind turbine in a non-ideal position relative to the wind;

(3) FIG. 2 shows pressure distributions over a spinner surface;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a front view of a spinner according to an embodiment of the invention;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a cross-section through the spinner of FIG. 3;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a plot of pressure differences between two measurement positions on the spinner of FIG. 3;

(7) FIG. 6 shows a schematic representation of a plan view of a wind turbine according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

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

(9) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a plan view of a prior art wind turbine in a non-ideal position relative to the wind. Seen from above, a nacelle 100 can be rotated by a yaw drive 102 (indicated by the broken line) with the intention of bringing a longitudinal axis L of the nacelle 100 and spinner 104 into line with the momentary direction v.sub.W of the wind W. A controller of the yaw drive 102 acts in response to measurements delivered by a wind vane 101 mounted on the top of the nacelle 100. The rotor blades 104 describe a virtual “rotor disc” or “rotor plane” P.sub.R as they rotate, indicated here by the broken line (whereby the rotor plane P.sub.R is perpendicular to the plane of the drawing). Because the wind vane 101 is situated behind the rotor plane P.sub.R, and the rotor blades 104 cause a certain amount of turbulence W.sub.T behind the rotor plane, the measurements delivered by the wind vane 101 cannot accurately and reliably describe the wind direction v.sub.W. As a result, the yaw drive controller may erroneously cause the nacelle 100 and spinner 103 to face in a direction offset from the ideal wind direction. This offset or yaw angle error is shown here as an angle α between the longitudinal axis L and the wind direction v.sub.W. Because of the yaw angle error α and the resulting load imbalance, any major component of the wind turbine may be negatively affected. For example, the rotor blades 104 and bearings such as pitch bearings or bearings of the rotor or main shaft of the generator may be subject to undesirable fatigue loading.

(10) FIG. 2 shows pressure distributions over the surface of a flat spinner 2 in a first and second position of the spinner 2. Here, it is assumed that the spinner 2 is circular in shape and is mounted on a wind turbine such that it is tilted upward by a small angle of about 6° for the reasons given above. On the left-hand side of the diagram, the spinner 2 is facing directly into the wind. The pressure distribution over such a flat spinner face when tilted slightly upward is such that a highest pressure is present in a first pressure zone P.sub.0 slightly offset in a downward direction from the geometric centre of the circular spinner face. The pressure drops with increasing distance from the region of highest pressure P.sub.0, and this is indicated, for the sake of simplicity, by discrete pressure zones P1, P2, P3 of decreasing pressure, whereby the pressure zone P3 at the outermost edge of the spinner exhibits the lowest pressure. Of course, the pressure does not drop in a discrete manner, but drops smoothly across the pressure zones P0, P1, P2, P3 from the centre to the perimeter of the spinner face. The pressure zones P0, P1, P2, P3 are established essentially symmetrically about a vertical axis through the centre of the spinner front face when this is facing directly into the wind.

(11) The pressure distribution remains the same while the spinner rotates (indicated by the arrow), so that a first point 21 essentially remains within the first pressure zone P0, while a second point 22 describes a circular path of travel 220 that takes it through two outer pressure zones P2, P3. Therefore, while the pressure at the first point 21 remains essentially constant, the pressure acting on the second point 22 increases and decreases in a cyclic manner as the spinner 2 rotates and the second point 22 passes in and out of the different pressure zones P2, P3 on its circular path of travel from 0° at its azimuth or highest point on the spinner front face through 180° at its lowest point on the spinner front face. A point of lowest pressure p.sub.min is therefore at the highest point of the path of travel 220, since this is furthest away from the stagnation pressure point 21; while the highest pressure p.sub.max is experienced at the lowest point of the path of travel, since this point is closest to the stagnation pressure point 21. The highest and lowest pressure points p.sub.max, p.sub.min are diametrically opposed about the first point 21.

(12) On the right-hand side of the diagram, the spinner 2 no longer faces directly into the wind, but instead faces into the wind at a detrimental yaw angle offset. The effect of this yaw angle error is that the pressure zones are no longer arranged symmetrically about a vertical axis over the spinner front face. Instead, the pressure zones P0′, P1′, P2′, P3′ are now also “offset” and somewhat distorted. As a result, the first point 21 can now lie within a lower pressure zone P1′ as the spinner 2 rotates, and the second point 22 now passes in and out of several pressure zones P1′, P2′, P3′. In this offset yaw error position, therefore, the lowest and highest pressure p.sub.min_ye, p.sub.max_ye experienced at the second measuring point 22 will be slightly lower than the corresponding pressures p.sub.min, p.sub.max experienced at the second measuring point 22 in the non-offset position (again, the highest and lowest pressure points p.sub.max, p.sub.min are diametrically opposed about the first point 21, indicated here by the slanted broken line passing through these points).

(13) This effect is put to good use by the invention, as shown by a spinner 10 according to an embodiment of the invention and shown in FIG. 3. Here, the spinner 10 has two openings 41, 42 or measurement points 41, 42 arranged such that a first opening 41 is situated essentially in the geometric centre of the spinner's front face 11, and a second opening 42 is situated relatively close to an outer edge of the spinner front face 11. As described above with the aid of FIG. 2, essentially unchanging or stagnation pressure will be experienced at the first opening 41 or measurement point 41 as the spinner 10 rotates in the direction shown, while the second measurement point 42 will experience a cyclically changing pressure as it repeatedly passes through regions of higher and lower pressure. The point of lowest pressure p.sub.min is now offset to one side, while the point of highest pressure p.sub.max is offset to the other side.

(14) FIG. 4 shows a lateral cross-section X-X′ through the spinner 10 of FIG. 3, and indicates schematically a measurement system 4 arranged in a cavity behind the front face 11 of the spinner 10. The measurement system 4 comprises a differential pressure sensor 40 connected to the openings 41, 42 by means of ducts 410, 420. The differential pressure sensor 40 generates an electrical signal 400, which can be transmitted via wire and a slip ring, or via a wireless signal, indicating the difference in pressure between the openings 41, 42. The output 400 of the differential pressure sensor 40 is received by an analysis unit 43. In this embodiment, the analysis unit 43 comprises a yaw angle correction module 44 that can determine the actual yaw angle error on the basis of the pressure sensor output 400 and/or can generate control signals 440 for a yaw drive to correct the yaw angle error. A very accurate pressure sensor 40 can permit the yaw drive to react quickly to even very slight changes in mean wind direction, so that the wind turbine to which this spinner 10 is attached can optimise its electrical output. The analysis unit 43 further comprises a wind speed limit determination module 45 that can determine the wind speed, for example a mean wind speed, on the basis of the pressure sensor output 400 and/or can generate a start-up/shut-down signal 450 for a controller of the wind turbine.

(15) FIG. 5 shows a plot of pressure difference (ΔP), against degree of rotation (°), between a first measurement point 41 and a second measurement point 42 on a spinner windward surface.

(16) For a vertical spinner, i.e. a spinner not tilted with respect to the horizontal, a reference curve D.sub.ref_vs plotted for measurements taken over one full rotation as the spinner faces directly into the wind would ideally comprise a simple flat line as shown here (broken line). A “full rotation” is measured from 0°, corresponding to the highest position of the second measurement point 42 on the spinner front face, through 360° back to the starting point. When that vertical spinner is angled away from the wind with a yaw error, for example a few degrees, the pressure differential D.sub.ye_vs will manifest as one cycle of a sine wave, as shown by the dotted line. The amplitude of the sine wave and the amount by which it is offset will depend on the size of the yaw error.

(17) For an upward tilted spinner, a reference curve D.sub.ref_ts would ideally comprise one cycle of a sine wave, as shown here. The reference curve D.sub.ref_ts shows a plot of the measured pressure difference between the first opening 41 and the second opening 42 as the upward-tilted spinner moves through one full rotation while facing directly into the wind. The peak of the reference curve D.sub.ref_ts corresponds to the greatest pressure difference, measured when the second measurement point 42 is furthest away from the highest or stagnation pressure zone. The trough of the reference curve D.sub.ref_ts corresponds to the lowest pressure difference, measured when the second measurement point 42 is closest to the stagnation pressure zone. In this case, the lowest pressure is measured when the second measurement point 42 reaches the lowest point on its path of travel 220 over the spinner windward surface, at about 180°.

(18) Another curve D.sub.ye_ts shows a plot of the measured pressure difference between the first opening 41 and the second opening 42 as the upward-tilted spinner moves through one full rotation while not facing directly into the wind, but at an angle offset from the ideal or mean wind direction. Here, the second measurement point 42 moves through several neighbouring pressure zones as illustrated in the right-hand side of FIG. 2. As a result, the pressure difference is significantly greater as the second measurement point 42 passes though the point of lowest pressure, which was indicated as point p.sub.min in FIG. 2. The smallest pressure difference is measured as the second measurement point 42 passes through its point of highest pressure on its path of travel over the spinner windward face which point was indicated as point p.sub.max in FIG. 2. The amplitude offset and the phase shift between the reference curve D.sub.ref_ts and the yaw-error curve D.sub.ye_ts can be determined and analysed to deduce the actual yaw error, and to generate a correction signal for a yaw drive controller. Such a correction signal can, for example, instruct the yaw drive controller to “rotate yaw ring clockwise by 4.5°”, “rotate yaw ring counter-clockwise by 1.8°”, etc. Alternatively, the control signal can just specify a direction of (slow) rotation for the yaw drive controller, for example “clockwise”, and can continue to measure amplitude and phase shift until these are no longer significant, at which point a control signal can then instruct the yaw drive controller to cease rotation and to maintain that position.

(19) FIG. 6 shows a schematic representation of a plan view of a wind turbine according to an embodiment of the invention. This wind turbine has a spinner 10 according to the invention, with a yaw angle adjustment system 1 arranged in the spinner 10 and connected by means of an output to a controller of a yaw drive (indicated by the broken line). The yaw angle adjustment system 1 can continually monitor the pressure differences at the measurement points to detect any yaw angle error. Since any measurements are made using information collected at the spinner front face 11, these measurements are free of any inaccuracies that would be introduced by a turbulent air-flow W.sub.T behind the rotor plane of the rotor blades 104. Therefore, the yaw angle adjustment system 1 can always act to bring the spinner 10 in line with the momentary mean wind direction v.sub.W, as shown here, so that the power output of the wind turbine can be optimised.

(20) 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 could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention.

(21) 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. The mention of a “unit” or a “module” does not preclude the use of more than one unit or module.