1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rotor system for a fluid-flow turbine comprising a hub mounted on a shaft, and a plurality of rotor blades.
2. Prior Art
In a typical horizontal-axis wind turbine, a nacelle is mounted on a tall vertical tower. The nacelle houses power-transmitting mechanisms, electrical equipment and supports a rotor system at one end. Rotor systems for horizontal-axis wind turbines ordinarily include one or more blades attached to a rotor hub on a shaft. Wind flow turns the rotor, which turns the shaft in the nacelle. The shaft turns gears that transmit torque to electric generators. The nacelle typically pivots about the vertical tower to take advantage of wind flowing from any direction. The pivoting about this vertical-axis in response to changes in wind direction is known as yaw or yaw response and the vertical-axis is referred to as the yaw-axis. As wind moves past the blades with enough speed the rotor system rotates and the wind turbine converts the wind energy into electrical energy through the generators. Electrical outputs of the generators are connected to a power grid.
Conventional rotor systems tend to move in response to changes in wind direction during operation by hunting for a proper yaw position relative to a new wind direction, rather than tracking such changes in a stable manner. Wind direction changes or wind gusts pivot the rotor system of typical wind turbines away from a proper yaw position and the system then hunts for a proper position relative to the mean wind direction when the transient wind dissipates. Unstable hunting motions result in undesirable vibration and stress on the rotor system. Blade and rotor hub fatigue and ultimate failure of the blade and rotor hub where the blade and rotor hub meet is directly related to the number of hunting motions and the speed at which they occur. Rapid changes in yaw dramatically increase the forces acting against the rotational inertia of the entire rotor system, magnifying the bending moments at the blade root where it meets and is attached to the rotor hub. Vibration and stress cause fatigue in the rotor hub and blade root thereby decreasing the useful life of the equipment and reducing dependability.
A hemispherical shape, that is, having a shape approximating that of half of a sphere bounded by a great circle, is the ideal geometry for a highly loaded component such as the hub of a wind or water turbine. For this reason, hemispherical hubs are in common use. However the hemispherical shape is compromised by the penetration of equally spaced holes to accommodate each of several blade roots. Since these holes remove some of the structural strength of the hub, the remaining material of the hub becomes more highly stressed. The hub size, weight, and cost are determined by the ratio of the blade holes to the hemispherical diameter. The blade bending moments deflect the hemispherical shape, concentrating stress in the material remaining between the blade holes.
As wind turbine rotor size increases in the multi-megawatt size range, blade length imposes structural requirements on the blade root end which adds weight which in turn imposes even greater structural requirements, which in the end limits blade up-scaling possibilities.
It is therefore desirable to limit blade length to materials and designs which provide sound structural margins but increase rotor diameter, to provide a greater rotor swept area resulting in greater wind energy capture.
It is also desirable to provide a rotor hub geometry that has a sound structure while increasing the rotor swept area.
In accordance with the principles of this invention a rotor system for a fluid-flow turbine comprises a hub mounted on a shaft, and a plurality of rotor blades, and is characterized by a tension wheel, the tension wheel comprising a rim structure mounted to the hub by a plurality of spokes, the rotor blades being attached to the rim structure of the tension wheel.
In a preferred embodiment the rotor blades are mounted to the hub and comprise an inner section between the hub and the rim structure and an outer section outside the rim structure. Preferably, not only the outer section comprises blades, but also the inner section comprises airfoils, such as blades or sails, to harness the wind energy in the area circumscribed by the rim structure. In a preferred embodiment also the spokes comprises airfoils, such as blades or sails, to harness the wind energy further.
The invention has the advantage of limiting blade length to materials and designs which provide sound structural margins but increase the rotor swept area (rotor diameter) by replacing a conventional hub design with a tension wheel hub arrangement with blades attached to the rim of the tension wheel.
While the increase in swept area is accomplished with blades of a length, which meets suitable structural requirements, it does so at the cost of not harnessing the wind energy in the area of the rotor circumscribed by the tension wheel hub. The lost energy can, however be captured by applying airfoils, such as blades or sails, to the spokes of the tension wheel or by blades comprising an outer blade section attached to the rim of the tension wheel and an inner blade section between the rim and the hub.
Refer to
The nacelle 2 houses power-transmitting mechanisms, electrical equipment and a shaft that supports the rotor. The rotor system shown in
The rotor diameter may be controlled to fully extend the rotor at low flow velocity and to retract the rotor as flow velocity increases such that the loads delivered by or exerted upon the rotor do not exceed set limits. The turbine is held by the tower structure in the path of the wind current such that the turbine is held in place horizontally in alignment with the wind current. The electric generator is driven by the turbine to produce electricity and is connected to power carrying cables inter-connecting to other units and/or to a power grid.
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It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the main blades 108 may be extended partially or fully into the area circumscribed by the tension wheel rim 3 to capture lost wind energy in the area circumscribed by the tension wheel rim. If main blades 108 are extended fully into the area circumscribed by the tension wheel rim they may be attached to an appropriately sized hub 8 in a conventional manner. If necessary, the main blades 108 may be tapered in this area in order to accommodate the spokes 7. The blades or sails may also be employed on the spokes 7 to fill in the remaining areas left vacant by the extended main blades.
In the hybrid designs described, the stress on the hub 8 will be much less than in a conventional rotor, enabling the use of much longer blades 108. This is because the tension wheel structure design in accordance with the present invention relieves stress on the hub 8. It will also be understood that in the situation wherein the blades 108 are extended into the area circumscribed by the tension wheel rim, pitch control for the main blades 108 and the spoke-mounted blades/sails can be retained at the hub 8 as is conventional.
Refer to
The outer sections 5 of the blades 108 includes the airfoil outside the tension wheel rim structure 3. Both the inner blade section 4 and the outer blade section 5 are airfoils mounted on a common structural spar or beam 10 that extents from the hub 8 to near the blade tip. The tension ring provides structural support for the blades for thrust loads (wind from the front), lead-lag loads (gravity effect on the blades) and negative thrust loads (the rare event where rapid wind shift impinges on the rotor from behind).
The blades 108 shown in
The spokes 7 extending from different axial positions of the hub 8 to the tension wheel rim structure 3 serve to:
The hub or spindle 8 supports the rotor and transmits the torque of the rotor to the drive train and generating system.
The spokes 7 comprise aft spokes 11 and forward spokes 12 (see
As already mentioned, the blades 108 are supported by an outer blade mount 9 and an inner blade mount 13. The outer blade mount 9 is a hinging mechanism that attaches the blade to the rim structure 3 and provides:
Inner blade mounts 13 support the blade 108 in bending and axial loads, and combines with the blade shafts 10 and outer blade mount 9 and spokes 7 to support the mass of the rotor. A blade pitch drive 14 is mounted on the spindle (or hub 8) and serves to rotate the blades in pitch, as driven by the blade pitch motor 15.
In
The invention has been shown and described with reference to a wind turbine mounted atop a land-based tower, those skilled in the art will realize that the invention is also applicable to underwater turbines wherein the turbine is tethered underwater and the blades are turned by the force of water current.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB2006/000605 | 3/14/2006 | WO | 00 | 8/30/2007 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60662160 | Mar 2005 | US |