Wind turbine controller
First Claim
1. A wind turbine comprising:
- a rotor with at least one blade;
an alternator with a rotating portion attached to said rotor for rotation therewith and an armature that generates alternating current electricity when said rotating portion turns, wherein said armature has an internal inductance;
a rectifier for converting said AC electricity from said armature into a DC voltage; and
a power circuit operatively coupled to said rectifier for selectively shorting the AC voltage from said armature so as to store electrical energy within said internal inductance of said armature.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wind turbine with a permanent magnet alternator that uses a boost mode controller to improve performance at low and high wind speeds. The boost mode controller also allows the permanent magnet alternator to be slowed so that the wind turbine can be stall controlled. A rectifier bridge circuit includes a power electronic switching device on each phase to selectively short the voltage on that phase. The duty cycle of the switching devices is controlled to give the desired wind turbine performance. The switching frequency of the power electronic switches is continuously modulated at low wind speeds in order to minimize tonal acoustic emissions.
The controller simplifies the design of the wind turbine by accomplishing the necessary control functions without adding additional complexity to the wind turbine. This improves the cost-effectiveness of the wind turbine. The improvement in cost-effectiveness allows the wind turbine to be economically utilized at a location with a lower wind speed than previous wind turbine designs allowed.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A wind turbine comprising:
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a rotor with at least one blade;
an alternator with a rotating portion attached to said rotor for rotation therewith and an armature that generates alternating current electricity when said rotating portion turns, wherein said armature has an internal inductance;
a rectifier for converting said AC electricity from said armature into a DC voltage; and
a power circuit operatively coupled to said rectifier for selectively shorting the AC voltage from said armature so as to store electrical energy within said internal inductance of said armature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A wind turbine comprising:
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a blade;
a permanent magnet alternator operatively connected to said blade wherein said alternator generates electricity when said blade rotates;
a controller for operating said alternator at variable speed and for controlling the power output from said wind turbine by aerodynamic stall. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An electrical generation system comprising:
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an alternator with a plurality of windings;
a power electronic controller for said alternator comprising a plurality of switching devices electrically connected to said windings for selectively shorting said windings wherein said switching devices are operated at a switching frequency;
wherein said switching frequency is modulated in order to minimize tonal acoustic noise emission. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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Specification