Patent Application
20120139256
The present invention relates generally to the field of wind turbines, and more particularly to an enclosure for the wind turbine power production components.
Modern wind turbine installations generally include a tower erected on a foundation at the site. The wind turbine blades are mounted to a rotor hub that, in turn, drives a shaft that is coupled via a gearbox to a generator. The gearbox, generator, shaft, and related equipment are contained within a nacelle that is supported atop the tower. The essential power production components, such as switch cabinets, power distribution panels, converter threads, main control cabinet, and the like, are typically placed in various arrangements on the foundation and the bottom section of the tower is erected around or placed over the power production components. This configuration and associated process have certain disadvantages.
For example, the process requires precise placement and arrangement of the components, typically by manual measurement and marking on the foundation, prior to placement of the tower section. A faulty measurement or placement can result in a time-consuming and costly relocation of the components. Servicing and maintenance of the power production components requires access and entry into the tower. The components are typically arranged in a three or four tiered assembly at the base of the tower, which must be climbed and navigated to access the various components. Space for performing service and maintenance procedures is quite limited. In addition, the component tiers must be climbed and navigated each and every time a technician must access the nacelle for any reason.
The tiered arrangement of power production components within the tower also produce significant heat that traverses up the tower to the nacelle in a chimney-like effect, which can result in an increased load on the component cooling equipment within the nacelle.
Accordingly, the industry would benefit from an improved method for housing the power production components at a wind turbine installation.
Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In accordance with aspects of the invention, a wind turbine installation is provided that includes a foundation and a wind turbine tower erected on the foundation. A self-contained external enclosure is located proximate to a base of the tower. The enclosure is pre-assembled and includes a plurality of power production components contained therein. The enclosure is also pre-assembled and pre-wired with the power production components independent of the tower and subsequently mated to the tower via disconnectable cables at the wind turbine site.
The power production components within the enclosure may include any combination of power distribution panel, transformer cabinet, main control cabinet, converter threads, or converter main control panel. In a particular embodiment, all of these power production components are contained within the enclosure.
The enclosure may be variously configured. In a particular embodiment, the enclosure is a multi-sided box-like structure and may be, for example, a refurbished shipping container that includes internal walls that define separate rooms within the container.
The enclosure may also be pre-assembled with air handling and conditioning components, such as dampers, fans, heat exchangers, and so forth. The enclosure may include an internal room that is dedicated to the air handling and conditioning components.
In another embodiment, the wind turbine installation may include a foundation pad, with the enclosure located on the foundation pad. The foundation pad may further include terminal connections to cables that run from the foundation pad to the tower. The power production components may be connectable to the terminal connections, for example via cables from the enclosure that connect to the terminals.
The present invention also encompasses various embodiments of the power production component enclosure separate from a wind turbine installation. The enclosure may, for example, be pre-assembled with the power production components at a remote location and delivered pre-assembled and pre-wired to the wind turbine site.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention include such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
The enclosure 26 desirably has a size and shape for conventional transport to the wind turbine site, for example via rail or truck. The enclosure 26 thus may have the dimensions that are required by a local jurisdiction for transport via these conventional methods. In a particularly unique embodiment, the enclosure 26 may be a standard shipping container having standard dimensions (which may vary from one local to another) wherein the shipping container has been refurbished to function as an enclosure 26 as described herein.
Referring to
Referring to
The rooms 60 may include a false floor (e.g., steel walking plates) with the various cables from the power production components located beneath the false floors.
Yet another one of the rooms 60 may be dedicated to air handling and conditioning equipment for maintaining a controlled environment within the enclosure 26. For example, as illustrated in
As particularly depicted in the perspective views of
It should also be readily appreciated that the present invention also includes a stand alone enclosure 26 that is self-contained and pre-assembled with the plurality of power production components 24 as discussed above. The enclosure 26 may be assembled, wired, and readied for transport at a remote site and then delivered to the wind turbine site either before or after erection of the tower 12. This also adds the benefit for reduced downtime as on-line enclosures can be swapped out with “backup” enclosures while repairs/maintenance are performed on the enclosures.
Aspects of the enclosure 26 are discussed above and are applicable to the stand alone enclosure.
While the present subject matter has been described in detail with respect to specific exemplary embodiments and methods thereof, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing, may readily produce alterations to, variations of, and equivalents to such embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is by way of example rather than by way of limitation, and the subject disclosure does not preclude inclusion of such modifications, variations and/or additions to the present subject matter as would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.
