Wind turbine generator, active damping method thereof, and windmill tower

• US 8,115,331 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Inventors: Wakasa, Tsuyoshi, Ide, Kazunari, Hayashi, Yoshiyuki, Shibata, Masaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuevas, Pedro J
• Application Number:
  US13/045,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20110156393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 340 Days
• Field of Search: 290/44, 290/55
• US Class Current: 290/44
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 7/0224 Adjusting blade pitch
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 7/0296 to prevent, counteract or reduce noise emissions
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 7/043 characterised by the type of control logic
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 9/25 the apparatus being an electrical generator F03D9/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/71 as a function of flow velocity
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/74 by turning around an axis perpendicular the rotor centre line
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/821 Parameter estimation or prediction
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/96 Preventing, counteracting or reducing vibration or noise
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2270/1021 by keeping it below damagingly high values
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2270/309 Rate of change of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2270/334 Vibration measurements
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2270/404 active, predictive, or anticipative
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2270/807 Accelerometers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/30 Wind power
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/72 Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction

Abstract

A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command δθ* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command θ* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command δθ* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command θ* for output control using a subtracter. The pitch angle of the windmill blades is controlled on the basis of the resulting blade-pitch-angle command after combining.

Claims

1. A wind turbine generator, comprising:

a nacelle;

a rotor;

blades;

a tower supporting the nacelle;

a pitch-angle control mechanism for controlling a pitch angle of the blades on the basis of a blade-pitch-angle command;

an accelerometer for detecting the acceleration due to vibrations;

a damping unit for calculating a pitch angle of the blades so as to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the acceleration detected with the accelerometer and for outputting a blade-pitch-angle command for damping;

a pitch-angle control unit for

calculating a pitch angle of the blades for controlling the output of the wind turbine generator to be a predetermined value on the basis of wind speed, the rotational speed of the rotor, or the output of the wind turbine generator, and

outputting a blade-pitch-angle command for output control; and

an adder for supplying the pitch-angle control mechanism with a blade-pitch-angle command obtained by combining the blade-pitch-angle command for damping with the blade-pitch-angle command for output control;

wherein the damping unit includes a phase compensator for applying a phase compensation by a predetermined amount.

2. The wind turbine generator according to claim 1, wherein the damping unit further includes

a speed estimation unit for estimating a speed from the acceleration detected with the accelerometer, and

a control unit for calculating the pitch angle to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the speed outputted from the speed estimation unit.

3. The wind turbine generator according to claim 2, wherein the speed estimation unit includes an integrator for integrating the acceleration detected with the accelerometer to calculate the speed.

4. The wind turbine generator according to claim 2, wherein

the control unit comprises the phase compensator which includes a phase-lead compensator for advancing the phase of the speed outputted from the speed estimation unit by a predetermined amount, and

the control unit is configured for calculating the pitch angle to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the speed obtained after the phase-lead compensation.

5. The wind turbine generator according to claim 4, wherein

the phase compensator further includes a phase-lag compensator for delaying the phase of the speed outputted from the phase-lead compensator by a predetermined amount, and

the control unit is configured for calculating the pitch angle to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the speed obtained after the phase-lag compensation.

6. The wind turbine generator according to claim 2, wherein the control unit includes any one of a proportional controller, a proportional-integral controller, a proportional-integral-derivative controller, a linear-quadratic regulator, and a linear-quadratic Gaussian regulator to which the speed estimated by the speed estimation unit is inputted to calculate the pitch angle to cancel out the vibrations.

7. The wind turbine generator according to claim 1, wherein the damping unit further includes a limiter for limiting the pitch angle of the blades or the angular speed of the pitch angle of the blades to a predetermined range.

8. A damping method of a wind turbine generator including

a nacelle,

a rotor,

blades,

a tower supporting the nacelle,

a pitch-angle control mechanism for controlling a pitch angle of the blades on the basis of a blade-pitch-angle command, and

an accelerometer for detecting the acceleration due to vibrations,

the damping method comprising:

a damping step that calculates a pitch angle of the blades so as to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the acceleration detected with the accelerometer, and that outputs a blade-pitch-angle command for damping;

a pitch-angle control step that calculates a pitch angle of the blades to control the output of the wind turbine generator to be a predetermined value on the basis of wind speed, the rotational speed of the rotor, or the output of the wind turbine generator, and that outputs a blade-pitch-angle command for output control; and

an addition step that supplies the pitch-angle control mechanism with a blade-pitch-angle command obtained by combining the blade-pitch-angle command for damping in the damping step with the blade-pitch-angle command for output control in the pitch-angle control step;

wherein the damping step includes a phase compensation step that applies a phase compensation by a predetermined amount.

9. The damping method according to claim 8, wherein the damping step further includes

a speed estimation step that estimates a speed from the acceleration detected with the accelerometer, and

a control step that calculates the pitch angle to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the speed estimated in the speed estimation step.

10. The damping method according to claim 9, wherein the speed estimation step integrates the acceleration detected with the accelerometer to calculate the speed.

11. The damping method according to claim 9, wherein

the control step comprises the phase compensation step which includes a phase-lead compensation step that advances the phase of the speed estimated by the speed estimation step by a predetermined amount, and

the control step calculates the pitch angle to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the speed obtained after the phase-lead compensation.

12. A wind turbine generator, comprising:

a nacelle;

a rotor;

blades;

a tower supporting the nacelle;

a pitch-angle control mechanism for controlling a pitch angle of the blades on the basis of a blade-pitch-angle command;

an accelerometer for detecting the acceleration due to vibrations;

a damping unit for calculating a pitch angle of the blades so as to cancel out the vibrations on the basis of the acceleration detected with the accelerometer and for outputting a blade-pitch-angle command to the pitch-angle control mechanism.