Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03D—WIND MOTORS
  • F03D13/00—Assembly, mounting or commissioning of wind motors; Arrangements specially adapted for transporting wind motor components
  • F03D13/20—Arrangements for mounting or supporting wind motors; Masts or towers for wind motors
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03D—WIND MOTORS
  • F03D80/00—Details, components or accessories not provided for in groups F03D1/00 - F03D17/00
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F05—INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUS SUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04
  • F05B—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO WIND, SPRING, WEIGHT, INERTIA OR LIKE MOTORS, TO MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS COVERED BY SUBCLASSES F03B, F03D AND F03G
  • F05B2240/00—Components
  • F05B2240/10—Stators
  • F05B2240/14—Casings, housings, nacelles, gondels or the like, protecting or supporting assemblies there within
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02B—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS
  • Y02B10/00—Integration of renewable energy sources in buildings
  • Y02B10/30—Wind power
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/70—Wind energy
  • Y02E10/72—Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/70—Wind energy
  • Y02E10/728—Onshore wind turbines

Definitions

• the present invention relates to wind driven power plants for generating electricity and, more particularly, to an improved power plant construction wherein maintenance and repair is greatly facilitated.
• Conventional, horizontally mounted wind driven power plants basically comprise a bladed turbine and a generator which are journalled at opposite ends of a common horizontal shaft, with a gearbox also being arranged on this shaft for gearing up the rotational speed of the turbine shaft to a suitable higher r.p.m. for the generator
• the generator, the gearbox and the turbine (with the exception of the blades) are all disposed inside of a common housing or so-called "gondola".
• the gondola is, in turn, mounted on the upper end of a support tower and through the provision of a slewing bearing assemble is enabled to rotate about the tower to provide the appropriate orientation relative to the wind direction.
• a wind driven power plant which cvercomes the disadvantages of the prior art discussed above and which, in particular, enables the housing or gondola with an associated turbinegenerator set to be lowered to ground level as required to carry out maintenance and/or repair work.
• the power plant of the invention dispenses with the gearbox between the turbine and the generator and provides for mounting of the turbine and generator on the same side of the mounting tower.
• the gondola is provided with openings therein in the roof and flooring which are of a shape and dimension substantially corresponding to the shape and dimension of the outside of the tower, thereby enabling the gondola to slide or otherwise move down the tower to the ground level.
• the power plant includes a number of further features of importance.
• the generator is a multi-pole "bulb" generator of relatively short length and large diameter which enables placing of the generator on the same side of the tower as the turbine.
• the turbine itself is mounted on a stub shaft which projects outwardly from a mount provided by the gondola construction, rather than on a conventional shaft extending through the gondola.
• This permits the provision of the openings in the gondola referred to above by which the gondola may be lowered down the tower.
• Raising and lowering of the gondola is preferably effected by means of hydraulic climbing jacks which are operated from the ground through hydraulic hoses or through electrical or electronic means.
• Removable covers or hatches are provided for the openings for use under normal operating conditions in order to keep dirt and the like out of the system.
• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the wind driven power plant of the invention.
• FIG 2 is a side elevation, partially in section, of second, similar embodiment.
• the basic components of the power plant of the invention are the tower 10 and housing or gondola 12.
• the gondola 12 is mounted on the tower 10 by means of a mounting jacket or sleeve 14 which is adapted to slide along the outer surface of the tower 10.
• hydraulic climbing jacks 16 are arranged between the tower 10 and the jacket or sleeve 14 which enable movement of jacket 14 up and down tower 10 and which permit jacket 14 to be locked into position on tower 10.
• a plurality of the climbing jacks 16 are arranged circum ferentially around the periphery of jacket 14 and suitable guides 18 are also provided as part of the climbing jack assembly to guide the sliding movement of jacket 14 along tower 10.
• Climbing jacks 16 can be operated from hydraulic oil hoses (not shown) which lead from jacks 16 to the ground although jacks 16 can also be operated by electrical or electronic signals from the ground.
• an important feature of the wind power plant of the invention is the provision of an arrangement wherein the gondola can be lowered to the ground for maintenance and repair work.
• a removable hatch 20 is provided for an opening 22 in the roof 24 of the gondola housing and a removable floor panel 26 (see Figure 2) is provided for an opening 28 in the top portion 30a of a bottom floor 30 of gondola 12.
• the dimension and shape of the openings 24 and 28 are such that the tower 10 can pass therethrough.
• FIG. 1 A second opening 32 provided in the bottom portion 30b of the floor 30 within gondola 12, the point being that a continuous "opening" is provided through gondola 12 in alignment with tower 1C so that the gondola 12 can be lowered down tower 10 under the control of climbing jacks 16.
• covers or hatches 20 and 26 prevent dirt and the like from entering gondola 12 under normal operating conditions.
• An annular slewing bearing assembly 34 (seen best in Figure 2) is disposed between gondola 12 and jacket or sleeve 14 and serves to permit rotation of gondola 12.
• the torque for rotating gondola 12 is supplied by a motor 36 which is fixedly supported by floor 30 of gondola 12 and is geared to bearing 34 through a gear which is indicated at 38 (see Figure 1) and which engages the fixed outer ring gear 34a of bearing 34, thereby providing for rotation of gondola 12 relative to jacket or sleeve 14 in the desired direction relative to the wind.
• the diameter of bearing assembly 34 is, of course, such that tower 10 can pass through the center of bearing assembly 34.
• a mounting base 42 which supports the stator windings 44 of a generator generally denoted 46.
• Generator 46 also includes a rotor winding 48 mounted on a rotor 50 and nested within stator windings 44.
• the generator 46 advantageously comprises a so-called "bulb" generator of short length and large diameter and including multiple poles, e.g., 108 pole pairs at a turbine speed of 28 r.p.m.
• Current is tapped off from the generator 46 in a conventional manner and supplied to the ground level through an electrical connector 45 which extends centrally along the tower 10 thereof.
• a plug, indicated at 45a and best seen in Figure 2 is disconnected when gondola 12 is lowered down tower 10.
• the power plant of the invention also includes a turbine 52 with associated blades 54 mounted thereon.
• Turbine 52 includes a stub shaft 56 projecting outwardly of gondola mounting base 42.
• the rotor 50 of generator 46 is connected to the turbine shaft 55 through an elastic coupling or slip coupling, indicated at 58, which is adapted for taking up wind shocks from the turbine 52, thereby isolating generator 46 from these shocks.
• a disk brake, indicated at 60, and including a disk 62 on turbine shaft 56, provides braking of turbine 52.
• the front portion 64 of the gondola serves to house a hub 66 for blades 54 which is counled ⁇ o shaft 56.
• Corresponding pitch varying devices, individual to blades 54 and generally denoted 68, are also housed here, as shown in Figure 1.
• Devices 68 are of conventional construction and include drive gears 68a, which engage ring gears 70 mounted on blades 54 and which are rotated in response to electrical signals derived from a rotating contact arrangement 72 mounted on the end of turbine shaft 56, thereby controlling the pitch of blades 54 in accordance with the strength of the wind. It will be understood that apart from certain exceptions noted above the turbine and generator are largely conventional in nature and operate in a conventional manner to produce electricity in response to the rotation of the turbine blades by the wind.
• covers 20 and 26 are removed and plug 45a is disconnected, and climbing jacks 16 are used to lower the entire gondola 12 with the associated turbine-generator set dcwn tower 10 to ground level. As discussed above, this eliminates the need for the scaffolding used with conventional wind driven power plants.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Sustainable Development (AREA)
• Sustainable Energy (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Wind Motors (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Country Status (2)

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• 1982
  • 1982-06-15 EP EP82901929A patent/EP0081545A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1982-06-15 WO PCT/SE1982/000212 patent/WO1982004466A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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