Patent Application
20090273187
The present relates to a wind turbine comprising a drive train with a wind rotor connected to a generator rotor through a gear box and having bearings for journalling rotating parts of the drive train, said generator being adapted to be connected to an electric power transmission network.
Accordingly, “wind turbine” is in this disclosure defined to include a wind rotor with turbine blades, gearbox, generator and associated equipment as well as equipment used for feeding electric power from the generator to said electric power transmission network or a transformer connected thereto.
The generator in said wind turbine may be of any known type, such as an asynchronous generator with stator windings adapted to be connected to said electric power transmission network and a rotor being connected through slip-rings and brushes to a frequency converter, an asynchronous generator having a squirrel cage wound rotor or a synchronous generator.
Low power conditions, which means low wind velocities and/or low wind rotor speed, occur for a wind turbine seasonally as well as daily, and such conditions means increased stress on parts of said drive train in known wind turbines. When such conditions prevail the wind turbines are kept at standstill, idling or low-speed operation, and this stresses the drive train components like gearboxes, bearings and brushes/slip-rings when present. One reason for this is that lubrication of different components is reduced during these conditions, since no safe film of lubricating oil/grease will be formed in the bearings. Furthermore, indentations may under such conditions damage the surfaces normally lubricated during normal power conditions and periodically overrun by bearing balls. Especially for offshore wind parks, this can be devastating, since the time and costs required to repair a gearbox and/or bearing will then be particularly high.
Efforts are made to develop cost-effective, more reliable drive trains for increasing the energy yield of wind turbines, which is highly dependent upon the availability times.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wind turbine for which said problems arising when low power conditions prevail have been substantially reduced, so that the need of repair of parts of the drive train will arise less frequently and by that the energy yield of the wind turbine will be increased.
This object is according to the invention obtained by providing a wind turbine, which further comprises a frequency converter connecting with one side to the generator and adapted to connect with the other side to said network, a control unit for controlling this converter and means adapted to sense the wind velocity in the region of the wind turbine and/or means adapted to sense the speed of the wind rotor, which wind turbine is characterized in that it further comprises means adapted to determine, on the basis of information from said sensing means, whether low power conditions, defined by a wind velocity and/or a wind rotor speed below a respective predetermined value, prevail, and that said control unit is adapted to control said frequency converter, upon determining that said low power conditions prevail, to feed electric power to said generator for motor operation thereof for raising the speed of the wind rotor above a predetermined level for lubricating parts of said drive train during said low power conditions.
By operating the generator of the wind turbine as a motor during said low power condition the turbine will no longer be kept at standstill or idling, tugging and disjointing, but it is ensured that the speed of the wind rotor is kept above a predetermined level for efficiently lubricating parts of bearings and the gearbox. This avoids damage of surfaces normally lubricated and periodical overrun by bearing balls. Thus, the period of times between a need of repair of components of the drive train arises may be substantially prolonged, which involves a considerable saving of costs, especially in labour and as a consequence of reduced losses during time periods of repair of the wind turbine. The costs of the electric energy needed for obtaining a sufficient speed of the wind rotor for obtaining suitable lubrication during such low power conditions are low in comparison with the savings made due to said lubrication obtained.
According to an embodiment of the invention said wind turbine has a generator in the form of a so-called Double-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) with two parallel branches connecting the generator to said electric power transmission network for feeding electric power to the network through both said branches, in which said frequency converter is arranged in one of the branches and adapted to under normal power conditions be controlled by said control unit to convert electric power delivered from the generator with a frequency of the generator to electric power having the frequency of said electric power network. A majority of the wind turbines manufactured, erected and commissioned in recent years have such Double-Fed Induction Generators making it possible to modify such known wind turbines by simple means for obtaining a wind turbine according to the invention with favourable operation at low power conditions.
According to another embodiment of the invention said generator is an asynchronous generator having stator windings adapted to be connected to said electric power transmission network and a rotor being connected to slip-rings and brushes to said frequency converter, the wind turbine further comprises means adapted to short-circuit the stator windings of the generator upon determination that said low power conditions prevail, and said control unit is adapted to control said frequency converter, upon determining that said low power conditions prevail, to feed electric power to the rotor of the generator through the connection of the brushes and slip-rings thereto for raising the speed of the wind rotor above a predetermined level for lubricating rotating parts of said drive train. This does not only mean a proper lubrication of components in the gearbox and bearings of the wind turbine at low power conditions, but the slip-rings of such a generator will also be lubricated by the arcs created through said electric power fed through the connection of the brushes and slip-rings reducing the wear of the slip-rings and the brushes.
According to another embodiment of the invention said control unit is adapted to control said frequency converter at said low power conditions to deliver a current through the brushes/slip-rings connection having an appearance favourable for lubrication of this connection. By appropriately controlling the frequency converter to deliver a current of a desired appearance the lubrication of the slip-rings may be further improved.
According to another embodiment of the invention the wind turbine comprises means adapted to operate the generator with a lower air-gap flux upon determination of said low power conditions for increasing the level of the current through the brushes/slip-rings connection for lubricating the slip-rings. Such an increased current level will improve the lubrication of the slip-rings and by that result in reduced wear thereof.
According to another embodiment of the invention said generator is an asynchronous generator with a squirrel cage wound rotor and stator windings adapted to be connected to said electric power network through said frequency converter, and said control unit is adapted to control said frequency converter, upon determination that said low power conditions prevail, to feed electric power to the stator windings of the generator for operating this as a motor.
According to a still further embodiment of the invention said determination means is adapted to determine that low power conditions prevail when said wind velocity and/or wind rotor speed sensed is below a value making it possible to generate a maximum power being below 5% or 2% of the rated power of the wind turbine. These are suitable definitions of low power conditions ensuring on one hand that the generator is operated as a motor under all conditions otherwise involving a risk of damage of components of the drive train due to poor lubrication and on the other that the generator is not operated as a motor when there is a possibility to operate it as a generator without any risk whatsoever of poor lubrication.
The invention also relates to a method for controlling a wind turbine at low power conditions according to the appended independent method claim. The advantages and advantageous features of such a method and the embodiments thereof defined in the appended dependent claims appear from the discussion above of the wind turbine according to the invention and embodiments thereof.
The invention also relates to a computer program as well as a computer readable medium according to the corresponding appended claims. The steps of the method according to the invention are well suited to be controlled by a processor provided with such a computer program.
The invention also comprises a use of a wind turbine according to the invention together with a plurality of such wind turbines in a wind power plant, such as including an at least partially offshore wind park as well as a use in an electric power transmission system comprising a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line. These uses are particularly advantageous uses of a wind turbine according to the invention, since repair of parts is in these uses of a wind turbine associated with considerable costs, not at least as a consequence of loss of energy yield due to time to repair.
Other advantages as well as advantageous features of the invention will appear from the following description.
With reference to the appended drawing, below follows a specific description of embodiments of the invention cited as examples.
In the drawing:
The rotor has slip-rings 10 connecting to brushes 11 for connection of the rotor winding to a frequency converter 12, which in its turn is through a second branch 23 connected to the transformer 9 and accordingly to said power transmission network.
It is shown how the drive train from the wind rotor 3 to the rotor 6 of the generator is surrounded by bearings 13-16 for journalling the corresponding rotating parts of the drive train, upon which considerable loads and torques may be applied, not at least as a consequence of the considerable weight of for instance the propeller. These bearings as well as the rotating parts inside the gearbox 4 are lubricated by oil or grease, such as by being partially or totally immersed in an oil bath.
The stator winding 8 may be Y- or A-connected to the transformer 9 depending upon the rotational speed of the rotor 6, in which the Y-connection is used at lower speeds and otherwise the A-connection. Accordingly, the current in the stator windings has the same frequency as in said electric power transmission network, which normally means 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Electric power may also be fed to the electric power transmission network through the rotor through the connection of the windings thereof through the slip-rings and brushes to the frequency converter 12, which converts the electric power arriving thereto and having a frequency corresponding to the rotational speed of the rotor into electric power of the same frequency as the power on the electric power transmission network. The procedure of controlling such a Double-Fed Induction Generator used in a wind turbine depending upon different conditions prevailing is well known in the art and will not be further explained here.
The problems associated with a risk of wear and damage of bearings and indentations of gears in the gearbox in such a wind turbine as a consequence of poor lubrication at low power conditions of low wind velocities and/or low wind rotor speed have been thoroughly discussed above.
By operating the generator 7 as a motor under such low power conditions stresses upon drive train components like a gearbox, the bearings and brushes/slip-rings in standstill, idling or low speed operation of the wind turbine may be avoided. Thus, it may for example be ensured that the wind rotor will always rotate with at least a half rotation per minute or any other suitable value for ensuring proper lubrication.
The control unit is furthermore adapted to control the frequency converter at said low power conditions to deliver a current through the brushes/slip-rings connection having an appearance favourable for lubrication of this connection. This means that the control unit may control the frequency converter to deliver exactly the current suitable for proper lubrications of the connection 30 by suitable electric arcs formed between the brushes and slip-rings for such lubrication. The generator may then be operated with a lowered air-gap flux upon determination of said low power conditions for increasing the level of the current through the brushes/slip-rings connection for lubricating the slip-rings.
The invention is of course not in any way restricted to the embodiments described above but many possibilities to modifications thereof would be apparent to a person with ordinary skill in the art without departing from the basic idea of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
The present application is a continuation of pending International patent application PCT/SE2006/001107 filed on Sep. 29, 2006 which designates the United States, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/SE2006/001107 | Sep 2006 | US |
| Child | 12413025 | US |
