GENERATOR FOR A WIND TURBINE, AND WIND TURBINE HAVING SAME

Abstract

A generator for a wind turbine comprising a generator stator having a mounting portion for fixing the generator stator to a machine carrier of the wind turbine, and a generator rotor mounted rotatably about a generator axis relative to the generator stator. The generator has a single-stage transmission which is adapted to non-rotatably cooperate at the drive side with a rotor blade hub and which is non-rotatably connected at the driven side to the generator rotor.

Claims

1. A generator for a wind turbine comprising: a generator stator having a mounting portion for fixing the generator stator to a machine carrier of the wind turbine, and a generator rotor mounted rotatably about a generator axis and relative to the generator stator, wherein the generator has a single-stage transmission configured to non-rotatably cooperate at a drive side of a rotor blade hub and is non-rotatably connected at the drive side to the generator rotor.

2. The generator according to claim 1 wherein the single-stage transmission is a planetary transmission having a sun gear, a planet carrier having a plurality of planet gears, and a ring gear, wherein the plurality of planet gears are engaged with the sun gear and with the ring gear.

3. The generator according to claim 2 wherein the sun gear is non-rotatably connected at the drive side to the generator rotor.

4. The generator according to claim 2 wherein the planet carrier is non-rotatably connected at the drive side to the rotor blade hub.

5. The generator according to claim 1, comprising a hollow generator shaft, wherein the generator rotor is fixed to the hollow generator shaft.

6. The generator according to claim 2 wherein the mounting portion is a first mounting portion, and wherein the generator has a arranged in an opposite relationship with the first mounting portion in a direction of the generator axis, wherein the second mounting portion is configured to non-rotatably connect to a journal of the wind turbine.

7. The generator according to claim 6 wherein the planet carrier and the rotor blade hub are connected by coupling selectively switchable between a coupled and an uncoupled state, wherein in the coupled state a non-rotatable connection is made between the single-stage transmission and the rotor blade hub, and in the uncoupled state there is relative rotatability between the rotor blade hub and to the generator rotor.

8. The generator according to claim 1, comprising a generator housing and a main shaft mounted to the generator housing, wherein the main shaft is adapted to be non-rotatably connected to the rotor blade hub, wherein the main shaft is passed through the hollow generator shaft and is mounted coaxially with respect the hollow generator shaft, and wherein the planet carrier is non-rotatably connected to the main shaft.

9. The generator according to claim 2 wherein the single-stage transmission is a magnetic transmission having an inner permanent-magnetic ring, a ferromagnetic intermediate ring and an outer permanent-magnetic ring.

10. A wind turbine comprising: a rotor blade hub; a tower; a machine carrier mounted rotatably to the tower and having a mounting portion for receiving a generator; and a generator fixed to the machine carrier by a corresponding mounting portion, wherein the generator is configured to generate electric power, wherein the generator is the generator according to claim 1.

11. The wind turbine according to claim 10 wherein the generator arranged on a first side of the machine carrier and the rotor blade hub is arranged on a second side of the machine carrier that is opposite to the first side.

12. A wind turbine according to claim 10 wherein the rotor blade hub and the generator are arranged on a same side of the machine carrier.

13. The wind turbine according to claim 12 wherein the generator is fixed by the first mounting portion to a corresponding mounting portion of the machine carrier, and wherein the rotor blade hub is fixed to a second mounting portion of the generator by a journal having a corresponding mounting portion.

14. The wind turbine according to claim 10 wherein the generator is a synchronous generator.

15. The wind turbine according to claim 10 wherein the single-stage transmission of the generator is a reduction transmission and is mounted at a side of the generator, that is opposite from the machine carrier.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The invention is described in greater detail hereinafter by means of two preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying Figures in which:

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic perspective view of a wind turbine according to the invention,

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic cross-sectional view through the pod of the wind turbine of FIG. 1 in a first embodiment, and

[0032] FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic cross-sectional view through a pod of the wind turbine in FIG. 1 in a second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic view of a wind turbine 100 according to the invention. The wind turbine 100 has a tower 102 and a pod 104 on the tower 102. Provided on the pod is an aerodynamic rotor 106 having three rotor blades 108 and a spinner 110. The aerodynamic rotor 106 is driven in rotation in operation of the wind turbine 100 by the wind and thus drives a generator 1 (FIG. 2) coupled directly or indirectly to the aerodynamic rotor 106. The electric generator 1 is arranged in the pod 104 and generates electric power.

[0034] FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows the internals of the pod 104 in accordance with a first embodiment. The rotor blades 108 shown in FIG. 1 are not shown here for the sake of simplicity of the drawing.

[0035] The generator 1 of the wind turbine 100 has a stator 3 and a generator rotor 5 mounted rotatably relative to the stator 3. There is an air gap 7 between the generator rotor 5 and the stator 3.

[0036] The generator rotor 5 is connected non-rotatably to a single-stage transmission 11 by means of a generator shaft 9 and in particular the generator rotor 5 is non-rotatably connected to a sun gear 15. The stator 3 is preferably non-rotatably connected to a ring gear 13 of the single-stage transmission 11.

[0037] The single-stage transmission 11 further has a number of planet gears which are arranged on a planet carrier 17 and wherein the planet carrier 17 is connected to the rotor blade hub 113 by means of a coupling 19. Consequently the rotational movement of the rotor blade hub 113 is transmitted to the generator 5 rotor by means of the planet carrier 17 of the single-stage transmission, in which case, by virtue of the stationary hollow gear 13 non-rotatably connected to the stator, the rotary movement of the rotor blade hub 113 is stepped up to the sun gear 15 so that the generator shaft 9 and thus the generator rotor 5 rotate more rapidly than the rotor blade hub 113.

[0038] The generator 1 has a first mounting portion 21 to which the generator 1 is directly or indirectly fixed at a machine carrier 114. The mounting portion 21 is preferably in the form of a flange portion.

[0039] The machine carrier 114 is in turn fixed to the tower 102 of the wind turbine, preferably by means of a rotary connection. The generator 1 and the rotor blade hub 113 are preferably arranged coaxially with a generator axis A.

[0040] The rotor blade hub 113 is preferably mounted on a journal 112, wherein the rotor blade hub 113 or the journal 112 are fixed by means of a second mounting portion 23 (preferably in the form of a flange portion) to the generator 1, consequently being arranged on the same side of the machine carrier 114 of a wind turbine 100.

[0041] FIG. 3 shows a generator arrangement according to a second preferred embodiment. FIG. 3 shows a generator 1′ which unlike the generator shown in FIG. 2 does not have two mounting portions but only a single mounting portion 21′ or preferably in the form of a flange portion, by means of which the generator 1′ is connected to the machine carrier 114 of the wind turbine 100. Unlike the generator 1 of FIG. 2 the generator 1′ is not arranged on the same side relative to the machine carrier 114 as the rotor blade hub 113 but is fixed to the machine carrier 114 on a side of the rotor blade hub 113, that is opposite relative to the machine carrier 114, so that the tilting moments occurring due to the inherent weights of the rotor blade hub and the generator 1′ on the tower 102 are at least partially compensated.

[0042] The generator 1′ like the generator 1 of FIG. 2 has a stator 3, a rotor 5 and an interposed air gap 7.

[0043] The generator rotor 5 is non-rotatably connected to the sun gear 15 of the single-stage transmission by means of a generator shaft 9 while the stator 3 is non-rotatably connected to the ring gear 13 of the single-stage transmission 11. The planet carrier 17 with its number of planet gears in turn provides for step-up transmission of the rotational movement of the rotor blade hub 113 to the generator rotor 5 (identical in system terms to the embodiment of FIG. 2). Unlike FIG. 2 the rotor blade hub 113 however is not coupled directly to the planet carrier 17 but by way of a main shaft 115 which is passed through the generator shaft 9 in the form of a hollow shaft. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 the single-stage transmission 11 is equally in the form of a planetary transmission, but arranged in the form of a reducing transmission on a side remote from the machine carrier 114 and a side remote from the rotor blade hub 113 so that optionally, if suitable openings are provided in the generator housing 25, it is accessible from the exterior without having to touch the rotor blade hub 113.