WIND TURBINE ROTOR BLADE

Abstract

A wind turbine rotor blade is provided comprising a rotor blade root region, a rotor blade tip region, a pressure side, a suction side, a front edge, a rear edge and at least one web along a longitudinal direction of the rotor blade. Furthermore, a deflecting unit is provided comprising at least two deflecting bends between one end of the at least one web and the rotor blade tip region.

Claims

1. A wind turbine rotor blade, comprising: a rotor blade root region, a rotor blade tip region, a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge, an air guide for guiding heated air, wherein the air guide includes at least one flow obstacle, and a deflecting unit at a region of the at least one flow obstacle, wherein the deflecting unit comprises at least two deflecting bends arranged offset with respect to one another.

2. The wind turbine rotor blade according to claim 1, wherein: the air guide comprises at least one web arranged between the pressure side and the suction side and which extends along a longitudinal direction of the rotor blade, the deflecting unit is provided between one end of the at least one web and the rotor blade tip region and is configured to deflect air flowing from the rotor blade root region along the at least one web.

3. The wind turbine rotor blade according to claim 1, wherein the air guide has a branch and the deflecting unit is located at the branch.

4. A wind turbine, comprising: at least one wind turbine rotor blade according to claim 1, and at least one rotor blade heater for providing heated air to the at least one wind turbine rotor blade.

5. A wind turbine rotor blade, comprising: a blade body having: a rotor blade root region, a rotor blade tip region, a pressure side, a suction side, a leading edge, a trailing edge, an air guide for guiding heated air inside the blade body, and a plurality of deflectors arranged offset with respect to one another in the air guide.

6. The wind turbine rotor blade according to claim 5, wherein the air guide comprises a web arranged between the pressure side and the suction side and extends along a longitudinal direction of the rotor blade.

7. The wind turbine rotor blade according to claim 6, wherein plurality of deflectors are located between an end of the web and the rotor blade tip region.

8. The wind turbine rotor blade according to claim 7, wherein plurality of deflectors includes two curved deflectors spaced apart from each other.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Advantages and exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in detail hereinafter with reference to the drawings.

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wind turbine according to the invention,

[0023] FIG. 2 shows a schematic and sectional view of a rotor blade of the wind turbine from FIG. 1,

[0024] FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a section of a rotor blade according to an embodiment of the invention,

[0025] FIG. 4 shows a graph to illustrate the dependence of the pressure loss of the deflecting unit on the volume flow,

[0026] FIG. 5A shows a schematic illustration of a pressure loss in a deflecting unit in the prior art, and

[0027] FIG. 5B shows a rotor blade according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wind turbine according to the invention. The wind turbine 100 comprises a tower 102 and a nacelle 104 on the tower 102. An aerodynamic rotor 106 with three rotor blades 200 and a spinner 110 is provided on the nacelle 104. During operation of the wind turbine the aerodynamic rotor 106 is set in a rotary motion by the wind and therefore also rotates a rotor or armature of a generator which is coupled directly or indirectly to the aerodynamic rotor 106. The electric generator is arranged in the nacelle 104 and generates electrical energy. The pitch angle of the rotor blades 200 can be changed by pitch motors on the rotor blade roots of the receptive rotor blades 200.

[0029] FIG. 2 shows a schematic and sectional view of a rotor blade of the wind turbine from FIG. 1. The rotor blade 200 comprises a rotor blade root region 200a, a rotor blade tip region 200b, a rotor blade tip 240, a leading edge 201, a trailing edge 202, a pressure side 200c and a suction side 200d. An air guide is provided inside the rotor blade 200 which comprises at least one flow obstacle. A rotor blade heating system 300 can be provided in the region of the rotor blade root region 200. The rotor blade heating system 300 comprises at least one air filter and generates warm air which is guided inside the rotor blade.

[0030] At least one web 210 extends inside the rotor blade along a longitudinal direction L of the rotor blade 200 which web is part of the air guide or which is already present for other reasons and the air guidance is merely a secondary function. For example, two webs 211, 212 can be provided which can be configured to run initially parallel and optionally towards one another in the region of the rotor blade tip 240. In this case, the length of the first web 211 can be less than the length of the second web 212. The rotor blade tip 240 can optionally be configured as a separate part and be fastened to the remainder of the rotor blade 200.

[0031] Air heated by the rotor blade heating system can be guided along the webs—as part of the air guide—in the direction of the rotor blade tip 240 and then deflected. Optionally, the rotor blade tip 240 can be at least partially configured to be hollow so that a part of the heated air can flow through the rotor blade tip 240 in order to de-ice the rotor blade tip 240.

[0032] According to one aspect, the heated air can be produced by means of the rotor blade heating system 300 either in the rotor blade root region in which air is heated by means of a heating unit 300 or the heated air is supplied to the rotor blade 200 in the rotor blade root region 200a.

[0033] According to one aspect, the air guide can have a branch in order, for example, to be able to supply different sections within the rotor blade with heated air. A deflecting unit 250 comprising at least two deflecting bends is provided in the region of the branch so that heated air which is to be branched off by means of the branch also flows through the deflecting unit and is thus deflected.

[0034] FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a section of the rotor blade according to an embodiment of the invention. The rotor blade 200 has two webs 211, 212 which can run, as shown in FIG. 2 for example. A deflector or deflecting unit 250 is provided at the first web 211 or alternatively on the second web 212. The deflecting unit 250 should serve to deflect heated air which flows between a leading edge and the first web 211, between the first and second web 211, 212 or between the second web 212 and the trailing edge from the rotor blade root in the direction of the rotor blade tip. The heated air can be produced by the rotor blade heating system 300 in the region of the rotor blade root.

[0035] Whereas in the prior art only one deflecting bend is provided, the deflecting unit 250 has at least two deflecting bends 251, 252. Here the first deflecting bend 251 can have a larger radius than the second deflecting bend 252. A free space is provided between an end 211a of the first web 211 and the second deflecting bend 252 so that warm air can be deflected by the second deflecting bend 252. The first deflecting bend 251 which has a larger radius than the second deflecting bend 252 is provided at a distance from the second deflecting bend 252. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the first deflecting bend 251 has a first end 251a, an arc section 251b and a second end 251c. The first end 251a projects into a region between the leading edge 201 and the first web 211. The second end 251 projects into the region between the first and second web 211, 212. Optionally the first end 251a of the first deflecting bend 251 can have an extension so that the first end 251a of the first deflecting bend 251 at least partially adjoins a wall of the leading edge 201. The second deflecting bend 252 has a first and second end 252a, 252c and an arc section 252b in between.

[0036] FIG. 4 shows a graph to illustrate the dependence of the pressure loss of the deflecting unit on the volume flow. In FIG. 4, the pressure loss A is plotted as a function of the volume flow for the deflecting unit 250 with the first and second deflecting bends. Furthermore, the pressure loss B is plotted for a deflecting unit with only one deflecting bend. It therefore follows from FIG. 4 that the pressure loss caused by the deflecting unit according to the invention can be reduced appreciably compared to the prior art.

[0037] FIGS. 5A and 5B show a schematic illustration of a pressure loss in a deflecting unit in a rotor blade according to the prior art and according to an embodiment of the invention, respectively. FIG. 5A shows a section of a rotor blade 200 with a deflecting unit 249 having a single deflecting bend. FIG. 5B shows a section of the rotor blade 200 with a deflecting unit 250 according to an embodiment of the invention which comprises a first and second deflecting bends 251, 252. As can be seen from FIG. 5A, heated air 10 flows along the first web 211 and impinges upon the deflecting unit 249 where it is deflected into a region between the first and second web 211, 212. Here however, a dead air region 11 is formed at the end of the web 211.

[0038] As can be seen in FIG. 5B, the deflecting unit according to an embodiment of the invention with the at least two deflecting bends 251, 252 brings about a considerable reduction of the dead air region 11. This leads to the reduction of the pressure loss by the deflecting unit shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the heating of the rotor blade according to the invention can be improved appreciably.

[0039] The various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. 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. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.