WO2019150805A1 - Wind power generation device and wind power generation system - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a wind power generation device and a wind power generation system with which it is possible to estimate, with high accuracy and in a simple configuration, wind shear indicating a wind speed distribution. The wind power generation device is provided with: a wind power generation device 2 which includes at least a rotor 25, a nacelle 22, and a tower 21 pivotally supporting the nacelle 22; and a control device 31 which controls the wind power generation device 2. The control device 31 is provided with a wind condition estimation device 32 including: a load measurement unit 13 which measures a load applied to the wind power generation device 2; a storage unit 16 for storing a wind shear function 33 defining the relationship between the load and wind shear; and a wind shear estimation unit 18 which calculates wind shear on the basis of the load and the wind shear function 33.

Description

Wind power generator and wind power generation system

The present invention relates to a wind power generation apparatus and a wind power generation system having a function of estimating a wind condition around the wind power generation apparatus.

Growing interest in the use of renewable energy is expected to expand the global market for wind turbines. A megawatt-class wind power generator is equipped with a rotor that is mounted radially on a hub that rotates blades, a nacelle that supports the rotor via a main shaft, and a tower that allows the nacelle to support yaw rotation from below. Is frequently used.
Wind power generators generate electricity using wind that changes every moment as an energy source. Therefore, when the wind speed or turbulence of the wind that actually flows into the wind turbine generator is severer than the design conditions, the load on the wind turbine generator may increase and damage to the components may be accelerated. If an unexpected failure occurs due to acceleration of damage, in addition to the time required to replace the failed part, it takes time to arrange replacement parts, construction equipment, and workers. There is a concern that the operation stop time of the wind power generator increases and the amount of power generation decreases compared to the case of implementing the above.
As countermeasures, there are a method for estimating damage to the components of the wind power generator and a method for controlling the load to be reduced by estimating and measuring the inflow wind as an energy source. For example, in Patent Literature 1, a table that associates wind speed, power generation amount or pitch angle, which has been created in advance, from wind speed data that can be obtained with a simple device configuration, and power generation amount or blade pitch angle data, and wind condition parameters. A device that estimates the life of components of a wind turbine generator and outputs maintenance information using a table that associates wind parameters and fatigue loads applied to the wind turbine generator has been proposed.
On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, a microwave or radar wave emitting device generally called a Doppler lidar is attached to a nacelle or hub of a wind power generator, and the wind speed distribution in front and rear of the wind power generator is measured, thereby improving the power generation efficiency. Methods have been proposed to control the pitch angle of the blades so as to maximize or minimize the load on the wind turbine generator.

JP2015-117682A JP-T-2015-515516

However, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the power generation amount and the pitch angle are controlled to be substantially unique values with respect to the wind speed, the wind shear that is the wind speed distribution is determined from the wind speed, the power generation amount, and the pitch angle. It is difficult to estimate with high accuracy, and there is a concern about the influence on the life estimation accuracy of component parts. Further, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 2, although the wind speed distribution can be accurately measured by the Doppler lidar, such a measuring device is expensive, and therefore, it is included in all wind power generators in the wind power plant (in the wind farm). Installation is not practical from a cost standpoint.

Therefore, the present invention provides a wind power generation apparatus and a wind power generation system that can accurately estimate wind shear, which is a wind speed distribution, with a simple configuration.

In order to solve the above problems, a wind turbine generator according to the present invention includes at least a rotor, a nacelle, and a wind turbine generator that has a tower that rotatably supports the nacelle, and a control device that controls the wind turbine generator, The control device includes a load measuring unit that measures a load applied to the wind turbine generator, a storage unit that stores a wind shear function that defines a relationship between the load and the wind shear, and a window based on the load and the wind shear function. A wind condition estimation device having a wind speed distribution calculation unit for calculating shear is provided.
In addition, the wind power generation system according to the present invention includes at least one wind power generation device, a control device that controls the wind power generation device, an electronic terminal that includes a display device, and a communication network that connects these devices so that they can communicate with each other. The control device includes a load measuring unit that measures a load applied to the wind turbine generator, a storage unit that stores a wind shear function that defines a relationship between the load and wind shear, and the load and wind shear function And a wind speed estimation device having a wind speed distribution calculation unit for calculating wind shear based on the above.
In addition, another wind power generation system according to the present invention includes at least one wind power generation device, a control device that controls the wind power generation device, an electronic terminal that includes a display device, and communication that connects these to each other so that they can communicate with each other. A network including a load measuring unit that measures a load applied to the wind turbine generator, and the electronic terminal storing a wind shear function that defines a relationship between the load and the wind shear And a wind speed estimation device that calculates a wind shear based on the load input from the load measurement unit via the communication network and a wind shear function stored in the storage unit It is characterized by that.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to provide the wind power generator and wind power generation system which can estimate the wind shear which is a wind speed distribution with high precision by simple structure.
Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of embodiments.

1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a wind power generation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the wind power generator of Example 1 which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the wind shear in Example 1. FIG. It is a functional block diagram of the control apparatus which comprises the wind power generator of Example 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the principle of the wind condition estimation apparatus which comprises the control apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between a power index and the moment in a hub center. It is a figure for demonstrating the influence of the wind speed in the relationship between the hail index and the moment in a hub center. It is a figure for demonstrating the influence of the air density in the relationship between the power index and the moment in a hub center. It is a functional block diagram of the control apparatus which comprises the wind power generator of Example 2 which concerns on the other Example of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the control apparatus which comprises the wind power generator of Example 3 which concerns on the other Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the wind power generator of Example 4 which concerns on the other Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the wind power generator of Example 5 which concerns on the other Example of this invention.

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a wind power generation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the wind power generation system 1 includes a wind power generation device 2 and an electronic terminal 4 installed in the operation management center 3 or a server (not shown), which includes a communication network 5 that can communicate with each other. Connected through. Note that the communication network 5 may be wired or wireless.

The wind power generator 2 includes a blade 24 that rotates by receiving wind, a hub 23 that supports the blade 24, a nacelle 22, and a tower 21 that rotatably supports the nacelle 22. In the nacelle 22, a main shaft 26 that is connected to the hub 23 and rotates together with the hub 23, a speed increasing device 27 that is connected to the main shaft 26 and increases the rotational speed, and a rotor at a rotational speed increased by the speed increasing device 27. A generator 28 that rotates to generate electricity is provided. A portion that transmits the rotational energy of the blade 24 to the generator 28 is referred to as a power transmission unit. In the present embodiment, the main shaft 26 and the speed increaser 27 are included in the power transmission unit. The speed increaser 27 and the generator 28 are held on the main frame 29. A rotor 25 is constituted by the blade 24 and the hub 23. As shown in FIG. 1, at the bottom (lower part) of the tower 21, a power converter 30 for converting the frequency of power, a switching switch and a transformer for switching current (not shown), and control A device 31 and the like are arranged. As the control device 31, for example, a control panel or SCADA (Supervision Control And Data Acquisition) is used.

1 shows an example in which the rotor 25 is constituted by three blades 24 and a hub 23. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the rotor 25 is connected to the hub 23 and at least one blade 24. May be configured.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the wind turbine generator of Example 1 according to an example of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the structure of the wind speed distribution 11 of the height direction around the wind power generator 2 which concerns on a present Example is shown. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the wind turbine generator 2 is viewed from the side, and it is assumed that the wind is blowing from the left to the right of the page. As shown in FIG. 2, the wind turbine generator 2 includes a rotor 25 radially attached to a hub 23 that rotates blades 24, a nacelle 22 that allows the rotor 25 to rotate and supports the hub 23 from the side, and a nacelle And a tower 21 which rotatably supports 22 with respect to a vertical axis from the lower part. In FIG. 2, the wind power generator 2 is a downwind type wind power generator in which the rotor 25 is located on the leeward side of the tower 21, but the upwind type wind power generator in which the rotor 25 is located on the windward side of the tower 21. A device may be used.

The wind power generator 2 includes a strain sensor 7 attached to the tower 21. The strain sensor 7 is not limited to the tower 21 and may be installed on the nacelle 22 or the hub 23. Instead of the strain sensor 7, another load sensor such as an acceleration sensor may be used. The wind power generator 2 also includes a pitch angle control mechanism 6 for controlling the pitch angle of the blade 24, an anemometer 8 installed on the top of the nacelle 22, a thermometer 9 installed in the nacelle 22, and a barometer 10. May be provided. The anemometer 8, the thermometer 9, and the barometer 10 may be installed at other positions of the wind power generator 2, or may be installed outside the wind power generator 2 as long as they are in the vicinity of the wind power generator 2. good. In addition, the thermometer 9 and the barometer 10 may not be measured, and public observation data used for weather prediction or the like may be used.

The wind speed distribution 11 usually changes in the height direction (Z direction), and generally the wind speed tends to increase toward the sky due to the boundary layer of the atmosphere. If the change in the wind speed in the height direction (Z direction) is called wind shear, and the power index representing the strength is α _WS , the wind speed distribution in the height direction (Z direction) is expressed by the following equation (1). Can be assumed.

Here, V (z) is a wind speed at a height z from the ground surface, z _ref is a height that defines a reference wind speed, and V (z _ref ) is a reference wind speed. As shown in FIG. 3, the change in the wind speed due to the height increases as the power index α _WS increases. For example, when the anemometer 8 is used to measure the reference wind speed, the wind index measured by V (z _ref ) in equation (1) and the height from the ground surface of the anemometer 8 are used as z _ref. If α _WS is known, a wind speed distribution in the height direction can be obtained. That is, when the wind speed distribution is assumed as shown in Equation (1), the wind speed distribution estimation problem results in the power index α _WS estimation problem. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the wind speed distribution of Expression (1) is assumed and the power index α _WS representing the strength of wind shear is estimated. However, the assumption of the wind speed distribution is not limited to Expression (1), A logarithm, a polynomial, or the like may be used, and a wind speed distribution may be assumed using a plurality of parameters.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the control device 31 constituting the wind power generator 2 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the control device 31 includes a wind speed measurement unit 12, a load measurement unit 13, a temperature measurement unit 14, an atmospheric pressure measurement unit 15, a storage unit 16 that stores a wind shear function 33, an atmospheric density calculation unit 17, a wind A shear estimation unit 18, a wind speed distribution calculation unit 19, an input I / F 34, an output I / F 35, and a communication I / F 36 are provided and are connected to each other via an internal bus 37. The wind speed measurement unit 12, the load measurement unit 13, the temperature measurement unit 14, the atmospheric pressure measurement unit 15, the storage unit 16 that stores the wind shear function 33, the atmospheric density calculation unit 17, the wind shear estimation unit 18, and the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 are The wind condition estimating device 32 is configured not only to estimate the power index α _WS that defines the strength of wind shear but also to determine the actual wind speed distribution. Note that if only the power index α _WS is estimated, the wind condition estimation device 32 is stored in the wind speed measurement unit 12, the load measurement unit 13, the temperature measurement unit 14, the atmospheric pressure measurement unit 15, and the wind shear function 33. The air density calculation unit 17 and the wind shear estimation unit 18 may be used. Furthermore, when only the power exponent α _WS is estimated while allowing a reduction in estimation accuracy, only the load measuring unit 13, the storage unit 16 for storing the wind shear function 33, and the wind shear estimation unit 18 are used. The estimation device 32 may be configured.
The wind speed measuring unit 12, the load measuring unit 13, the temperature measuring unit 14, the atmospheric pressure measuring unit 15, the atmospheric density calculating unit 17, the wind shear estimating unit 18, and the wind speed distribution calculating unit 19 constituting the wind condition estimating device 32 are, for example, , A processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM that stores various programs, a RAM that temporarily stores calculation process data, a storage device such as an external storage device, and a processor such as a CPU Reads out and executes various programs stored in the ROM, and stores the calculation result as the execution result in the RAM or the external storage device. Below, the detail of each part of the control apparatus 31 is demonstrated.

The wind speed measuring unit 12 calculates time series data of wind speed and average wind speed averaged over a predetermined time from the wind speed measured by the anemometer 8 and input via the input I / F 34 and the internal bus 37. The wind speed measurement unit 12 transfers the average wind speed to the wind shear estimation unit 18 via the internal bus 37 and transfers the time series data of the wind speed to the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19. In the averaging process, for example, the average wind speed may be calculated every 10 minutes, or the average value may be output continuously using a moving average.

The load measuring unit 13 inputs the strain of the tower 21 measured by the strain sensor 7 via the input I / F 34 and the internal bus 37, and the input measurement value of the strain of the tower 21 is measured at the measurement position. By multiplying the section modulus, it is converted into a bending moment. Further, the bending moment is averaged over a predetermined time and transferred to the wind shear estimation unit 18 via the internal bus 37. When the wind direction at the construction position of the wind power generator 2 is approximately one direction, the strain sensor 7 may be installed at one location, but when the wind direction changes, wind power generation is performed along the direction of the nacelle 22. It is desirable to install two or more strain sensors 7 at the same height point of the tower 21 in order to calculate the bending moment component in the direction in which the device 2 is toppled. The position in the height direction to which the strain sensor 7 is attached is preferably near the top of the tower 21, but correction can be made from the wind speed and the thrust coefficient of the rotor 25 without directly measuring the moment of the top. Therefore, it is not necessary to limit the measurement position to the top.

The temperature measurement unit 14 inputs the temperature measured by the thermometer 10 via the input I / F 34 and the internal bus 37, and calculates an average temperature for a predetermined time. The temperature measurement unit 14 transfers the calculated average temperature to the atmospheric density calculation unit 17 via the internal bus 37. The atmospheric pressure measurement unit 15 inputs the atmospheric pressure measured by the barometer 11 via the input I / F 34 and the internal bus 37, and calculates an averaged atmospheric pressure over a predetermined time. The atmospheric pressure measurement unit 15 transfers the calculated average atmospheric pressure to the atmospheric density calculation unit 17 via the internal bus 37.
The atmospheric density calculation unit 17 calculates the atmospheric density from the temperature and the atmospheric pressure using the gas state equation, and transfers the average value of the atmospheric density to the wind shear estimation unit 18 via the internal bus 37 every 10 minutes, for example. To do. Note that other methods may be used as long as the atmospheric density can be calculated.

The wind shear estimating unit 18 receives the bending moment transferred from the load measuring unit 13, the average wind speed transferred from the wind speed measuring unit 12, and the average value of the atmospheric density transferred from the atmospheric density calculating unit 17 as inputs. By using the wind shear function 33 that defines the relationship between the value of and the power index α _WS representing the strength of wind shear, an estimated value of the power index α _WS is output for each predetermined time used for averaging. In the present embodiment, the average value of the bending moment, the average wind speed, and the atmospheric density is used as the input to the wind shear estimation unit 18. However, when the estimated accuracy of the power index α _WS can be lowered, the load measurement unit Only the bending moment transferred from 13 may be input, and in addition to the bending moment, one of the average wind speed or the average value of the atmospheric density may be used. Further, instead of the average wind speed, another physical quantity that changes in accordance with the wind speed may be used. For example, the amount of power generation, pitch angle, rotor rotational speed, etc. can be used.

The wind shear function 33 stored in the storage unit 16 stores a function that can uniquely output the power exponent α _WS with respect to the average value of the bending moment, the average wind speed, and the atmospheric density. The function storage method is not particularly limited, and may be a response surface, a neural network, a mathematical expression such as a polynomial, or a data table in which variables are separated by bins. The function creation method is not particularly limited, but, for example, a Doppler lidar is temporarily attached to the top of the nacelle 22 constituting the wind power generator 2 and the power exponent α _WS is calculated from the measured wind speed distribution by the least square method or the like. In addition, there is a method of creating a response surface using a bending moment, an average wind speed, and an average value of atmospheric density as design variables and a power index α _WS as an objective function. Another method is to use a numerical simulation to calculate the bending moment when the average value of the power index α _WS , average wind speed, and atmospheric density is changed, and let the neural network learn the calculation result to generate the power index α _WS can also be estimated.

The wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 uses the above formula (from the estimated value of the power index α _WS obtained by the wind shear estimation unit 18 and the time series data of the wind speed transferred from the wind speed measurement unit 12 via the internal bus 37. 1) is used to calculate the time series data of the wind speed distribution. It is assumed that the height z _ref from the ground surface of the anemometer 8 is known.
The output I / F 35 outputs the time series data of the wind speed distribution calculated by the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 and transferred via the internal bus 37 to a display unit (not shown).
The communication I / F 36 is an electronic terminal 4 installed in the operation management center 3 via the communication network 5 by using the time series data of the wind speed calculated by the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 and transferred via the internal bus 37. Or it transmits to the server which is not illustrated.

Next, the principle of wind shear estimation by the wind condition estimation device 32 will be described. It is assumed that the wind speed flowing into the rotor 25 has a distribution represented by the above formula (1) due to wind shear. The aerodynamic force (thrust force) T acting on the blade 24 in the wind direction can be expressed by equation (2).

Here, b is the length of the blade 24, ρ is the atmospheric density, C _t is a local thrust coefficient at a distance r from the center of the hub 23 of the blade 24, and V is a position r of a distance r from the center of the hub 23 of the blade 24. C is a chord length at a distance r from the center of the hub 23 of the blade 24. Among these, b and c are values inherent to the blade 24 and are constant regardless of the operating conditions. _{Ct is} also a value inherent to the blade 24, but varies according to the pitch angle, wind speed, and rotational speed. Here, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the wind speed has the distribution of the above formula (1) in the height direction, but does not change with time, and the pitch angle and the rotation speed are constant. Further, it is assumed that the rotor 25 does not have a tilt angle and a coning angle and rotates in a vertical plane. At this time, in the range where the blade 24 does not stall because the angle of attack of the blades 24 with increasing wind speed increases, C _t is also monotonically increasing. Therefore, as can be seen from the above formula (2), when the local wind speed V increases, the thrust force T increases as C _t V ² increases.

Assuming that the air density and the wind speed at the center of the hub 23 are constant, z _ref represents the height of the hub 23 in FIG. 3, and the wind speed is increased above the hub 23 as the power index α _WS increases. It can be seen that the wind speed increases and the wind speed decreases below the hub 23. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the thrust force T also increases above the hub 23 and decreases below the hub 23 as the power index α _WS increases. Here, considering the moment in the direction in which the wind turbine generator 2 is toppled along the direction of the nacelle 22 at the center of the hub 23, when the blade 24 is at an arbitrary position in the plane of rotation, an increase in the power index α _WS It can be seen that the moment increases monotonously with this. Therefore, the average value of moments at the center of the hub 23 during one rotation of the rotor 25 also increases monotonously as shown in FIG. 6 as the power index α _WS increases. Therefore, when the air density and the wind speed at the center of the hub 23 are constant, the power index α _WS can be estimated from the moment at the center of the hub 23. In addition, the figure for demonstrating the relationship between the power index shown in FIG. 6 and the moment in a hub center is produced | generated by simulation with respect to the model of a general wind power generator. In the actual wind power generator 2, since the wind speed and the air density at the center of the hub 23 also change, the moment increases monotonously by these increases (FIGS. 7 and 8). Therefore, in order to estimate the power exponent α _WS with high accuracy, it is necessary to measure the wind speed and the atmospheric density at a certain position in addition to the moment. If the wind speed and the atmospheric density are known, a relational expression corresponding to the wind speed and the atmospheric density is selected from a plurality of moment- 冪 index α _WS relational expressions as shown in FIGS. _WS can be estimated. However, since the fluctuation of the moment due to the change in atmospheric density shown in FIG. 8 is smaller than the change in the wind index α _WS and the wind speed shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to estimate the power index α _WS without using the air density. It is. Further, when the fluctuation range of the wind speed is small or when the estimation accuracy of the power index α _WS can be lowered, the power index α _WS may be estimated from the moment alone without using the wind speed and the atmospheric density.

In practice, since it is difficult to measure the moment at the rotating hub 23, the hub 23 is obtained by extrapolating the moment measured at two positions in the height direction of the tower 21 instead of the moment at the tower 21 measured by the strain sensor 7. It is also possible to calculate the moment at the center of. As for the wind speed and the atmospheric density, it is not necessary to use the value at the center of the hub 23, and it may be measured near the wind power generator 2. In addition, although it is assumed that the pitch angle and the rotational speed are constant, since these are generally determined by control according to the wind speed, when estimating the power index α _WS using the wind speed, the pitch angle Even if the rotational speed changes, the influence on the estimation accuracy is small. The tilt angle and the coning angle are values inherent to the wind power generator 2 and are constant regardless of the operating conditions, and thus do not affect the estimation accuracy.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the storage unit 16 that stores the wind shear function 33, the wind shear estimation unit 18, and the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 that constitute the wind condition estimation device 32 are included in the control device 31. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the storage unit 16 storing the wind shear function 33, the wind shear estimation unit 18, and the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 are connected to the electronic terminal 4 installed in the operation management center 3 shown in FIG. It is good also as a structure to mount.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a wind power generation apparatus and a wind power generation system that can accurately estimate wind shear, which is a wind speed distribution, with a simple configuration.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the control device 31a constituting the wind turbine generator of the second embodiment according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the control device includes a reliability evaluation apparatus 40 that evaluates the reliability of the wind turbine generator 2 using the wind shear estimated by the wind shear estimation section 18 and the wind speed distribution calculation section 19 shown in the first embodiment. The point provided inside is different from the first embodiment. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description overlapping with that in the first embodiment is omitted below. For convenience of explanation, as shown in FIG. 9, only the input I / F 34, the wind shear estimation unit 18, the output I / F 35, the communication I / F 36, and the internal bus 37 are the same as in the first embodiment. Show.

As shown in FIG. 9, in addition to the input I / F 34, the wind shear estimation unit 18, the output I / F 35, and the communication I / F 36, the control device 31a according to the present embodiment includes an operation condition acquisition unit 41, a load calculation unit. 42, a storage unit 16a for storing design information 43, a reliability evaluation unit 44, and an information output unit 45, which are connected to each other via an internal bus 37. A reliability evaluation device 40 is configured by the operating condition acquisition unit 41, the load calculation unit 42, the storage unit 16a that stores the design information 43, the reliability evaluation unit 44, and the information output unit 45. Note that the reliability evaluation device 40 may not include the information output unit 45. The wind shear estimation unit 18, the operation condition acquisition unit 41, the load calculation unit 42, the reliability evaluation unit 44, and the information output unit 45 are, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) and a ROM that stores various programs. In addition to being realized in a storage device such as a RAM or an external storage device that temporarily stores operation process data, a processor such as a CPU reads out and executes various programs stored in the ROM, and an operation result that is an execution result Are stored in RAM or an external storage device.

Hereinafter, the reliability evaluation device 40 will be described by taking as an example the reliability evaluation of the blades 24 of the wind turbine generator 2. Note that the application destination of the reliability evaluation device 40 is not necessarily limited to the blade 24, and other configurations of the wind power generator 2 such as the nacelle 22 and the tower 21 as long as the wind shear affects the reliability. Parts may be used.

The operating condition acquisition unit 41 acquires time history data of the operating conditions of the wind turbine generator 2 related to the load acting on the blade 24. The operating conditions include, for example, the wind speed and wind direction at the anemometer 8, the pitch angle and azimuth angle of the blade 24, the rotational speed of the rotor 25, the azimuth angle of the nacelle 22, and the amount of power generated by the wind power generator 2. When a load sensor such as a strain sensor or an acceleration sensor is attached to the wind power generator 2, the time history data thereof may be included. For example, when SCADA is used as the control device 31a, the operating conditions may be acquired from this SCADA.

The load calculating unit 42 uses the operating conditions transferred from the operating condition acquiring unit 41, the hull index α _WS transferred from the wind shear estimating unit 18, and the design information 43 of the blade 24, and the load acting on the blade 24. Calculate the time history of. As a method for calculating the load, for example, the wind speed distribution (wind shear) flowing into the rotor 25 is calculated from the wind speed at the anemometer 8 and the power index α _WS using the above formula (1), and the wind speed distribution and operating conditions are calculated. Is used as an input for aeroelastic simulation based on blade element momentum theory or multibody dynamics.
The design information 43 stored in the storage unit 16a includes, for example, the dimensions and mass distribution, rigidity distribution, aerodynamic coefficient of the blade 24 and the tower 21, the tilt angle and coning angle of the rotor 25, the dimension and mass distribution of the nacelle 22, and the aerodynamic coefficient. And design data such as a control program for the wind turbine generator 2. The design information 25 stored in the storage unit 16a includes data relating to the reliability of the component parts of the blade 24 as reliability information, for example, the dimensions, elastic modulus, section coefficient, stress concentration factor, S- N diagram is included.

The reliability evaluation unit 44 performs reliability evaluation of the components of the blade 24 using the time history of the load acting on the blade 24 output from the load calculation unit 42 and the reliability information. For the reliability evaluation, the fatigue damage degree, remaining life, failure probability, etc. are calculated for the component parts. For example, when calculating the degree of fatigue damage from load time history data, there are the following methods. First, the time history of the stress acting on the component is calculated from the load acting on the blade 24. Next, the rain flow method is applied to the stress time history data to convert it into a stress amplitude appearance frequency distribution, and the S—of the component material stored in the obtained stress amplitude appearance frequency distribution and reliability information is stored. From the N diagram, the fatigue damage degree in the time history is calculated using the linear cumulative damage degree rule.

The information output unit 45 displays the evaluation results transferred from the reliability evaluation unit 44 via the internal bus 37 as a table, a graph, or a contour diagram. Note that data output from the operating condition acquisition unit 41, the wind shear estimation unit 18, and the load calculation unit 42 may be displayed. For example, the wind speed distribution flowing into the rotor 25 according to the above equation (1) using the wind speed at the anemometer 8 output from the operating condition acquisition unit 41 and the power index α _WS output from the wind shear estimation unit 18. May be displayed.
In this embodiment, the reliability evaluation device 40 is provided in the control device 31a. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the electronic terminal 4 installed in the operation management center 3 shown in FIG. 1 or not shown. It is good also as a structure mounted in a server.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, by using the reliability evaluation device 40, the wind shear time history data estimated from the operating conditions of the wind turbine generator and the load of the wind turbine generator. Based on the above, it becomes possible to evaluate the reliability of the wind turbine generator.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of the control device 31b constituting the wind turbine generator of the third embodiment according to another embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the wind power generator 2 is controlled using the wind shear estimated by the wind shear estimation unit 18 and the wind speed distribution calculation unit 19 shown in the first embodiment. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description overlapping with that in the first embodiment is omitted below. For convenience of explanation, as shown in FIG. 10, only the input I / F 34, the wind shear estimation unit 18, the output I / F 35, the communication I / F 36, and the internal bus 37 are the same as in the first embodiment. Show.

As shown in FIG. 10, in addition to the input I / F 34, the wind shear estimation unit 18, the output I / F 35, and the communication I / F 36, the control device 31b according to the present embodiment includes an operation condition acquisition unit 41, a control amount calculation unit. 51 and a storage unit 16b for storing control information 52, which are connected to each other via an internal bus 37. The wind shear estimation unit 18, the operation condition acquisition unit 41, and the control amount calculation unit 51 temporarily store, for example, a processor (not shown) such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM that stores various programs, and calculation process data. In addition to being realized by a storage device such as a RAM and an external storage device, a processor such as a CPU reads out and executes various programs stored in the ROM, and stores an operation result as an execution result in the RAM or the external storage device.

The operating condition acquisition unit 41 acquires the operating conditions of the wind turbine generator 2 as in the second embodiment. The control amount calculation unit 51 includes an operation condition transferred from the operation condition acquisition unit 41 via the internal bus 37, a power index α _WS transferred from the wind shear estimation unit 18 via the internal bus 37, and control information 52. Are used to determine, for example, the pitch angle of the blade 24 and the rotational speed of the rotor 25, and the control amount is determined so as to realize these. The pitch angle of the blade 24 and the rotational speed of the rotor 25 can be determined by, for example, maximizing the power generation amount or minimizing the load fluctuation of the blade 24. Note that the pitch angle may change while the rotor 25 rotates once. In such control, the wind speed distribution flowing into the rotor 4 is calculated from the wind speed at the anemometer 8 and the power exponent α _WS using the above-described equation (1), and the flow into the blade 24 is obtained for any rotor rotational speed. This can be realized by estimating the wind speed and direction distribution with high accuracy.
The storage unit 16 b stores constants used for control and aerodynamic characteristics of the blade 24 as the control information 52. The above-described control amount output from the control amount calculation unit 51 is output to the generator 28, the pitch angle control mechanism 6 and the like via the internal bus 37 and the output I / F 35.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the wind turbine generator is controlled based on the operating conditions of the wind turbine generator and the wind shear time history data estimated from the load of the wind turbine generator. It is possible to maximize the power generation amount and minimize the blade load fluctuation.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of a wind turbine generator of Example 4 according to another example of the present invention. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that horizontal wind shear is estimated using the wind condition estimating device 32 of the wind turbine generator 2 of the first embodiment described above. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description overlapping with that in the first embodiment is omitted below.

FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the wind power generator 2 and the horizontal wind speed distribution 61 around it. In FIG. 11, the state which looked at the wind power generator 2 from upper direction is shown, and the wind shall blow from the paper surface left to the right. The wind power generator 2 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment.

The horizontal wind speed distribution 61 shown in FIG. 11 changes in the horizontal direction. If the coefficient representing the strength of wind shear in the horizontal direction is β _WS , the horizontal wind speed distribution 61 is expressed by the following equation (3). Can be assumed as follows.

Here, V (y) is a wind speed at a position y in a direction perpendicular to the wind speed vector on the horizontal plane, y _ref is a position defining a reference wind speed, and V (y _ref ) is a reference wind speed. Yes. As can be seen from Equation (3), the larger the coefficient β _WS , the greater the change in the wind speed in the horizontal direction. For example, when the anemometer 8 is used to measure the reference wind speed, the wind speed obtained by measuring V (y _ref ) in equation (3), y _ref is 0 (origin), and y is y from the anemometer 8 in FIG. By using the axial distance, the horizontal wind speed distribution 61 can be obtained if a certain coefficient β _WS is known. That is, when the wind speed distribution is assumed as in Expression (3), the wind speed distribution estimation problem results in the coefficient β _WS estimation problem. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the coefficient β _WS representing the strength of the wind shear in the horizontal direction is estimated on the assumption of the wind speed distribution of Expression (3), but the assumption of the wind speed distribution is limited to Expression (3). There is no need to do so, and a wind speed distribution may be assumed using a plurality of parameters.

The configuration of the wind condition estimating device 32 of the wind turbine generator 2 in this embodiment for estimating the coefficient β _WS that defines the strength of wind shear in the horizontal direction is the same as that in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the details of the wind condition estimating device 32 will be described with respect to differences from the first embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the load measuring unit 13 (not shown) measures the shear strain of the tower 21 using the strain sensor 7 and twists using the sectional secondary pole moment and the radius of the tower 21 at the measurement position. Convert to moment. Further, the twisting moment is averaged over a predetermined time and output. Since the torsional moment acts uniformly in the cross section of the tower 21, the strain sensor 7 may be installed at one place, and the position in the height direction need not be particularly limited.

A wind shear estimation unit 18 (not shown) receives the average values of torsional moment, wind speed, and atmospheric density as input, and defines a relationship between these values and a coefficient β _WS representing the strength of wind shear in the horizontal direction. By using the function 33, an estimated value of the coefficient β _WS is output at every predetermined time used for averaging. In this embodiment, the torsional moment, wind speed, and atmospheric density are used as the input to the wind shear estimation unit 18. However, if the estimated accuracy of the coefficient β _WS can be lowered, only the torsional moment may be input. In addition to the torsional moment, either the wind speed or the atmospheric density may be used. Moreover, you may use the other physical quantity which changes according to a wind speed instead of a wind speed. For example, the amount of power generation, pitch angle, rotor rotational speed, etc. can be used. Note that the torsional moment is also generated due to a deviation between the nacelle 22 called the yaw error and the wind direction. Therefore, by adding the yaw error to the input of the wind shear estimation unit 18, high accuracy can be achieved.

The wind shear function 33 is defined as a function that can uniquely output the coefficient β _WS with respect to the input values of torsional moment, wind speed, and atmospheric density. The function storage method and the creation method are not particularly limited, and the same method as in the first embodiment may be used.
The wind speed distribution calculating unit 19 uses the estimated value of the coefficient β _WS obtained by the wind shear estimating unit 18 and the time series data of the wind speed obtained by the wind speed measuring unit 12 to calculate the time of the wind speed distribution using the above equation (3). Series data is calculated.

The principle of horizontal wind shear estimation by the wind condition estimation device 32 is the same as that of the first embodiment except for the following points. That is, the moment acting on the center of the hub 23 by the horizontal wind shear is generated in the direction in which the nacelle 22 is rotated in the horizontal plane. Therefore, since the torsional moment acts on the tower 21, it is necessary to measure the torsional moment in order to estimate the coefficient β _WS . In addition, by simultaneously measuring the bending moment and the torsional moment of the tower 21, the wind shear in the height direction (Z direction) and the horizontal direction (y direction) in the first embodiment and the fourth embodiment may be estimated simultaneously. The estimated horizontal wind shear may be input to the reliability evaluation device 40 of the second embodiment and the control device 31b of the third embodiment.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to estimate the wind shear in the horizontal direction with high accuracy by measuring the load of the wind turbine generator.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of a wind turbine generator of Example 5 according to another example of the present invention. This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the strain sensor 7 installed in the tower 21 shown in the first embodiment is installed in the blade 24. The same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description overlapping with that in the first embodiment is omitted below.

FIG. 12 shows the configuration of the wind power generator 2 according to the present embodiment and the wind speed distribution 11 in the height direction around the wind power generator 2. In FIG. 12, the state which looked at the wind power generator 2 from the side is shown, and the wind shall blow from the paper surface left to the right. The wind power generator 2 includes the strain sensor 7 on the blade 24 in place of the tower 21 in addition to the configuration similar to that of the first embodiment. The strain sensor 7 only needs to be attached to at least one blade 24 constituting the rotor 25, and another load sensor such as an acceleration sensor may be used instead of the strain sensor 7.

The configuration of the wind condition estimating device 32 of the wind turbine generator 2 according to the present embodiment for estimating the power index α _WS that defines the strength of wind shear is the same as that of the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the details of the wind condition estimating device 32 will be described with respect to differences from the first embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the load measuring unit 13 measures the strain of the blade 24 using the strain sensor 7 and multiplies the section coefficient at the measurement position to convert it into a bending moment. Further, the bending moment is statistically processed and a statistical value is output. As the statistical value, for example, a standard deviation of a bending moment at a predetermined time, a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value (maximum amplitude), or the like is used. Further, the average value for each bin may be used by dividing the azimuth angle by bins, or the strain sensors 7 are attached to all the blades 24 constituting the rotor 25, and the center of the hub 23 is determined from the bending moment of each blade 24. A value obtained by calculation of the moment may be used. Although the strain sensor 7 may be installed at one place, it is desirable to install two or more strain sensors 7 at the same position in the longitudinal direction of the blade 24 in order to calculate the moment component that bends the blade 24 in the wind direction. The strain sensor 7 is preferably attached near the blade root of the blade 24, but the measurement position need not be limited to the vicinity of the blade root.

The wind shear estimation unit 18 receives as input the statistical value of the bending moment of the blade 24, the wind speed, and the average value of the atmospheric density, and defines a relationship between these values and the power index α _WS representing the strength of the wind shear. By using 33, an estimated value of the power exponent α _WS is output every predetermined time. In this embodiment, the bending moment, the wind speed, and the atmospheric density are used as the input to the wind shear estimation unit 18. However, when the estimated accuracy of the power index α _WS can be lowered, only the bending moment may be input. In addition to the bending moment, one of wind speed or atmospheric density may be used. Further, instead of the wind speed, other physical quantities that change in accordance with the wind speed may be used. For example, the amount of power generation, pitch angle, rotor rotational speed, etc. can be used.

The principle of wind shear estimation by the wind condition estimating device 32 is the same as that of the first embodiment except for the following points. That is, the thrust force acting on the blade 24 by wind shear changes according to the azimuth angle, as shown in FIG. 5, and therefore the bending moment measured by the strain sensor 7 also changes according to the azimuth angle. Therefore, the power index α _WS can be estimated by expressing the fluctuation range of the bending moment acting on the blade 24 during one rotation of the rotor 25 using the standard deviation and the maximum amplitude. Further, the power exponent α _WS can be estimated from the magnitude of the value of the bending moment at a certain azimuth angle without using the fluctuation range of the bending moment in one rotation. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the bending moment and the thrust force when the blade 24 is positioned directly above the hub 23 monotonically increase with the increase of the power index α _WS , and therefore, from these values, the power index α _WS Can be estimated. In addition, when the strain sensors 7 are attached to all the blades 24 constituting the rotor 25 and the moment at the center of the hub 23 is calculated from the bending moment of each blade 24, the window is operated on the same principle as in the first embodiment. Shea can be estimated.

In addition, if the bending moment when the blade 24 is horizontal is used, the horizontal wind shear can be estimated, or the height direction and horizontal wind shear may be estimated simultaneously. Further, the estimated wind shear may be input to the reliability evaluation device 40 of the second embodiment and the control device 31b of the third embodiment.

As described above, according to this embodiment as well, it is possible to estimate the wind shear with high accuracy with a simple configuration by measuring the load of the wind turbine generator.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned Example, Various modifications are included. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wind power generation system 2 ... Wind power generator 3 ... Operation management center 4 ... Electronic terminal 5 ... Communication network 6 ... Pitch angle control mechanism 7 ... Strain sensor 8 ... Anemometer 9 ... Thermometer 10 ... Barometer 11 ... Wind speed distribution 12 ... wind speed measurement unit 13 ... load measurement unit 14 ... temperature measurement unit 15 ... atmospheric pressure measurement unit 16, 16a, 16b ... storage unit 17 ... atmospheric density calculation unit 18 ... wind shear estimation unit 19 ... wind speed distribution calculation unit 21 ... tower 22 ... Nacelle 23 ... Hub 24 ... Blade 25 ... Rotor 26 ... Spindle 27 ... Speed increaser 28 ... Generator 29 ... Main frame 30 ... Power converters 31, 31a, 31b ... Control device 32 ... Wind condition estimation device 33 ... Wind shear function 34 ... Input I / F
35 ... Output I / F
36 ... Communication I / F
37 ... Internal bus 40 ... Reliability evaluation device 41 ... Operating condition acquisition unit 42 ... Load calculation unit 43 ... Design information 44 ... Reliability evaluation unit 45 ... Information output unit 51 ... Control amount calculation unit 52 ... Control information 61 ... Horizontal direction Wind speed distribution

Claims (15)

A wind turbine generator having at least a rotor and a nacelle and a tower that rotatably supports the nacelle, and a control device that controls the wind turbine generator,
The controller is
A load measuring unit that measures a load applied to the wind turbine generator, a storage unit that stores a wind shear function that defines a relationship between the load and the wind shear, and a wind shear that is calculated based on the load and the wind shear function. A wind power generation apparatus comprising a wind condition estimation device having a wind shear estimation unit. The wind turbine generator according to claim 1,
The wind shear estimation unit calculates a wind shear that is a wind velocity distribution in a height direction based on a wind shear function stored in the storage unit and the load input from the load measurement unit. Power generation device. The wind turbine generator according to claim 1,
The wind shear estimation unit calculates a wind shear, which is a wind velocity distribution in a horizontal direction, based on a wind shear function stored in the storage unit and the load input from the load measurement unit. apparatus. The wind turbine generator according to claim 2,
The controller is
A wind turbine generator having a reliability evaluation device that evaluates reliability of the wind turbine generator using wind shear that is a wind velocity distribution in the height direction. In the wind turbine generator according to claim 2 or claim 3,
The said load measurement part measures the load added to the said tower, The wind power generator characterized by the above-mentioned. In the wind turbine generator according to claim 2 or claim 3,
The said load measurement part measures distortion or acceleration as a load added to the said wind power generator, The wind power generator characterized by the above-mentioned. At least one wind power generator, a control device that controls the wind power generator, an electronic terminal that includes a display device, and a communication network that connects these to each other so that they can communicate with each other,
The controller is
A load measuring unit that measures a load applied to the wind turbine generator, a storage unit that stores a wind shear function that defines a relationship between the load and the wind shear, and a wind shear that is calculated based on the load and the wind shear function. A wind power generation system comprising a wind condition estimation device having a wind shear estimation unit. The wind power generation system according to claim 7,
The wind shear estimation unit calculates a wind shear that is a wind speed distribution in a height direction based on a wind shear function stored in the storage unit and the load input from the load measurement unit via the communication network. Wind power generation system characterized by that. The wind power generation system according to claim 7,
The wind shear estimation unit calculates a wind shear that is a wind speed distribution in a horizontal direction based on a wind shear function stored in the storage unit and the load input from the load measurement unit via the communication network. Wind power generation system characterized by The wind power generation system according to claim 8,
The controller is
A wind power generation system comprising a reliability evaluation device that evaluates the reliability of the wind power generation device using wind shear which is a wind velocity distribution in the height direction. In the wind power generation system according to claim 8 or claim 9,
The said load measurement part measures the load added to the tower of the said wind power generator, The wind power generation system characterized by the above-mentioned. In the wind power generation system according to claim 8 or claim 9,
The said load measurement part measures distortion or acceleration as a load added to the said wind power generator, The wind power generation system characterized by the above-mentioned. At least one wind power generator, a control device that controls the wind power generator, an electronic terminal that includes a display device, and a communication network that connects these to each other so that they can communicate with each other,
The control device has a load measuring unit that measures a load applied to the wind turbine generator,
The electronic terminal includes a storage unit that stores a wind shear function that defines a relationship between a load and wind shear, the load that is input from the load measurement unit via the communication network, and a window that is stored in the storage unit. A wind power generation system comprising a wind condition estimation device having a wind shear estimation unit for calculating wind shear based on a shear function. The wind power generation system according to claim 13,
The wind shear estimation unit calculates a wind shear that is a wind speed distribution in a height direction based on a wind shear function stored in the storage unit and the load input from the load measurement unit via the communication network. Wind power generation system characterized by that. The wind power generation system according to claim 13,
The wind shear estimation unit calculates a wind shear that is a wind speed distribution in a horizontal direction based on a wind shear function stored in the storage unit and the load input from the load measurement unit via the communication network. Wind power generation system characterized by

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