WIND FARM AIRCRAFT BEACON SYSTEM AND WIND FARM HAVING SAID SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A WIND FARM WITH A BEACON

Abstract

A wind farm aircraft beacon system, a wind farm having the wind farm aircraft beacon system and a method for providing a wind farm with a beacon are provided. A plurality of aircraft beacon devices are provided and at least one transmitting station is used to emit electromagnetic waves and/or sound waves. A number of receiving stations are provided that are at least a multiple of the number of transmitting stations. At least two receiving stations receive electromagnetic waves and/or sound waves and an evaluation device detects for flying object positions by evaluating emitted and received electromagnetic waves or sound waves, for example, using transit time determination. The wind farm aircraft beacon system also comprises a switching device for switching at least one of the aircraft beacon devices on or off on the basis of the flying object positions.

Claims

1. A wind farm aircraft beacon system of a wind farm, comprising: a plurality of aircraft beacon devices, at least one transmission station for emitting at least one of: electromagnetic waves or sound waves, at least two reception stations for receiving the at least one of: electromagnetic waves or sound waves reflected by flying object, a number of reception stations being at least a multiple of a the number of transmission stations, an evaluation device for detecting a position of the flying object by evaluating a time-of-flight of the at least one of: emitted or received electromagnetic waves or sound waves, and at least one switching device for switching at least one of the plurality of aircraft beacon devices on or off based on the position of the flying object detected by the evaluation device.

2. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one transmission station or the at least two reception stations are arranged at or on a nacelle of a wind power installation.

3. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one transmission station includes two active radars that are pulse radars arranged at a distance from each other.

4. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 3, wherein each active radar respectively includes transmitter with a horizontal aperture angle of 360 degrees for emitting the electromagnetic waves and a receiver with a horizontal aperture angle of 360 degrees for receiving the electromagnetic waves reflected by the flying object.

5. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least two reception stations include three reception stations.

6. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the at least two reception stations are arranged with a height difference of 40 to 60 meters respect to each other.

7. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein only one reception station is provided for each wind power installation of the wind farm, and only one transmission station is provided for a plurality of wind farms including the wind farm.

8. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least two reception stations respectively include two passive radars arranged at a distance from each another.

9. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 8, wherein each passive radar of the two passive radars respectively includes a receiver with a horizontal aperture angle of 360 degrees for receiving electromagnetic waves reflected by the flying object.

10. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wind farm aircraft beacon system has at least one receiver for receiving signals transmitted by a mobile transmitter.

11. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switching device is associated with a predefined sector disposed around the wind farm, and the switching device is configured to switch on, or leave switched on, at least one of the plurality of aircraft beacon devices when positions of one or more flying object positions that lie in the predefined sector disposed around the wind farm are detected by the evaluation device.

12. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the switching device is associated with a predefined sector disposed around the wind farm, and the switching device is configured to switch off, or leave switched off, at least one of the plurality of aircraft beacon devices when no flying object positions that lie inside the predefined sector around the wind farm are detected by the evaluation device.

13. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein only one aircraft beacon device is respectively provided for each wind power installation of a plurality of wind power installations of the wind farm.

14. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 13, wherein a subsector for each wind power installation or for the plurality of wind power installations is associated with the switching device, and the switching device is configured to switch on, or leave switched on, aircraft beacon devices of the wind power installation or the plurality of wind power installations assigned to the subsector when one or more flying object positions are detected that lie inside the subsector to which the wind power installation or the plurality of wind power installations are assigned.

15. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 13, wherein a subsector for each wind power installation or for the plurality of wind power installations is associated with the switching device, and the switching device is configured to switch off, or leave switched off, aircraft beacon devices of the wind power installation or the plurality of wind power installations assigned to the subsector when no flying object positions are detected that lie inside the subsector to which the wind power installation or the plurality of wind power installations are assigned.

16. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a topology of objects and geodata are stored in the switching device, or the evaluation device is configured to detect object positions and geodata by evaluating the emitted or received electromagnetic waves or sound waves and for transmitting the detected object positions and geodata to the switching device, and the switching device is configured to generate a topology of objects and geodata of a defined sector or subsectors of the wind farm, by observing or referencing time-invariant object positions and geodata of transmitted data.

17. A wind farm having a wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 1.

18. A method for beaconing a wind farm using a wind farm aircraft beacon system, comprising: emitting, by at least one transmission station, at least one of electromagnetic waves or sound waves, receiving, by the at least one transmission station or at least one reception station, the at least one of electromagnetic waves or sound waves reflected by flying object, and detecting, by an evaluation device, a position of the flying object by evaluating the at least one of emitted electromagnetic waves or sound waves or the at least one of received electromagnetic waves or sound waves, and switching, by a switching device, at least one aircraft beacon device on or off based on the position of the flying object detected by the evaluation device.

19. The wind farm aircraft beacon system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the mobile transmitter is a radio flight transponder.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0063] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be explained in more detail by way of example below with reference to the appended figures, in which

[0064] FIG. 1 shows a wind power installation,

[0065] FIG. 2 shows a wind farm having an exemplary embodiment of a wind farm aircraft beacon system,

[0066] FIG. 3 shows a nacelle of a wind power installation with a reception station, and

[0067] FIG. 4 shows a nacelle of a wind power installation with a transmission station.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0068] FIG. 1 shows a wind power installation 100 having a tower 102 and a nacelle 104. A rotor 106 having three rotor blades 108 and a spinner 110 are arranged on the nacelle 104. During operation, the rotor 106 is set in a rotational movement by the wind and thereby drives a generator in the nacelle 104.

[0069] The wind power installation 100 of FIG. 1 may also be operated in conjunction with a plurality of other wind power installations 100 in a wind farm, as will be described below with reference to FIG. 2.

[0070] FIG. 2 represents a wind farm 112 having by way of example four wind power installations 100a to 100c. The four wind power installations 100a to 100d may be the same or different. The wind power installations 100a to 100d are therefore representative of, in principle, an arbitrary number of wind power installations 100 of a wind farm 112. The wind power installations 100 provide their power, i.e., in particular the current generated, via an electrical farm network 114. In this case, the respectively generated currents or powers of the individual wind power installations 100 are added up, and a transformer 116 is usually provided, which steps up the voltage in the farm in order to feed it into the supply network 120 at the feed point 118, which is also generally referred to as a PCC.

[0071] FIG. 2 it is only a simplified representation of a wind farm 112, which for example does not show any power control, even though there will naturally be power control. The farm network 114 may, for example, also be configured differently, for example by there also being a transformer at the output of each wind power installation 100, to mention only one different exemplary embodiment.

[0072] An exemplary embodiment of the wind farm aircraft beacon system is furthermore represented. In detail, the wind power installations 100a to 100c each have a reception station 20. The wind power installation 100d comprises a transmission station 22.

[0073] Electromagnetic waves are emitted by the transmission station 22, and are then, for example, reflected by flying objects. The reflected electromagnetic waves are then received by one or more of the reception stations 20, and sent to an evaluation device 24.

[0074] At least two of the reception stations 20 have a height difference with respect to one another of about 50 meters. This height difference is not represented in FIG. 2 for better clarity. The height difference is, for example, achieved by one of the reception stations 20 being arranged on a wind power installation 100 standing on elevated ground, while another reception station 20 is arranged on another wind power installation 100 which stands lower, for example, in lower ground, such as in a depression.

[0075] The evaluation device 24 is part of a control 26 of the wind farm aircraft beacon system. With this control 26, for example, the transmission station 22 for emitting the electromagnetic waves is also driven.

[0076] Flying object positions, i.e., the positions of flying objects are detected in the evaluation device 24 by evaluating the emitted and received electromagnetic waves. To this end, according to one exemplary embodiment, measurement of the time-of-flight difference from the time of emission of particular electromagnetic waves by the transmission station 22 until the reception of the reflected electromagnetic waves by the reception station 20 is recorded.

[0077] Using the known propagation speed of the electromagnetic waves and the recorded time-of-flight, it is possible to determine a distance of a flying object at which the electromagnetic waves have been reflected, with the evaluation device 24. The flying object positions can therefore subsequently be determined from these distances.

[0078] A switching device 28 is furthermore provided, which, in this case by way of example, is likewise a component of the control 26. With the switching device 28, aircraft beacon devices 30 which are arranged on the nacelle 104 of each wind power installation 100a to 100d can be switched on and off. The aircraft beacon device 30 is switched on or off as a function of the flying object positions which have been determined by the evaluation device 24.

[0079] Whether an aircraft beacon device 30 is switched on or off depends on the precise position of the flying object. To this end, a sector 32 is defined in the switching device 28. This sector 32 is represented two-dimensionally by way of example in FIG. 2, although it usually has three-dimensional dimensions, i.e. for example a width, a height and a depth, the wind power installations 100a to 100d being located essentially at the center of the sector 32.

[0080] The sector 32 is also represented very close to the wind power installations 100a to 100d in FIG. 2, although the outer boundary of the sector 32 may usually have a distance of several kilometers from the wind power installations at least in the horizontal direction.

[0081] If a position of a flying object, i.e., a flying object position, inside this sector 32 is now detected by the evaluation device 24, then according to this exemplary embodiment the aircraft beacon devices 30 are switched on, or remain switched on if another flying object has already been detected beforehand in the sector 32.

[0082] In the case in which there is no flying object (no longer a flying object) in the sector 32, i.e., no flying object position is detected inside the sector 32, the aircraft beacon devices 30 are switched off, or remain switched off.

[0083] Here, a sector 32 which frames the entire wind farm 112 is represented. According to another exemplary embodiment (not shown in FIG. 2), it is however also possible respectively to define an individual subsector for each wind power installation 100a to 100c, which is then monitored separately by the evaluation device 24.

[0084] Accordingly, the aircraft beacon 30 of a wind power installation 100a to 100c is switched on in the case in which a flying object enters the respective subsector of a wind power installation 100a to 100c, or is detected in this subsector of the wind power installation 100a to 100c. Selective switching of individual aircraft beacon devices 30 on as a function of flying object positions is therefore possible. Particularly in large wind farms which extend over an area of several kilometers, it is therefore possible for aircraft beacon devices 30 to be activated only in the part of the wind farm 112 which may actually represent a hazard for a flying object.

[0085] FIG. 3 shows the front view of a nacelle 104 of a wind power installation 100 in an enlarged representation. An antenna carrier 34 is arranged on the nacelle 104 and is firmly connected to the nacelle 104. The antenna carrier 34 has two receivers 36, respectively of a passive radar, which together correspond to a reception station 20. The receivers are used to collect electromagnetic waves and have a horizontal aperture angle of 360 degrees.

[0086] Furthermore, two lights 38 are provided, which together form an aircraft beacon device 30 of the wind power installation 100. By the separated arrangement of the lights 38 on the one hand, and of the receivers 36 on the other hand, the systems are duplicated, so that error-free function of the wind farm aircraft beacon system is still ensured despite the partial shadowing by the rotor blades 108.

[0087] FIG. 3 therefore represents an enlarged representation of the nacelle 104 of one of the wind power installations 100a to 100c of FIG. 2.

[0088] FIG. 4 corresponds essentially to FIG. 3, although in this case, besides the receivers 36 of the passive radars, two transmitters 40 emitting electromagnetic waves are also provided. Accordingly, the transmitters 40 and the receivers 36 together correspond to a transmission station 22. FIG. 4 is therefore the enlarged representation of the nacelle 104 of the wind power installation 100d of FIG. 2.

[0089] A wind farm 112 equipped with a wind farm aircraft beacon system comprising a plurality of reception stations 20 and a single transmission station 22 therefore allows control of the aircraft beacon devices 30 of the wind farm 112 which is independent of transponder signals and other transmission signals, the wind farm aircraft beacon system at the same time obviating a multiplicity of active radars and therefore being substantially more favorable than already known solutions.