EP-4332373-B1 - WIND POWER GENERATION DEVICE CONTROL SYSTEM AND BLADE WIND DETECTING DEVICE

Inventors

• NOHARA, OSAMU
• KOMORI, HIROFUMI

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20230824

Claims (3)

1. A wind power generation device control system (100a, 100b) comprising: a blade wind detecting device (400, 400a, 400b, 400c) for detecting at least one of a wind direction or a wind speed on at least one blade of a wind power generation device (200); and a blade control device (300a, 300b, 300c) for controlling at least one of (i) a pitch angle of the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) or (ii) a yaw angle of the wind power generation device (200), based on at least one of the wind direction or the wind speed detected by the blade wind detecting device (400, 400a, 400b, 400c), wherein the blade wind detecting device (400, 400a, 400b, 400c) includes: a plurality of stress sensors (410A to 410L) provided on the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) along a circumferential direction; and a transmitting unit (403) provided on the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c), the transmitting unit (403) being configured to wirelessly transmit a measurement of the plurality of stress sensors (410A to 410L) to the blade control device (300a, 300b, 300c) characterized in that the blade control device (300a, 300b, 300c) includes a pitch angle acquiring unit (306) for acquiring a pitch angle of the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c), and the blade wind detecting device (400, 400a, 400b, 400c) includes a wind direction detecting unit (4022) for determining a direction faced by at least one of the stress sensors (410A to 410L) based on the pitch angle at a time of measuring by the stress sensors (410A to 410L) and detecting a wind direction on the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) based on the determined direction and measurements by the respective stress sensors (410A to 410L).
2. The wind power generation device control system (100b) of claim 1, further comprising a nacelle wind direction detecting device (500) attached to a nacelle (220) of the wind power generation device (200), wherein the blade control device (300b) controls at least one of the pitch angle or the yaw angle based on a wind direction detected by the nacelle wind direction detecting device (500), until the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) reaches rated rotation, and wherein the blade control device (300b) controls at least one of the pitch angle or the yaw angle based on the wind direction detected by the blade wind detecting device (400, 400a, 400b, 400c), while the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) keeps the rated rotation.
3. The wind power generation device control system (100a, 100b) of claim 1, wherein, when Z denotes a distance from a root (232) of the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) to a tip (231) of the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c), the plurality of stress sensors (410A to 410L) is provided in an area originating from the root (232) of the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c) and spanning a distance of 0 to Z/8 toward the tip (231) of the at least one blade (230a, 230b, 230c).

Description

Some aspects of the present invention relate to a wind power generation device control system and a blade wind detecting device. Patent Literature 1 discloses a wind power generation device including a plurality of blades, a nacelle, and a tower. In the wind power generation device, a nacelle wind direction detecting device is provided on the nacelle to detect the wind direction. Based on the wind direction data detected by the nacelle wind direction detecting device, the wind power generation device controls the rotational angle (i.e., yaw angle) of the nacelle, which is mounted on the tower. This control is designed to enhance the power generated by the wind power generation device and to save the driving unit for driving the blades from being blown by a gust of wind. Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-118076 EP 3 163 274 A1 describes a wind turbine generator capable of monitoring strain on a blade by employing a semiconductor strain sensor provided on the inner wall of a blade on the windward side and a semiconductor strain sensor provided on the leeward side. Based on the detected strain value a wind pressure or wind speed can be calculated EP 4 001 638 A1 describes the estimation of a wind direction on a wind turbine based on the data of a tower deflection sensor which is applied to a machine learning model. US 2012/0211985 A1 describes the measurement of a wind-velocity-field for use in a wind turbine. A sensor signal measured at a predetermined position at each blade is constantly measuring a blade deflection. Based on respective signals from each blade a wind direction is calculated. Bottasso et al describe in "Local wind speed estimation, with application to wake impingement detection" in Renewable Energy, Pergamon Press, Oxford, Vol. 116, 21 Sept. 2017 a method for wind speed estimation based on blade load measurements. In the wind power generation device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the blades can rotate in response to wind blowing toward the wind power generation device. The nacelle wind direction detecting device on the nacelle detects the wind passing between the blades. In the wind power generation device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the nacelle wind direction detecting device is positioned behind the blades. This means that the blades are distanced from the nacelle wind direction detecting device. The wind direction to be detected by the nacelle wind direction detecting device on the nacelle may be different from the wind direction on the blades. The wind power generation device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 may not be capable of accurately determining the wind direction on the blades for controlling the rotational angle (yaw angle) of the nacelle mounted on the tower. Some aspects of the present invention are intended to overcome the above problem, and one object thereof is to provide a wind power generation device control system and a blade wind detecting device that are capable of accurately determining the state of the wind acting upon the wind power generation device for driving the wind power generation device. This is achieved by a wind power generation device control system in accordance with the features of claim 1. Further aspects of the present invention are the subject-matter of dependent claims. Some aspects of the present invention can accurately determine the state of the wind acting upon the wind power generation device for driving the wind power generation device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a wind power generation device control system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing the configuration of a nacelle included in a wind power generation device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the blades included in the wind power generation device according to the first embodiment of the preset invention.Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the line A-A in Fig. 3.Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a blade wind detecting device included in the wind power generation device control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a blade control device included in the wind power generation device control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 7 is a flow chart showing operations performed by the blade wind detecting device of the wind power generation device control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 8 shows an example of data measured by stress sensors 410A to 410L according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 9 shows an example of data generated by a control unit of the blade control device relating to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 10 is a fl