Innovation for Reducing Vibrations in Wind Turbines

Yawing suppressing apparatus for floating offshore wind turbines that prevents oscillation of the nacelle and floating body caused by gyroscopic effects when waves rock the turbine. The apparatus includes dampers to suppress the natural yawing motion by creating resistance against turning. This prevents gyroscopic forces from causing excessive yawing and oscillation that can reduce power generation efficiency and strain components. The dampers can be hydrodynamic fins or hydraulic/friction devices attached to the tower, along with positioning the nacelle asymmetrically and giving the rotor a coning angle to enhance weathercocking effects. This allows free rotation but controlled suppression of rapid yawing.

Rotor blade for wind turbines with reduced noise generation from the trailing edge. The blade has serrations along part of the trailing edge, with the spaces between the teeth filled with a porous material like foam or fibers. This reduces noise compared to a smooth trailing edge by modifying the airflow and preventing turbulence. The porous material in the serrations acts as a buffer to dampen the turbulent flow that causes noise.

A serrated trailing edge panel for wind turbine blades that reduces noise during operation. The serrated panel attaches to the trailing edge of a wind turbine blade to form serrations. It has a base part that attaches to the blade, and serrations extending from the base. The serrated panel is designed to optimize noise reduction by having a corrugated exterior surface between the serrations that aligns with the serration bases, as well as rounded connecting surfaces between the serrations.

Method for damping edgewise vibrations in rotor blades of wind turbines by measuring blade motion parameters and pitching the blades to counteract vibrations. The method involves individually measuring the edgewise vibration velocity of each blade using sensors on the blades. If the vibration exceeds a threshold, a pitch control signal is generated to pitch the blade in a manner proportional to the vibration velocity. This emulates a viscous damper to counteract the vibration. The blade pitch offset is in addition to normal pitch control.

Wind turbine enclosure with an outer surface designed to suppress vortex-induced vibrations of the tower. The outer surface has alternating convex and concave annular recesses that disrupt the airflow around the enclosure. This prevents the formation of Karman vortex streets that cause vortex-induced vibrations.

Damping edgewise vibrations of wind turbine blades to prevent damage. The method involves detecting the blade vibrations using a sensor, generating a blade pitch control signal based on the vibration measurement, and adjusting the blade pitch angle to dampen the vibrations.

Wind turbine rotor blade design to reduce noise generated at the trailing edge section. The blade has serrations along the trailing edge with gaps filled by parallel comb elements. This reduces noise compared to conventional blades. The blade also has ridges that manipulate airflow along the blade surface.

Damping oscillations in the tower of a wind turbine increase operational life and reduce wear by individually adjusting the pitch of each rotor blade. This allows generating a lateral damping force to counteract crosswind tower motion. The pitch control signals are calculated based on the tower oscillation phase and rotor blade position.

Noise-reducing airfoil for wind turbines and other applications. The airfoil has a treatment on the pressure and/or suction sides near the trailing edge to modify the boundary layer turbulence and reduce spanwise correlation approaching the trailing edge. This treatment breaks up turbulence, deflects it away from the edge, and creates spanwise vortices or instability waves that reduce the turbulence-edge interaction. The treatment consists of thin members placed upstream of the trailing edge like rails or fins.

Easily damping side-to-side oscillations in wind turbine towers to reduce load and wear on turbine components. The method involves measuring tower acceleration and determining the frequency of oscillation modes. The turbine converter is then controlled to counteract the oscillation by adjusting the power output. This involves filtering and phase shifting the acceleration signal to generate a power reference offset that, when added to the normal power reference, cancels out the oscillation. The offset is clipped to avoid excessive power changes.

Wind turbine rotor blade with serrated trailing edge that reduces noise and improves lift compared to prior art serrated trailing edges. The serrations have unequal length edges and the bisectors are angled between 70-110 degrees from the trailing edge tangent.

A method to dampen vibrations in wind turbines in a wind farm to prevent power oscillations at the grid connection point. The method involves measuring vibrations in each turbine and determining damping control signals to counteract them. The control signals are then selectively applied to some turbines, such that the combined signals sum below a threshold. This allows damping of specific turbine vibrations without over-damping the whole farm. It avoids the issue of synchronized tower oscillations causing power oscillations at the grid connection point.

Disk brake for wind turbine azimuth drives that reduces noise by providing cleaning channels to remove brake dust. The channels allow cleaning brushes or other tools to access the brake disk ring area between the brake pads. This prevents brake dust build-up which can cause noise and reduced braking performance.

A wind turbine coupling designed to mitigate torque reversals on the gearbox that cause bearing failures and gearbox damage. The coupling has asymmetric torsional behavior. It allows normal torsional compliance in the forward direction but provides torsional damping and limited wind-up in the reverse direction. This protects the gearbox during torque reversals, reducing impact loads and preventing damage. The coupling uses frictional slipping in reverse to dissipate energy and limit torque. It automatically resets to normal operation in the forward direction.

A wind turbine generator with reduced noise and vibration versus conventional designs. The generator has a stator with a split iron core made of modules, and a single-layer winding using a special tooth slot configuration. The tooth slots are designed to reduce the fifth and seventh harmonic magnetic fields, which cause torque ripple and vibration. The stator iron core is split to allow easier manufacturing and transportation of large wind turbine generators.