METHOD FOR SETTING A WIND POWER INSTALLATION

Abstract

A method for setting a fully or partially built wind power installation having a rotor having a plurality of rotor blades whose blade angle can be adjusted, wherein the wind power installation can take on variable operating situations, and each operating situation is characterized by a combination of settable installation settings of the wind power installation and environmental conditions that can be captured, with the result that an operating situation can be set for given environmental conditions by setting the installation settings, and operating situations that should be avoided and/or suitable operating situations are stored in a memory by storing a combination of environmental conditions and installation settings as a combination to be avoided for an operating situation that should be avoided in each case, and/or storing a combination of environmental conditions and installation settings as a suitable combination for a suitable operating situation in each case, and, to avoid operating situations that should be avoided, environmental conditions are captured and, depending on the captured environmental conditions and the stored combinations to be avoided and/or suitable combinations, installation settings of the wind power installation are selected and set such that installation settings of stored combinations to be avoided are avoided, and/or installation settings are selected from stored suitable combinations.

Claims

1. A method for setting a fully or partially built wind power installation having a rotor having a plurality of rotor blades whose blade angle can be adjusted, wherein the wind power installation can take on variable operating situations, and each operating situation is characterized by a combination of settable installation settings of the wind power installation and environmental conditions that can be captured, so that an operating situation can be set for given environmental conditions by setting the installation settings, wherein the method comprises: storing operating situations to be avoided and/or suitable operating situations in a memory by: storing a combination of environmental conditions and installation settings as a combination to be avoided for an operating situation that should be avoided in each case, and/or storing a combination of environmental conditions and installation settings as a suitable combination for a suitable operating situation in each case, and avoiding operating situations that should be avoided by: capturing environmental conditions; and depending on the captured environmental conditions and the stored combinations to be avoided and/or suitable combinations, selecting and setting installation settings of the wind power installation such that: installation settings of stored combinations to be avoided are avoided, and/or installation settings are selected from stored suitable combinations.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the environmental conditions considered include wind speed and wind direction.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the environmental conditions considered include turbulence intensity, ambient temperature of the wind power installation, vertical wind shear, vertical wind direction shear, vertical angle of inclination of the wind, and air density.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the installation settings considered include: a collective blade angle, individual blade angles, an azimuth orientation of the wind power installation, a rotor speed, and/or a rotor position of the rotor.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the installation settings considered include whether the rotor is locked.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the rotor blades of the wind power installation are adjusted, after the wind power installation has been built but before the wind power installation is connected to an electrical supply network, by an individual blade adjustment during which the blade angles of the rotor blades are adjusted individually and independently of one other, and during feed-in operation, after the wind power installation has been connected to the electrical supply network, the rotor blades are set by specifying a collective blade angle, with the result that all rotor blades are set synchronously with one another and with the same blade angles.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: for the combinations to be avoided and/or suitable combinations, the installation settings and environmental conditions are respectively stored and/or taken into account as a range to be avoided or a suitable range.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the operating situations that should be avoided are those in which an oscillation of at least one component of the wind power installation with a dangerous amplitude is to be expected, and/or if an oscillation of the component is detected for a current operating situation, the current operating situation is stored as an operating situation that should be avoided by storing a combination of installation settings and environmental conditions of the current operating situation as a combination to be avoided.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein: the operating situations that should be avoided are those in which an oscillation of at least one of the rotor blades reaches or exceeds a predefinable amplitude limit, and/or if an oscillation of at least one of the rotor blades is detected for a current operating situation with an amplitude which reaches or exceeds the predeterminable amplitude limit, the current operating situation is stored as an operating situation that should be avoided by storing a combination of installation settings and environmental conditions of the current operating situation as a combination to be avoided.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: if no oscillation of a component of the wind power installation is detected for a current operating situation, at least only with an amplitude below a predefinable amplitude threshold, the current operating situation is stored as a suitable operating situation by storing a combination of installation settings and environmental conditions of the current operating situation as a suitable combination.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: if no oscillation of at least one of the rotor blades is detected for a current operating situation, at least only with an amplitude below a predefinable amplitude threshold, the current operating situation is stored as a suitable operating situation by storing a combination of installation settings and environmental conditions of the current operating situation as a suitable combination; and a stored suitable operating situation is stored as a confirmed suitable operating situation if this stored suitable operating situation has occurred repeatedly and no oscillation of the component or rotor blades has occurred, at least only with an amplitude below the predefinable amplitude threshold, wherein operating situations are set by capturing environmental conditions and setting installation settings of the wind power installation such that a stored confirmed suitable operating situation is set.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the method is carried out in a non-feeding-in state of the wind power installation when the wind power installation does not generate any power and/or does not feed any power into an electrical supply network, in a commissioning period in which the wind power installation has already been completed, but has not yet been connected to the electrical supply network and therefore no electrical power can be fed into the electrical supply network, in a period of up to 3 or 6 months after completion, and/or in a conversion situation when the wind power installation is locked, when at least the rotor is locked.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: at least some of the stored operating situations that should be avoided and/or suitable operating situations have been received from at least one structurally identical wind power installation.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: a warning signal is output if an operating situation that should be avoided is set, or if an operating situation that should be avoided is caused by changing environmental conditions, or is expected to occur.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: capturing and storing of operating situations that should be avoided and/or capturing and storing of suitable, or confirmed suitable, operating situations are continuously repeated in changing environmental conditions in order to thereby establish a data pool with operating situations that should be avoided and/or suitable, or confirmed suitable, operating situations.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: operating situations that should be avoided and/or suitable, or confirmed suitable, operating situations are captured by simulations and then stored, wherein operating situations that should be avoided and/or suitable, or confirmed suitable, operating situations are also captured by measurements and then stored.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: critical operating situations are captured, wherein critical operating situations are those in which an oscillation of a component of the wind power installation, or at least one of the rotor blades, occurs with an amplitude which is above a predefinable amplitude threshold, but below an amplitude limit which is greater than the amplitude threshold, and an operating situation that should be avoided is inferred from a captured critical operating situation, in such a way that at least one installation setting is changed, and an operating situation that should be avoided is inferred from a resulting increase or decrease in the amplitude of the oscillation, without setting it.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wind power installation is in a parked situation, wherein the parked situation is an idling or rotor-locked situation.

19. A wind power installation having a rotor having a plurality of blades whose blade angle can be adjusted, wherein: the wind power installation is prepared to carry out a method for setting the wind power installation, the wind power installation can take on variable operating situations, and each operating situation is characterized by a combination of settable installation settings of the wind power installation and environmental conditions that can be captured, so that an operating situation can be set for given environmental conditions by setting the installation settings, and the method includes: storing operating situations to be avoided and/or suitable operating situations in a memory by: storing a combination of environmental conditions and installation settings as a combination to be avoided for an operating situation that should be avoided in each case, and/or storing a combination of environmental conditions and installation settings as a suitable combination for a suitable operating situation in each case, and avoiding operating situations that should be avoided by: capturing environmental conditions, and depending on the captured environmental conditions and the stored combinations to be avoided and/or suitable combinations, selecting and setting installation settings of the wind power installation such that: installation settings of stored combinations to be avoided are avoided, and/or installation settings are selected from stored suitable combinations.

20. The wind power installation as claimed in claim 19, wherein the wind power installation has an installation controller and the installation controller is prepared to carry out the method.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0086] Embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below by way of example with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0087] FIG. 1 shows a perspective illustration of a wind power installation.

[0088] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart for classifying and storing operating situations.

[0089] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for selecting a combination of stored environmental conditions and installation settings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] FIG. 1 shows a wind power installation 100 with a tower 102 and a nacelle 104. A rotor 106 having three rotor blades 108 and having a spinner 110 is disposed on the nacelle 104. During operation, the rotor 106 is set in rotational motion by the wind and in this way drives a generator in the nacelle 104.

[0091] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart 200 for storing operating situations that should be avoided and suitable operating situations. In the detection step 202, properties of the wind power installation are captured, in particular vibrations of the rotor blades. The data captured in this way, in particular vibration amplitudes, are transferred to the assessment step 204. In the assessment step 204, it is assessed whether there is a situation that jeopardizes the wind power installation, in particular whether at least one of the captured oscillations has a dangerous amplitude, in particular an amplitude that reaches or exceeds a limit amplitude.

[0092] If such a dangerous situation, in particular dangerous amplitude of the oscillation, was detected in the assessment step 204, the process branches to the negative result step 206. In the negative result step 206, the environmental conditions and the installation settings of the current operating situation are combined as a negative combination and therefore a combination to be avoided.

[0093] In the following negative storage step 208, this combination to be avoided is stored and also marked as a combination to be avoided. This marking can be done simply by storing the negative combination in a corresponding sub-memory, in which only negative combinations, i.e., combinations to be avoided, are stored.

[0094] The method then returns to the detection step 202 and the sequence starts over. In particular, new capture and detection take place as soon as at least one operating situation has changed and/or as soon as a minimum repetition time has elapsed, which may be in the range of at least 5 minutes.

[0095] If it is determined in the assessment step 204 that no dangerous amplitudes are present or no other dangerous situations have been detected, the sequence branches to the positive result step 210. In the positive result step 210, the environmental conditions and installation settings of the current operating situation are combined as a positive combination.

[0096] In the subsequent positive storage step 212, this positive combination is stored as a suitable combination and marked as a suitable combination. The marking as a suitable combination can also be effected here by using a corresponding sub-memory which does not correspond to a sub-memory which was used in the negative storage step 208 for the combination to be avoided.

[0097] However, other variants also come into consideration, both for the negative storage step 208 and for the positive storage step 212, in which an attribute is also stored, to name just one more example.

[0098] The positive storage step 212 is followed by a verification step 214. In the verification step 214, it is checked whether the positive combination has already occurred more often than a predetermined number of occurrences n. The number of occurrences can also assume the value 1, and may be selected in the range from 2 to 5.

[0099] If the current combination has occurred more frequently than the number of occurrences n, the verification step 214 branches to the validation step 216. In the validation step 216, the suitable combination of the current operating situation is marked as a confirmed suitable combination. This can also be done by means of an attribute that is also stored for the combination.

[0100] If this combination has therefore already occurred several times, namely as a suitable combination, this also means that it has already been stored. In this case, provision may be made in the positive storage step 212 to only determine that the combination has already been stored, and to increase a counter stored with the combination by a value. This counter increased in this manner can be checked in the verification step 214 in order to determine whether the number of occurrences n has been exceeded.

[0101] After the validation step 216, the routine also returns to the detection step 202.

[0102] If it has been determined in the verification step 214 that the number of occurrences n has not yet been exceeded, nothing else happens and the combination of the current operating situation remains stored as a suitable combination and its attribute is not changed to a confirmed suitable combination, but remains an unconfirmed suitable combination. The flowchart then only returns directly from the verification step 214 to the detection step 202.

[0103] The routine described for storing in the flowchart 200 divides operating situations into operating situations that should be avoided, suitable operating situations and confirmed suitable operating situations and stores them accordingly. For this purpose, a combination to be avoided, a suitable combination or a confirmed suitable combination is respectively stored accordingly or marked as such.

[0104] In the unlikely event that a dangerous amplitude or other dangerous situation was detected in the assessment step 204 and the associated combination was already stored as a suitable combination, this is overwritten as a combination to be avoided.

[0105] In the unlikely event that no dangerous amplitude or other dangerous situation was detected in the assessment step 204, but a combination to be avoided has already been stored for the associated combination, this combination to be avoided is left in the memory as a combination to be avoided. Provision may now be made to output a corresponding notice so that a check can be performed. First of all, however, the combination to be avoided is retained in the memory as such.

[0106] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart 300 for explaining the selection and setting of installation settings depending on captured environmental conditions and stored combinations to be avoided and suitable combinations.

[0107] In the capture step 302, current or future environmental conditions for which installation settings must be made are captured, in particular measured.

[0108] With these environmental conditions W, the flowchart 300 passes to the verification query step 304. In the verification query step 304, it is checked whether a confirmed suitable combination has been stored for the captured environmental conditions. If so, the verification query step 304 branches to the confirmed assignment step 306.

[0109] If a plurality of confirmed suitable combinations have been identified in the verification query step 304 for the captured environmental conditions W, i.e., a plurality of confirmed suitable combinations have been stored, a choice can be made between them using a further selection criterion, which is not shown in the flowchart 300. The number of times the respective combination was identified as a suitable combination can be used as a criterion. For this purpose, the combination may have also stored a corresponding counter. This can be incremented, as explained in FIG. 2 in connection with the positive storage step 212.

[0110] It also comes into consideration that preferred basic settings are stored and, of the combinations found in the memory, that combination in which the installation settings are closest to the basic settings is selected. It also comes into consideration that a combination in which the installation settings are most similar to the current installation settings is selected. Again, these are just other examples of possible selection criteria.

[0111] In the confirmed assignment step 306, the installation settings T are set to the installation settings V according to the stored confirmed suitable combination. The routine according to the flowchart 300 has thus been accomplished, but the process can be repeated when environmental conditions change, with the result that the routine returns to the capture step 302 and the routine is repeated with capture of the environmental conditions.

[0112] If no confirmed suitable combination for the captured environmental conditions W was identified in the verification query step 304, a further query is carried out in accordance with the positive query step 308.

[0113] In the positive query step 308, it is then checked whether a suitable combination has been stored for the captured environmental conditions W. If so, the positive query step 308 branches to the positive assignment step 310. In the positive assignment step 310, the installation settings T are set to the settings P of the stored suitable combination that has been found. A further selection criterion can also be taken into account here, as explained with respect to the verification query step 304, if a plurality of suitable combinations have been found in the positive query step.

[0114] The positive query step 308 therefore checks for suitable combinations that do not have to be verified, i.e., confirmed. Since the positive query step 308 is only carried out if the verification query step 304 has not found any confirmed suitable combinations, the positive query step 308 should also not find any confirmed suitable combinations, but only unconfirmed suitable combinations. Such a combination is accordingly used in the positive assignment step 310.

[0115] Here too, the routine returns to the capture step 302 after the positive assignment step 310.

[0116] If no suitable combination was found in the positive query step 308 either, the routine passes to the negative query step 312. In the negative query step 312, it is checked whether a combination to be avoided has been stored for the captured environmental conditions W. If so, in the negative assignment step 314, installation settings are selected that do not correspond to any combination to be avoided that has been stored for the captured environmental conditions.

[0117] Thus, in the negative query step 312, it is necessary to check for all combinations to be avoided that have been stored for the captured environmental conditions so that the installation settings T do not correspond to a set of installation settings of the stored combinations to be avoided.

[0118] The installation settings are then selected from the remaining options, which have therefore hitherto not yet been checked. Criteria which have also been explained above in connection with both the verification query step 304 and the positive query step 308 can be used here for the specific selection. In addition, the selection can be made here in such a way that installation settings deviate as much as possible from the stored combinations to be avoided or deviate from the respective sets of installation settings contained there.

[0119] After the negative assignment step 314, the routine returns to the capture step 302.

[0120] If no combination to be avoided was found in the negative query step 312, this initially means that no combinations were stored for the captured environmental conditions. The routine then branches to the normal assignment step 316. Basically, any selection of the installation settings T can be made there. In the simplest case, the installation settings T simply remain unchanged.

[0121] Finally, the routine returns to the capture step 302 even after the normal assignment step 316.

[0122] Embodiments of the invention are therefore based on the following considerations and the following suggestions are made and further explanations are given.

[0123] The following is proposed: Critical states that occur in the field on wind power installations are combined in a matrix of no-go situations. Critical states or no-go situations are therefore operating states that should be avoided. Likewise, non-critical situations could also be (additionally or alternatively) combined in a matrix of safe states. Safe states are therefore suitable operating states. The wind power installations and/or service/construction teams or other interested persons or units are guided by these matrices. This prevents the wind power installations from getting into no-go situations. Each matrix represents a memory in which the situations or associated data are stored, in particular in a table, which is to be highlighted by the term matrix.

Example 1

[0124] The rotor blades of a wind power installation start to swing in a situation with the rotor locked.

[0125] The wind power installation detects this behavior as dangerous

[0126] and reports captured boundary conditions such as pitch angle of the rotor blades, rotor azimuth position, nacelle misalignment with respect to the wind, wind speed, where a nacelle misalignment denotes an angular deviation between the nacelle azimuth orientation and the wind speed.

[0127] This information is combined in a matrix of no-go situations.

[0128] If the same or a different wind power installation (of the same type) is locked, care is taken to avoid these and other no-go situations that have already been stored.

[0129] For example, the wind power installation could prevent the locking of the rotor for certain wind directions, pitch angles, rotor azimuth positions, or at least indicate the danger of this situation.

[0130] In addition or alternatively, it comes into consideration that service/construction teams are informed of these no-go situations and will be guided by them.

Example 2

[0131] The rotor is locked on a wind power installation for several days.

[0132] During this time, the wind power installation will monitor itself for critical situations, but no dangerous behavior will be detected.

[0133] The captured boundary conditions, e.g., pitch angle of the rotor blades, rotor azimuth position, nacelle misalignment with respect to the wind, wind speed, are reported as a potentially safe state.

[0134] If these boundary conditions are reported several times as a potentially safe state, it is assumed that these boundary conditions are actually safe for the wind power installation and stored accordingly in the matrix of safe states. Safe states thus correspond to confirmed suitable operating states, i.e., suitable operating states that have been verified.

[0135] If a wind power installation of this type is subsequently locked for several days due to conversion measures, and the forecast wind conditions and other boundary conditions on the construction site permit it, one of the states from the matrix of safe states is specifically started.

Example 3

[0136] A large number of tests on, for example, prototype wind power installations determine which states can be critical for the wind power installations and which states should more likely be classified as a safe state.

[0137] The critical states are combined in the no-go matrix, and the safe states are combined in the matrix of safe states.

[0138] An embodiment is provided, in particular, for situations in which one or more rotor blades may swing to an impermissible extent in idling or rotor-locked situations.

[0139] In general, some embodiments offer the possibility of continuously improving the assumptions made primarily by means of simulations or by other means about no-go areas and situations of safe states by means of measurements on real installations.

[0140] Some embodiments can also be used for, e.g., tower vibrations that could occur, for example, during the construction of the wind power installation.

[0141] The following example is used for further explanation: Assume that, for a certain tower, it was determined in advance for a certain construction state that this construction state is only permissible up to 12 m/s, since it was assumed that impermissibly strong tower vibrations could occur at wind speeds>12 m/s.

[0142] Now it is discovered on the construction site that the tower already swings to an impermissible extent at 10 m/s.

[0143] This finding is stored in a corresponding no-go matrix and is therefore available for future tower installations.

[0144] Some embodiments allow that damage to wind power installations can be avoided.

[0145] Aspects of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.