DK178010B1 - Wireless communication for wind turbines - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to the use of external communications between wind turbines. At present, this communication is realized through the use of wired communication between the turbines. This invention replaces the wired communication channel with a wireless communication channel [10]. The invention will confer a considerable advantage to the wind turbine arranged in a wind park. The use of wireless communication for external communication is challenged by the fact that the electromagnetic field is constantly disturbed by the rotating blades [3], and the fact that the direction of the transmission connection depends on the wind direction as the wind turbine follows the wind direction to obtain optimum energy. production. These challenges are solved in this invention by controlling the reception / transmission of the electromagnetic field by arranging the wireless sensors [1] in an array or by controlling the directivity or direction of the individual wireless sensors [1].

Description

Description [0001] The invention relates to the inter-communication between wind turbines arranged in a wind park and / or any other point of communication points in the wind park, as well as communication from the wind park to a communication hub outside the wind park . The wind park can be placed offshore as well as onshore with multiple wind turbines mounted.

The communication form of the invention is wireless communication in Its form of electromagnetic wave propagation. The principle of the invention therefore covers all forms of communication using electromagnetic waves as a communication channel in a wireless form for external communication between wind turbines.

It is known to use communication between the turbines arranged in wind park. This communication has been based on wired communication using cobber and / or fiber cables between the turbines to establish the communication link.

[0004] The wireless communication has not been possible because of influences on the communication channel from the rotational blades attached to the rotor, and because the direction of the wind turbine is changing all the time depending on the wind direction.

Besides that, the cost and establishment of utilizing a cable solution is often of great expense, as the wind park can be of considerable size covering several km2.

It is the scope of the invention to provide a communication mesh based on wireless communication covering a complete wind park regardless of the arrangement of the turbines in the park.

The scope of the invention is achieved by arranging the wireless sensors for the wireless communication channel into 'm' multiple independent arrays containing one to 'n' communication sensors. The sensors can be mounted on all possible surfaces of the wind turbine in the wind park. The arrays of sensors are controlled by an intelligent controller, either by switching between the arrays for transmission or receiving, by controlling the phase of each individual sensor in the array, or by controlling the phase to the complete array of sensors.

Especially the impact of blades passing through the wireless communication channel needs to be considered, as a large object passing the communication channel continuously interacts with the wireless link. Therefore the state of each individual array and / or sensor 1 $ based 00 the position of the blades of the turbine and / or the: relative direction of the wind turbine, | 0009} Whenever a blade is interfering with the radiation pattern of the wireless sensor the controller switches off the affected array or changes the phase of sensors in the array in order to move the radiation pattern out of sight of the rotational blade. When the rotational blade is out of sight of the radiation pattern, the controller either switches on the a ray, or changes the phase of the sensors in the affected area to move the radiation pattern into line of sight again, (0010} When wind direction is changed the wind turbine will yaw the nacelle in order to track the swind direction for optimum power generation.If this will affect the radiation pattern of the wireless sensors the controller changes the phase and / or the direction of the wh * i * $ s sensors, so the radiation pattern is tracked relative to the: movement of the nacelle, (0011} Advantageously the system is not locked into one. Configuration for the 'wireless communication ss the communication link can charge in any possible direction by controlling cither the phase and the direction of the wireless sensors, because the turbines are not locked to an individual direction for receiving or transmission, but can be directed Into any direction.

If the direction of the wireless communication channel can be configured in any direction, the configuration of the network ran selected in any possible combination of mesh. The mesh can be arranged either in a ring.configuration, a matrix configuration, a random configuration or in any imaginable configuration, {0013} If the network configuration is independent of the arrangements of the turbines in the wind park this gives the advantage that The wireless communication link provides a 100% redundancy as each wireless link between the turbines can be configured individually on the fly by the park controller. (0014} Because the network configuration of the wireless communication link is independent: of the turbine arrangement in the wind park, the wireless communication link does not necessarily have to be peer to peer communication, but can also be handled as one network. Turbines do not need to communicate with the neighboring turbine. In principle, you can communicate with all turbines independently of each other.

Detailed Description 10015) In the following sections the invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached figures.

Figure 1 shows the principle overview of the sensors mounted on the wind turbine with 'n' wireless sensors and mf arrays.

Figure 2 shows the principal electrical block diagram for controlling the wireless sensors.

Figure 3 shows the principal of a radiation pattern formed by an array factor with a main lobe and several side lobs

Figure 4 shows the principle of synchronization of the wireless communication channel with a rotational element shadowing for the wireless communication channel.

Figure 5 shows the principle of synchronization of the wireless communication channel using phase displacement

Figure 6 shows the principle of controlling the direction of the wireless communication channel by using the phase for yaw compensation and compensation for vertical movement.

Figure? Shows an overview of a small wind park for illustration of the mesh network possible with the wireless communication link, Figure 1 shows the principle main components of a wind turbine including the wireless sensors [lj. The wireless sensors [1] are mounted on the side and / or the roof of the nacelle [2]} or mounted on the tower base [5], or mounted on the rotor / hvb [4), or mounted on one or more of the blades [3j. The arrangement of the wireless sensors in an array provides the benefit that the direction of the radiation pattern (10) can be controlled either by controlling the phase to each individual element [1) and / or by controlling the phase to the array [7) or wireless sensors or by rotating each element mechanically wise. In addition the overall wireless performance will be increased as the link budget will be Increased due to an increased gain in the communication channel by using multiple wireless sensor elements in an array. In Fig. 1, which is a principle overview, an example of two arrays, each containing three wireless sensors is shown. The number of arrays can be from one to Infinity and the number of wireless sensors can be from one to infinity. The distance between the arrays and the distances between the elements can be from zero to infinity. If the wireless sensors are not configured in an array, the number of wireless sensors for independent control can be from one to infinity. 10017] The wireless sensors [1] may be operated in an array or as Individual independent sensors; By operation In array the sensors will be operated in clusters and when operatedJndw.idualiy they will operate as single individual elements eras a ΜΙΜΟ [Multiple in, Multiple Out] system. Regardless of operation mode, the signal quality of each individual sensor can also be monitored, as a function of the blade position and / or yaw position. fOQiSj Figure 2 illustrates the electrical network for the connection from the wireless controller [6} to an array [7j. consisting of 'm' arrays consisting of 'o' wireless sensor elements ilj. The electrical wired network provides the base for the wireless communication channel, also provides the physical connection to the wireless controller [6], [OOTQj in figure 2 each individual sensor [1] in the array [7] have a designated arithmetic unit [8 ], which can perform any arithmetic function dependent on the configuration and a summation unit [9] to sum the input from each individual wire sensor. The .designated arithmetic unit f8] provides the flexibility to either control the phase of the complete array and / or by controlling the phase tm each individual wire sensor. If the arithmetic unit can be of any arithmetic type, the unit can also be used to scale the wireiess sensors for linearization. The benefit is that ail wireless sensors [IJ can be compensated by means of phase and / or scaling to provide a uniform distribution for all wireless sensors; · [0020] In figure 3 the principal of an array [7] with a given number of wireless sensors fl] are given.

The number of wire sensors is not restricted to this invention. The array form is characterized by a main lobe [101 and several side lobs [Ilj, The main path for transmission and reception is through the mam lobe | T0 |. The amount of side lobs [11] is given the number of wireless sensors [1). the distance between the wireless sensors and the relative displacement: between the Individual wireless sensor elements. The; phase a ngel of the mai n lobe [10] Is given by the displacement of the phase for either the complete array or by each individual wireless sensor [1] in the array, the control of the wireiess sensors ill and the arrays [7] are controlled by the position of the blades [3], so that the communication channel is always synchronized with the position of the blades [3] and the direction of the turbine. In that way the active array [? J consisting of V wireiess sensors f l] is always synchronized to communicate In the timeslot where the blades [3] are not interfering with the wireless communication.

[0022] For controlling when the arrays [7] and / or wireless sensors [1], the active / inactive control should be either synchronized by the position of the blades [3] and / or by monitoring the signal quality, signal strength , and Sit Error Rates In the wireless communication channel.

[0023] Regardless of the control of receiving or transmitting is done either by enabling / disabling the interfered arrays of wireless sensors [1] or by keeping them enabled at all times, the outcome will be that at all times the communication channel will have a dear path for communication. This is achieved because there will always be at least one array [7] or wireless sensor [1] that can be operated without interference.

[0024] To control when the wireless sensors should either receive or transmit based on interference from the blades [3], the position of the blades [3] wifi is used as control. Figure 4a Illustrates the position of the blades when all wireless sensors [2] from l-'n 'and all arrays [7] from l-'nV are capable of communicating, Figure4b illustrates the position of the blades [3] when only parts of the l-'n 'wireless sensors [1] and the l-'m' arrays [7] are capable of communication. Figure 4c illustrates the situation when the blades [3] reach info position where a different portion of the wireless sensors [i] from l-'n 'and the arrays [8] from O-'m' are capable of communication. Figure 4d illustrates the situation where all wireless sensors [1] from l-'n 'and all arrays [7] from l-'m' are capable of communicating.

[0025] The control of the arrays [7] by shifting the phase to change the direction of radiation can also be used as synchronization with the blades [3], Figure 5 shows the principal of altering the phase Θ and / or Φ to change the radiation [20] direction of the array (?] of the wireless sensors [1], in figure 5a the most right array [7] containing the wireless sensors [1] from l-'n 'are interfered by the passing blade, so the radiation of the main lobe of the array has been turned out of sight by altering the phase Θ and / or Φ. In figure 5b the most left array [7] containing the wireless sensors [1] from 1-'n are interfered with the passing blade [3], so that the radiation of the main iobe [20] of the array has been turned out of sight by altering the phase Θ and / or Φ, in figure Sc ail arrays | 7] from i- ' rn 'containing the wireless sensors [1] from l-'n' are capable of communicating without interference, in figure 5d all arrays [7] from l-'m 'have been turned using the phase Θ and / or Φ, in order to shift the radiation pattern [10] for a communication path not directly following the axis of the wind turbine. This provides the benefit that the communication channel can be shifted in any given direction regardless of the turbine direction and hence wind direction.

[0026] The control of the wireless sensors id] and the arrays (7} are controlled by yaw movements of the turbine, so that the communication channel is always directed in the desired direction. kept in the same direction with respect to the direction of the turbine, This gives the benefit that wireless sensors [I] with a high directivity can be used as well as wireless sensors with isotropic radiation pattern. (00271 When: the turbine is yawing to keep the turbine in the direction of the wind for optimum power generation, the rarilatiofc pa ttern [10} of the arrays [7} tW including the wireless sensors (1] from t-fo 'is controlled by the phase to the wireless sensors and / or by rotation of the wireless sensors.

Yaw moments are communicated to the wireless controller [61, which controls the wireless sensors [1] so that yaw moments are compensated and hence the wireless communication keeps the same direction relative to yaw movements, [6] Figure 6 illustrates the behavior of the phase compensation ,, when the turbine yaws In order to track the wind. When the direction of the radiation pattern (10) is equal to the reference direction of the turbine, the: phase compensation © "fi, depended on the calibrated start position. When the turbine yaws in Order to track the wind for optimal power generation ration phase compensation value updated will be updated with the value of the yaw movement Φ, {0029} The summation unit [9] in the electrical interface from the wireless controller [6} to the arrays [7} of wireless sensors (1} illustrated in figure 6 .. provides the principal of adding phase compensation in order to move the direction of the radiation pattern flO] of the: communication channel dependent on the yaw movements and / or network configuration, The · principal of adding phase compensation for yaw movements are similar to the use of turning the main radiation pattern [10] out of sight when used in syochronrtatldn mode with the position of the blades [3} as described in section (002S |, 100301 The speed at which the phase can be changed is: superior to the speed at which the blades [3] are passing: by the wireless sensors ill, Besides that ids only a matter of changing an electrical para meter and hence neither eigenetrical nor mechanical com portents wlIf he is stressed or wear out Th is Is of course a big advantage, as maintenance costs will be kept at mm.

Figure 7 illustrates the benefit of the opportunity to be able to configure the wind park in any network configuration for optimal performance. The network configuration is not locked to a single configuration, but can be set to any configuration, including cluster configuration, which means that the park will be divided into Info sub-groups depending on the network configuration.

It is also evident to the Indention that each turbine can communicate to all other turbines other than just the neighbors. All tourism can communicate directly to each other without shy kind of modification; because of the fact that the radiation pattern | ip | he can control the phase If wireless sensors [i] are arranged in an array. If the wireless sensors are controlled individually the control either turns the wireless sensor [1 [mechanically wise or If the radiation pattern is isotropic then no turning or phase control is necessary. This provides redundancy and stability to the network, so that the wind park can be operated even when some turbines lose access to the wireless' communication channel ..

Claims (3)

3. The wind turbine according to claims 1 and 2 seams is characterized by being able to position the direction of communication channel relative to movement in horizontal and / or vertical direction. 4. Wind turbine in accordance with more stringent requirements characterized by the use of electrotafnetic part-propagation or communication channel for communication to the entire turbine and / or transformer station and / or land connection, 5. Wind turbine according to previous requirements characterized by moving sia in verukal and / or horizontal plane to impose sfg in wind direction 8. Turn turbine according to previous requirements characterized by using electromagnetic wave propagation in wireless form for external communication,. Wind turbine According to previous claims characterized by using one or more communication channels for external pneumatic 8, Wind turbine in accordance with previous requirements characterized by the use of wireless sensors with radiant or directional radiation patterns as a choreograph element. ; g, Wind turbine in accordance with previous requirements which are characteristic of use of an intelligent controller for control of the communication channel, The communication uses electromagnetic wave propagation Ise,