Variable Speed Control for Wind Turbine Acoustics

Method and arrangement for controlling wind turbines to optimize noise reduction and performance. It involves dynamically adjusting the operation of auxiliary components like cooling fans, pumps, and compressors based on the actual rotor speed and turbine component temperatures. By comparing the total turbine noise with a limit, the method determines if auxiliary components can operate with lower power or speeds without exceeding the noise threshold. This allows tailoring the auxiliary operation to meet noise limits while avoiding unnecessary component shutdowns or de-rating. It improves turbine power output and reduces component loads compared to static fixed limits.

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Online method and arrangement for controlling wind turbines to meet noise limits without derating power. The method involves estimating turbine noise based on wind conditions and turbine parameters, comparing it to a noise reference, and selectively reducing power, blade pitch, or other parameters to close the noise gap. This allows targeted noise mitigation rather than blanket derating. The noise estimation uses inputs like wind speed, direction, intensity, and turbine state.

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Wind power pitch control system that uses AI and other techniques to optimize blade angle, noise reduction, risk assessment, remote monitoring, high temperature adaptation, and active pitch control for wind turbines. The system uses recurrent neural networks, deep learning, fuzzy logic, and reinforcement learning to independently optimize blade angles based on real-time wind speeds. It also has modules for noise detection and control, wind energy resource assessment, cloud platform monitoring, high temp stability, and active pitch regulation.

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Controlling a wind turbine to reduce noise without impacting power generation. The method involves optimizing the use of additional aerodynamic components on the blades to meet noise limits without reducing rotor speed or output power. The technique involves calculating the maximum power generation for given conditions and noise limits, then controlling the blade add-ons to achieve that power while staying below the noise target. This allows leveraging noise-reducing add-ons without sacrificing performance.

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Intelligent method and device for controlling wind turbine rotational speed to avoid resonance and improve power output. The method involves dynamically determining if the turbine speed is in a resonance band, identifying resonance risk, and jumping to a predetermined speed to avoid resonance if risk is found. This adaptive control uses real-time turbine data to accurately identify resonance zones for each turbine and prevent resonance issues. It mitigates the challenges of fixed resonance bands vs actual tower frequencies.

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Method for wind farm noise control that reduces wind turbine noise impact on nearby sensitive areas without unnecessarily decreasing power generation. The method involves adjusting wind turbine parameters based on real-time wind conditions to keep noise levels within limits in sensitive areas. It uses simulation to generate a table of wind conditions and turbine noise control strategies that considers power loss. This allows targeted noise reduction tailored to current wind.

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Method for optimizing wind farm noise emissions while maximizing energy production. It involves dynamically adjusting wind turbine rotational speeds based on noise levels measured at critical locations. The method involves determining total noise levels at multiple locations, identifying the most critical location, reducing the speed of the turbine with highest noise-energy impact there, and increasing the speed of the turbine with lowest impact. This allows meeting noise limits at critical locations without significantly reducing overall energy production.

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Control method for wind turbines that optimizes power production while minimizing noise levels. The method involves calculating predicted operating trajectories of turbine parameters like blade pitch and rotor speed, and using those predictions to calculate noise metrics. The turbine is then controlled based on the predicted noise levels. This allows proactive noise reduction without sacrificing power output. The method can be applied to individual turbines or entire wind farms.

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Method to reduce noise from wind turbines without significantly reducing power output. It involves controlling the blade pivot angle of hinged blades to optimize noise and power tradeoff. The method involves biasing the blade toward the minimum pivot angle when wind speed is low, increasing rotor diameter. At high wind speeds, instead of reducing blade tip speed, the blade bias is reversed to limit blade tip speed. This prevents noise reduction by rotor speed decrease. The bias force is based on allowable noise level or corrosion risk. By independently controlling blade angle and tip speed, noise can be reduced without sacrificing power.

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Controlling tonal noise from wind turbines in a wind power plant to reduce annoyance for neighbors without significantly reducing power output. It involves identifying turbines that contribute to audible tonal noise and adjusting operating parameters of nearby turbines to move the identified turbines out of critical operating ranges where tonal noise occurs. This leverages the interdependence of turbine performance and noise generation. By strategically adjusting parameters of multiple turbines, tonal noise levels can be lowered at the reception point without just reducing power output.

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A wind turbine control method to reduce pitch angle fluctuations and loads while maintaining smooth power output. The method involves alternating between variable speed control and pitch control using the wind turbine's kinetic energy buffer. The idea is to use the wind wheel's inertia to smooth power instead of relying solely on pitch adjustment. By leveraging the wind turbine's own kinetic energy, it allows smoother power output without as many pitch angle changes and associated loads.

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Dynamic noise control of multiple wind turbines in a wind farm by adjusting turbine power based on wind direction and noise levels. The method involves determining the noise-affected sectors of each turbine using their locations and a noise introduction point. When the current wind is in a sector where a turbine is influencing noise at the point, that turbine runs at reduced power. After the power reduction is completed, it returns to normal power. This compensates for any power loss during the reduction. When a turbine isn't influencing noise, it stays at normal power. This allows customized, dynamic noise reduction without significant overall power loss.

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Method and device to optimize wind turbine performance, safety, and economy by adaptively adjusting rotor speed based on wind resource, turbulence, load, and start-stop frequency. It determines the minimum and maximum operating speeds for a wind turbine by considering factors like blade passage frequency, tower natural frequency, turbulence, load, and start-stop frequency. This avoids resonance zones and mitigates self-consumption while ensuring safety and efficiency over a wider range of wind conditions.

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Method to mitigate tonality in the noise emissions of wind turbines when multiple turbines are operating close together. The method involves adjusting the rotational speeds of adjacent turbines to conceal the tonality of a first turbine's noise. If tonality is detected in the first turbine's noise, the speeds of the other turbines are adjusted to counteract the tonality. This can involve reducing speed to shift the tonality frequency or increasing speed to mask the tonality. The goal is to balance yield optimization with tonality reduction across the turbine array.

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Method and device for noise control of wind turbines that dynamically adjusts turbine power based on wind direction to mitigate noise impacts on nearby areas. The method involves determining the noise-affected sector based on turbine and noise introduction point locations. If the turbine is operating in the sector, it reduces power. Once outside, it increases power up to rated. If not in the sector, it keeps checking wind direction. This allows customized noise control based on turbine location and directional noise propagation.

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Cooperative active control of wind turbine noise and power generation to reduce noise levels in residential areas without shutting down turbines. The method involves monitoring noise and wind data near homes using sensors. When noise exceeds standards, turbines near the homes adjust speed and blade pitch to lower noise without shutting down. This allows optimal power generation while meeting noise limits. It uses real-time monitoring and intelligent control instead of blanket noise reduction methods.

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Reducing noise of wind turbines during high wind speeds by controlling the nacelle yaw angle. When wind speed exceeds a threshold, the nacelle is yawed away from the nominal wind direction to increase the blade angle of attack. This reduces noise from the pressure side of the blade, mitigating aerodynamic noise caused by excessive pitching in high winds.

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Optimizing wind park performance by dynamically adjusting wind turbine settings and operational curves to maximize energy production while meeting noise limits. The system uses customizable curves and settings for each turbine or group of turbines based on factors like wind speed, direction, density, and geometry. It iteratively adjusts the curves and settings to find the optimal configuration that balances power and noise. This allows tailoring turbine operation to site conditions and maximize energy capture. It also facilitates wind turbine self-calibration and anomaly detection to compensate for drift and detect issues like icing or blade damage.

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Reducing noise of a wind turbine during high wind speeds by controlling the nacelle yaw angle instead of excessive blade pitching. When wind speed exceeds a threshold, the nacelle is yawed to increase blade angle of attack. This reduces noise by preventing thickened boundary layers and separated flow on the pressure side of the blades that can occur with extreme pitch angles. The yaw offset is calculated based on wind speed to maintain power while minimizing noise.

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Wind turbine noise mitigation system that uses sensors to detect atmospheric variations approaching the rotor blades and activates controllable features on the blades to decrease noise when such variations are detected. The system authorizes noise mitigation measures in response to detected atmospheric variations approaching the blades. This allows the turbine to adapt and actively reduce noise from the blades when specific conditions are present, like vortex shedding, to make the turbines less obtrusive in certain situations.

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Method for efficient noise reduction in wind turbines while also enabling stabilization of unstable power grids. The method involves operating the wind turbine below normal noise levels to comply with noise regulations. If the grid frequency drops below a threshold, the wind turbine increases power generation to stabilize the grid during a limited time period. This is done while keeping the noise increase below a selected level to minimize noise impact. After stabilization, the wind turbine returns to quieter operation. By leveraging the wind turbine's excess power capability during noise reduction, it can stabilize grids without excessive noise.

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Reducing fan noise during reduced power operation of a wind turbine to maintain overall noise levels below allowable limits. The method involves adjusting fan speeds in response to reducing the rotor speed for noise reduction. This avoids fan noise becoming audible as rotor speeds decrease. The fan speeds are reduced proportionally to the rotor speed. This prevents fan noise exceeding overall noise limits when the turbine operates at reduced power during nighttime or other noise-sensitive periods.

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Reducing noise from wind turbines in a wind farm while still being able to stabilize the grid when it becomes unstable. The method involves operating the wind turbines below maximum power to reduce noise. If the grid frequency drops below a threshold, the turbines increase power output to support grid stability. But they do so in a way that keeps the noise below a selected upper level. This allows stabilizing the grid without excessive noise impacts.

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Operating a wind turbine to reduce noise without sacrificing power output when noise limits are imposed. The method involves continuously monitoring the angle of attack of selected blade sections and pitching the blades to maintain the target angle of attack. This reduces tip vortex noise without reducing rotor speed or power. The angle of attack is critical for noise as it affects vortex formation and boundary layer displacement. By precisely controlling angle of attack, noise reduction can be achieved without power loss compared to traditional speed reduction strategies. The wind turbine may have deformable trailing edge surfaces to further optimize lift and drag at reduced angle of attack.

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Reducing abnormal noise generated by wind turbines by controlling the blade pitch to maintain a consistent angle of attack during rotation. This mitigates amplitude modulation (AM) issues where noise pulses become noticeable. By monitoring blade angle and adjusting pitch if it exceeds a tolerance, it prevents excessive attack variations that cause AM. This is done using a pitch adjustment mechanism and controller.

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System and method for noise control and damage detection in wind turbines using acoustic sensors. The method involves monitoring acoustic signals from sensors inside the blades to detect if noise levels exceed a threshold. If so, it adjusts turbine operating parameters to reduce noise or generates alarms for potential damage. This allows targeted noise reduction in response to changing conditions, avoiding derating the entire turbine.

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Flexibly balancing power production and noise reduction in wind turbines by adjusting the rotor speed setpoint based on wind speed. The method involves determining a lower weighted rotor speed setpoint for a given wind speed that reduces noise compared to the rated speed. This weighted setpoint is used to control the rotor during partial load operation. By lowering the rotor speed for some wind speeds, noise is reduced at the cost of slightly lower power production.

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Reducing amplitude modulation of wind turbine noise by dynamically adjusting blade pitch during rotation based on aerodynamic loads. This involves sensing loads on the rotor blades and adjusting blade angles to reduce high loads in certain areas while maintaining or increasing low loads in other areas. This balances the angle of attack across the blade span to reduce amplitude modulation of the noise. It also takes into account factors like wind shear, blade position, and nearby habitations to optimize noise reduction.

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Reducing amplitude modulation of wind turbine noise, especially at far field distances, to mitigate noise annoyance for nearby residents. The technique involves adjusting blade pitch during rotation based on aerodynamic loads. By optimizing blade angles in response to the changing loads, it reduces the pulsating amplitude modulation of the noise. The pitch adjustment accounts for factors like wind speed, shear, blade positions, and loads. This helps prevent the turbines from exceeding noise limits in far fields due to propagation effects.

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Adaptive wind turbine speed control that dynamically sets the rotor speed based on factors like wind speed, gusts, turbulence, component loads, power demand, etc. The method involves assigning significance weights to multiple operating parameters, determining their values, and choosing an optimized rotor speed using a lookup table, fuzzy logic, neural network, or functions. This allows customizing the turbine speed for factors like noise, wear, lifetime, power output, etc.

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Wind power plant that can meet grid demand while reducing acoustic noise from the turbines. The plant has a wind turbine connected to a grid and an electrical storage device. When acoustic noise is an issue, the turbine's blade rotation speed is reduced to suppress noise. To compensate for lost power, the storage device charges/discharges based on the reduced turbine output and grid demand. This allows grid power balance while suppressing turbine noise.

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Automatically adjusting wind turbine operation to reduce overall noise level at a site. The system uses a field controller to compare the actual noise level from multiple turbines against a target level. If the overall noise exceeds the target, it transfers operation adjustment instructions to one turbine's controller. That turbine reduces its noise level to bring the site total back in line. This allows dynamic, coordinated noise reduction rather than manual adjustments for each turbine.

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Controlling wind turbine noise amplitude to meet regulatory limits by preventing in-phase operation. The method involves monitoring rotor positions of multiple turbines and adjusting conditions when any pair is found to be in-phase. This prevents constructive interference of blade passing noise that amplifies at distances. By keeping turbines out-of-phase, the far-field noise levels stay below limits even if near-field levels are below.

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Power control method for variable speed wind turbines with constant blade tilt to enable stable power regulation in winds above rated. The method uses a two-step process to control power by gradually reducing rotor speed. In step 1, it measures the time that power exceeds or falls below a threshold. In step 2, it reduces rotor speed based on that time to lower aerodynamic power. This controlled speed reduction allows power regulation without instability.

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Wind turbine control to reduce low frequency noise generation. The wind turbine has a rotation speed detector and control device. If the turbine rotates at a constant speed for a certain time, the control device increases the rotation speed. This prevents prolonged generation of low frequency noise from the turbine. It achieves this by positive speed increases when the turbine is spinning steadily. This prevents the low frequency resonance issues caused by constant speeds.

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Controlling wind turbine blade tip speeds to meet specific noise levels with minimal loss in energy yield. The method involves limiting blade tip speeds at low wind speeds to reduce noise, then allowing higher speeds at high wind speeds when background wind noise covers blade noise. It does this by maintaining constant tip speeds above a lower threshold wind speed, then above a higher threshold wind speed. This allows higher energy capture at high wind speeds without exceeding noise limits.

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Controlling acoustic emissions of a wind turbine by adjusting turbine operation based on atmospheric conditions detected by sensors. The method involves monitoring atmospheric factors like wind shear, pressure, temperature, etc. using sensors on the turbine. The control system then adjusts turbine parameters like rotor speed, blade pitch, yaw orientation, etc. to mitigate noise emissions based on the detected atmospheric conditions.

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A wind turbine noise control and damage detection system that uses acoustic sensors in the blades to monitor turbine operation and detect issues. The system receives noise signals from the blades, calculates blade tip speed, compares to IEC noise standards, and adjusts turbine parameters or generates alarms if outside the range. This allows targeted noise reduction without derating the turbine. It also detects blade damage by monitoring acoustic emissions.

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Wind turbine noise control system to reduce noise emissions from wind turbines. The system uses adjustable blade pitch to mitigate noise. It allows selective adjustment of blade pitch based on wind speed and noise levels to reduce noise without compromising power output. This involves a controller that can dynamically vary blade pitch to optimize noise reduction. By tailoring blade pitch to specific wind conditions, the system aims to minimize noise emissions from wind turbines.

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A wind turbine system that can adapt its operation to reduce noise in response to external conditions. The system has a controller that adjusts operating parameters like blade speed, torque, or pitch angle based on sensors monitoring conditions like temperature, humidity, or precipitation. If these exceed thresholds, a noise control signal is sent to reduce noise generation. This allows customized noise mitigation tailored to specific environments without expensive coatings or redesigns.

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Controlling wind turbine noise emissions while maximizing power production by optimizing rotor speed and blade pitch angles based on acoustic and power profiles. The method involves comparing a wind turbine's acoustic and power profiles to determine an operating condition with reduced noise. The turbine is then controlled to run at that rotor speed and blade pitch to minimize noise without significantly impacting power output. This allows turbines to operate at higher speeds and capture more power while meeting noise constraints.

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A method for controlling wind turbines in a wind farm to reduce overall sound levels. The method involves dynamically adjusting the operating speeds of the turbines based on wind conditions. In low wind speeds, the turbines in the outer rows of the wind farm are slowed down to generate less power. This reduces the overall sound level from the wind farm since the outer turbines produce more noise. In high wind speeds, the turbines are operated at normal speeds. This allows the wind farm to capture more energy without exceeding noise limits. The turbines in the inner rows can be operated at normal speeds since their noise is already lower due to the wind shielding effect of the outer turbines. By coordinating turbine speeds based on wind conditions, the overall sound level from the wind farm can be reduced below regulatory limits.

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