Reduction of a pitch bearing damage

Abstract

A method of determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator of at least one rotor blade of a wind turbine includes: providing a quantity being indicative of a value of a bearing moment of the rotor blade; determining the value of a pitch speed based on the quantity and a reference quantity indicative of a reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade such that, if the quantity indicates that the value of a bearing moment of the rotor blade is below the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, the value of a pitch speed is determined to be above a reference value of the pitch speed.

Claims

1. A method of determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator of a rotor blade of a wind turbine and adjusting a pitch angle of the rotor blade, the method comprising: providing a quantity being indicative of a value of a bearing moment of the rotor blade; determining the value of the pitch speed based on the quantity and a reference quantity indicative of a reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, wherein, when the quantity indicates that the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is below the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, the value of the pitch speed is determined to be above a reference value of the pitch speed, wherein the value of the pitch speed is determined based on a parameter related to a low value of the bearing moment, wherein the parameter related to the low value of the bearing moment indicates at which bearing moment the value of the pitch speed should be a maximal value of the pitch speed; and adjusting, by the pitch actuator, the pitch angle of the rotor blade based on a target pitch angle and the determined value of the pitch speed.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the value of the pitch speed is determined to be the maximal value of the pitch speed at
M<=M_refAM_low, wherein M is the value of the bearing moment, M_ref is the reference value of the bearing moment, M_low is the parameter related to the low value of a bearing moment.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if the quantity indicates that the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is above the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, the value of the pitch speed is determined to be below the reference value of the pitch speed.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if the quantity indicates decrease of the value of the bearing moment with time and if the quantity indicates that the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is above the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, the value of the pitch speed is determined to increase with time, from a minimal speed value, such that the value of the pitch speed is below the reference value of the pitch speed.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, if the quantity indicates increase of the value of the bearing moment with time and if the quantity indicates that the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is above the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, the value of the pitch speed is determined to decrease with time such that the value of the pitch speed is below the reference value of the pitch speed.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein for increase and/or decrease of the value of the bearing moment with time the value of the pitch speed is determined to be above the reference value of the pitch speed, if the quantity indicates that the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is below the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the value of the pitch speed is determined to vary with the value of the bearing moment as a curve having negative derivative, for values of the bearing moment above and/or below the reference value of the bearing moment.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the curve is a straight line having a slope that is, dynamically, calculated such that
v=v_max for M=M_low and
v=v_min for M=M_high wherein
M_low=M_refM_low,
M_high=M_ref+AM_high, M is the value of the bearing moment, v is the value of the pitch speed, v_max is the maximal value of the pitch speed, v_min is a minimal value of the pitch speed, M_ref is the reference value of the bearing moment, AM_low, M_high are predetermined parameters related to the bearing moment.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rotor blade is one of a plurality of rotor blades; wherein the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is a predetermined value or a mean of values of bearing moments of all of the rotor blades of the wind turbine; and/or wherein the reference value of the pitch speed is a predetermined value of the pitch speed or a mean of values of the pitch speed of all of the rotor blades of the wind turbine.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the quantity being indicative of the value of the bearing moment comprises at least one of: a value of a strain of the rotor blade measured at at least one location of the rotor blade; a value of a bending moment, calculated based on the value of the strain; the value of a bearing moment, calculated based on the value of the strain and/or the bending moment; a value of an azimuthal position of the rotor blade.

11. A method of controlling a pitch actuator, the method comprising: supplying a signal indicative of the target pitch angle to the pitch actuator; performing the method of determining the value of the pitch speed for the pitch actuator of the rotor blade of the wind turbine according to claim 1; and supplying a signal indicative of the determined value of the pitch speed to the pitch actuator to control the pitch actuator.

12. An arrangement for determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator of a rotor blade of a wind turbine, the arrangement comprising: a processor, configured to: receive a quantity being indicative of a value of a bearing moment of the rotor blade; determine the value of the pitch speed based on the quantity and a reference quantity indicative of a reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, wherein, when the quantity indicates that the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade is below the reference value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade, the value of the pitch speed is determined to be above a reference value of the pitch speed, wherein the value of the pitch speed is determined based on a parameter related to a low value of the bearing moment, wherein the parameter related to the low value of the bearing moment indicates at which bearing moment the value of the pitch speed should be a maximal value of the pitch speed; and output a signal for adjusting a pitch angle of the rotor blade based on a target pitch angle and the determined value of the pitch speed.

13. A pitch adjustment system, comprising: the arrangement for determining the value of the pitch speed for the pitch actuator of the rotor blade of the wind turbine according to claim 12; the pitch actuator communicatively coupled to the arrangement; further comprising at least one sensor, adapted to determine the quantity being indicative of the value of the bearing moment of the rotor blade.

14. The pitch adjustment system of claim 13, wherein the at least one sensor is a strain sensor.

15. A wind turbine, comprising: a turbine rotor having plural rotor blades attached; and the pitch adjustment system according to claim 13.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

(1) Some of the embodiments will be described in detail, with reference to the following figures, wherein like designations denote like members, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a wind turbine according to an embodiment of the present invention including an arrangement for determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator of at least one rotor blade according to an embodiment of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a scheme of a method of determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention, as is for example performable by the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates a graph illustrating parameters as employed in embodiments according to the present invention; and

(5) FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a graph for explaining parameters as utilized for determining a value of a pitch speed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) The wind turbine 150 illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises an arrangement 100 for determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator 153 of at least one rotor blade 155 of the wind turbine 150. The rotor blade 155 is mechanically coupled to a rotor 157 which drives a generator 159 of the wind turbine 150. The arrangement 100 is communicatively coupled to each of the pitch actuators 153 for each wind turbine 155. The pitch actuator 153 is capable of turning the respective rotor blade 155 around a longitudinal axis 159. The arrangement 100 outputs a control signal 114 to the actuator 153 which may indicate the value of the pitch speed 113. The arrangement 100 receives measurement values 116 regarding strain from strain sensors 105.

(7) The wind turbine 150 includes the rotor blades 155, the rotor 157, the pitch actuators 153 as well as the generator 159. The wind turbine 150 may further comprise other mechanical and electronic and electric equipment not illustrated in detail.

(8) In conventional methods it has been observed that the pitch speed is too high, when the pitch bearing moment is at relatively high values. Embodiments of the present invention avoid this disadvantageous behaviour.

(9) The arrangement 100 schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 for determining a value of a pitch speed for a pitch actuator of at least one rotor blade of the wind turbine 150 comprises a processor 101 which is adapted to receive a quantity being indicative of a value of a bending moment of the rotor blade, wherein the quantity is labelled with reference sign 103. In the current embodiment, the quantity 103 is or represents an instant bearing moment of the rotor blade under consideration. The instant bearing moment may for example be determined based on measurement values of a strain sensor 105. And processing the signal from the strain sensor 105 installed at a blade 155 using a calculation module 107. The module 107 may also be considered as an input module which provides the instant bearing moment of the considered rotor blade.

(10) The processor 101 is further adapted to achieve a reference value 109 of a bearing moment of the considered rotor blade from a further input module 111. In the embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 1, the reference value of the bearing moment 109 equals the mean (or average) of bearing moments of all rotor blades of the wind turbine. For example, each rotor blade may comprise respective strain sensors which may provide measurement signals regarding strain of the respective rotor blade. From the strain values, respective input modules 107, 111 may calculate a bending moment of the respective rotor blade and from this the bearing moment. Furthermore, the input module 111 may perform an average of all bearing moments of all rotor blades to calculate the reference value 109 of the bearing moment.

(11) The processor is adapted to determine the value of the pitch speed (labelled with reference sign 113) based on the quantity 103 and the reference quantity 109 of the bearing moment. Thereby, the value of the pitch speed 113 is calculated such that, if the quantity 103 indicates that the value of the bending moment of the rotor blade is below the reference value 109 of the bending moment of the rotor blade, the value 113 of the pitch speed is determined to be above a reference value of the pitch speed.

(12) Therefore, the processor 101 comprises a subtraction element (for example implemented in software and/or hardware) 115 which determines the difference 117 between the quantity 103 and the reference quantity 109. The difference 117 is supplied to a logical element 119 which checks whether the difference 117 is larger than zero or not larger than zero. If the difference is larger than zero, the method switches into the branch 121 leading to a first computational module 123 which computes the pitch speed reduction of the considered rotor blade. For that, the calculation module 123 receives a parameter 125 related to a bending moment high limit, also denoted in the following as M_high. Further, the calculation module 123 receives a collective pitch speed 127 (from module 126) which may for example be a reference value of a pitch speed. The reference value 127 of the pitch speed may amount to a predetermined pitch speed, a normal pitch speed or for example a mean of pitch speeds of all rotor blades. The parameter 125 related to a bending moment high limit is provided by a block 128, for example a storage block. The collective pitch speed 127 or reference pitch speed 127 is provided by a module 126.

(13) Depending on the parameter 125 related to a bearing moment high limit, the reference value of the pitch speed 127 as well as the check of difference 121 in block 119, the calculation module 123 calculates the pitch speed for the considered rotor blade for the considered case, that the difference 117 is greater than zero.

(14) In the other case, if the difference 117 is not larger than zero, the method switches to a branch 129 leading to a second calculation block 131. The calculation block 131 computes the pitch speed increase for the considered rotor blade further based on a parameter 133 (also denoted M_low in the following) related to a bearing moment low limit as provided by the module 134. The parameter 133 may not have been utilized in conventional art methods. Based on the difference 117 as well as on the parameter 133 related to the bearing moment low limit, the calculation module 131 finally calculates the value of the pitch speed 113. Thereby, also the collective pitch speed or reference pitch speed 127 is considered.

(15) Problems of conventional methods for reducing pitch bearing damage include that high amount of pitch travel is scheduled at the mean out-of-plane moment but a mean out-of-plane moment that is lower than the instantaneous out-of-plane moment means that there must be out-of-plane moments that is lower than the mean. This means that there is a too high damage contribution than necessary due to the conventional catchup behaviour. The out-of-plane moment may be proportional to the bending moment or bearing moment.

(16) Embodiments of the present invention use the pitch bearing damage by performing the catchup below the mean out-of-plane moment instead of at the mean level. By performing the catchup proportional to the difference between the mean and the instantaneous out-of-plane moments, most of the pitch travel performs at the lowest bearing load, thereby reducing pitch bearing damage more than conventionally applied.

(17) When slowing down the pitch speed (by adding a pitch offset to the collective reference) it should be based on the out-of-plane moment. The increase in pitch speed to catch up should be based on the out-of-plane moment below the mean level, and until this point the individual pitch speed for the blade is kept at the lowest speed it has seen during (like a latch) or maintain the distance by freezing the pitch offset and then catch up proportional below the mean level. This proportionality can be given by a gain indicated in the FIG. 2 below.

(18) The FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic scheme of a method of determining a value of a pitch speed according to an embodiment of the present invention which may for example be performed by the arrangement 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

(19) In a module 201, the method 200 provides input signals, such as the momentary states of all wind turbines. A selection block 203 enables to select the type of the pitch damage attenuation (PDA). The block 205 provides output signals in the case none of a predetermined type of PDA is selected by the module 203. The output module 205 may for example output the states and pitch offsets of all wind turbines as zero.

(20) In case a type selection is enabled in module 203, in a method block 207 sensor status is checked. Furthermore, several control statuses are checked. In particular, the maximum pitch speed may be set and some other parameters may be set, for example read from storage elements. The module 207 receives input parameters from a block 208. The input parameters may for example relate to repetition scale, limit values or limits. The module 207 outputs in a block 211 an output signal, such as a PDA status.

(21) In a method block 210, the mean pitch bearing moment is calculated as a mean of the bearing moments of all three rotor blades. The mean bearing 209 is output as a reference value 210 of the bearing moment. Thereby, an input module 214 provides a quantity of a value of a bending moment of a considered rotor blade. In the illustrated embodiment, the input signals provided by the module 214 relate to the bearing moments of all rotor blades which are also provided to the calculation block 210 in order to calculate the mean 209 (or reference) of those bearing moments.

(22) The method block 215 receives the reference value 209 of the bearing moment as well as the value of the bearing moment 203 of a considered rotor blade calculates the difference 217 between those two input parameters. The difference may also be considered as a bearing fluctuation of a considered pitch bearing relative to the mean of the pitch bearings.

(23) A multi-rate low pass filter 219 receives from an activation function module 221 a PDA activation level and from module 220 input parameters regarding filtering and allows activation level to decrease fast and increase slow (i.e. deactivate fast, activate slow).

(24) The pitch bearing fluctuation 217 is provided or supplied to a calculation block 223 which calculates pitch rate limitation, the pitch rate limitation for each blade is calculated using the moment fluctuations, the filtered activation level and the maximum pitch rate limit. Therefore, the module 223 receives an input parameter M_high from a method block 225. Furthermore, from a method block 227, the pitch rate limitation calculation block 223 receives a parameter M_low, as will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

(25) Based on the difference 217 or the pitch bearing fluctuation 217 and the parameters M_high, M_low relating to bending moment limits or bearing moment limits, the pitch rate limitation calculation module 223 calculates the value 213 of the pitch speed of all rotor blades.

(26) A further method block 229 calculates the pitch offsets using the pitch rate limitation and the difference between the individual pitch position and the collective pitch reference considering max pitch offset form module 230. Thereby, the calculation module 229 receives further input parameters regarding maximal pitch offsets.

(27) An output block 231 outputs the pitch offsets for the different wind turbines. In the method scheme 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, the catchup of the pitch speed is performed proportional to the bearing moment below the mean moment. This proportionality is parameterized by the parameter M_low which is the moment below the mean moment where the catchup speed is maximal.

(28) The FIG. 1 illustrates the arrangement for determining the pitch speed also to illustrate the catchup of the pitch speed or the pitch angle towards the collective pitch position. Thereby, the pitch speed reduction is computed based on the moment fluctuation above mean. When that fluctuation reaches mean level, the pitch speed shall be identical to the collective pitch speed, keeping the offset constant. Then, when the bearing fluctuation goes below zero, the pitch speed increase is computed based on how low the bearing moment fluctuation goes below the mean level. Due to pitch speed increase it may be possible to catch up with the collective pitch angle.

(29) FIG. 3 illustrates in a coordinate system having as an abscissa 301 the time and as an ordinate 303 the blade bending moment or the blade bearing moment, a first curve 309 indicating the mean of the bending moment or bearing moment of all three blades as developing over time representing a reference bending or bearing moment. This curve 309 may dynamically be calculated. The upper curve 307 is calculated by adding to the mean curve 309 the parameter M_high, thus the parameter relating to the bearing moment high limit. The lower curve 305 is obtained by subtracting from the mean curve 309 the parameter M_low, i.e., the parameter related to the bearing moment low limit.

(30) Conventionally, pitch travel is limited above the upper line 307. As soon as the moment drops below the upper limit 307, the pitch angle can catch up in a conventional method. According to an embodiment of the present invention, catchup will not be allowed until the bending moment or the bearing moment is below the curve 305, i.e., below the mean bearing moment 309 diminished by the parameter M_low, i.e. the parameter as indicated in FIG. 2, for example, as well as in FIG. 1.

(31) FIG. 4 illustrates in a coordinate system having as an abscissa 401 the bearing moment or the bending moment M and having as an ordinate 403 the pitch speed v, the dependence of the pitch speed of the bearing moment or bending moment M depicted as a curve 413 representing the value of the pitch speed.

(32) It is noted that the signal 113 indicating the value of the pitch speed, the signal 103, indicating the quantity indicative of the bearing moment, the signal 109 indicating the quantity indicative of the reference bearing moment are labelled in the different figures with reference signs only differing in the first digit.

(33) Thus, the curve 413 illustrated in FIG. 4 may represent the value 113 of the pitch speed as output by the arrangement 100 or may represent the quantity 213 as output by the pitch rate limitation module 223 illustrated in FIG. 2.

(34) FIG. 4 represents one particular instance in time. The figure may change over time. The value 409 indicates a reference quantity indicative of a reference bearing moment. The reference beam is also referred to as M_ref. To the left of M_ref, the moment value M_refM_low is indicated and to the right of the reference moment, the quantity M_ref+M_high is indicated. On the ordinate, the reference speed v_ref as well as the maximal pitch speed v_max and the minimal pitch speed v_min are indicated.

(35) As can be appreciated from FIG. 4, the curve 413 representing the value of the pitch speed as calculated or determined according to embodiments of the present invention is a straight line defined for example by the points (M_refM_low, v_max) and the point (M_ref, v_ref) or the point (M_ref+M_high, v_min), for example. As can be seen from FIG. 4, at the M_refM_low, the pitch speed 413 is maximal, namely v_max. Also, for bending or bearing moments lower than the value M_refM_low, the speed may be kept at the maximal speed v_max. As can be seen from FIG. 4, when the bearing moment M is above the reference value M_ref, the pitch speed 413 is below the reference pitch speed v_ref which may also be identified as a collective pitch speed.

(36) At least for bearing moments above the reference moment M_ref, the curve 413 may apply both during decrease or increase of the respective bearing moment. Thus, for an increase of the bearing moment, the curve 403 would be traversed in the direction of arrow 414, while for a decrease of the bearing moment with time, the curve 413 would be traversed in the direction of arrow 416.

(37) Thus, for decreasing bearing moments according to direction 416, the pitch speed 413 would be increased subject to be below the reference pitch speed v_ref, if the bearing moment M is above the reference moment M_ref. Conversely in the case of an increase of the bending moment with time (following the direction 414 in FIG. 4), the pitch speed is determined to decrease over time such that the speed 413 is below the reference speed v_ref if the moment M is above the reference moment M_ref.

(38) In the case, the bearing moment M is detected to be below the reference moment M_ref, the pitch speed 413 is determined to be above the reference pitch speed v_ref.

(39) As can be seen from FIG. 4, the straight curve 413 has a negative slope.

(40) Curve 450 in FIG. 4 represents the pitch speed according to conventional art that exhibits high values for large bending moments causing bearing damage.

(41) According to embodiments of the present invention, a significant part of the catchup behaviour (to reduce the deviation between the actual pitch angle and a target pitch angle) may be moved from just above or at the mean level of the bearing moment to below the mean bearing moment. Since the damage is a relation of the pitch bearing moment, the pitch bearing damage may therefore significantly be lowered in embodiments of the present invention. That means, it is possible to stay within the bearing capacity thereby, bearing size can be reduced. Furthermore, risk of bearing failure may be reduced significantly in embodiments of the present invention. A bearing failure conventionally requires a lot of maintenance effort.

(42) Instead of using bearing moment values as input values 103, 109 in FIG. 1, alternatively or additionally rotor azimuths may be utilized. The bending moment or the bearing moment may be highest when the blade is pointing upwards and lowest when the blade is pointing downwards. The exact shape or dependency may depend on environmental conditions. Measurement of blade bending moments or blade bearing moments may be used to find the rotor azimuths with highest and lowest bending moment or bearing moment. The azimuthal angle with highest and lowest bearing moment or bending moment would need to be continuously updated to account for changes in environmental conditions. Once the azimuth angle depending bending moment or bearing moment is known (for example by a look-up table or a mathematical function) it is then possible to schedule pitch activity based on this similar manner, i.e., to set the pitch speed accordingly.

(43) Although the present invention has been disclosed in the form of 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.

(44) 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.