GB2568493A

GB2568493A - Pitch drive control module with sub-module

Info

Publication number: GB2568493A
Application number: GB1719004.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Franzak Bernd; Willers Mike; Prior John
Original assignee: Moog Unna GmbH
Current assignee: Moog Unna GmbH
Priority date: 2017-11-16
Filing date: 2017-11-16
Publication date: 2019-05-22
Also published as: GB201719004D0

Abstract

A pitch drive control module comprising a housing 2 and a sub-housing 8, the sub-housing is configured to be received into the housing, the sub-housing also includes a receiving means 80 for at least one customizable part. The customizable part could be a communication interface, it could also be a surge protection device or it could be a customizable circuit, such as a printed circuit board. The housing may have an opening 4 and the sub-housing can be configured to cover the opening. The sub-housing may have a faceplate 81, which may hold at least one serviceable part, such as a fuse. The faceplate may include at least one display element, such as an LED. It may also include a user interface 82, such as a manual control element. Independent claims directed to the housing, sub-housing, pitch drive and a wind turbine with the pitch drive are also included.

Description

Pitch drive control module with sub-module

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a pitch drive control module, and in particular to a removable sub-module of a pitch drive control module.

Background to the Invention

Wind turbines can be used to convert wind energy into electrical energy. A typical wind turbine has a tower and a gondola. The gondola comprises a rotor and a machine nacelle. The rotor consists of a hub and at least one rotor blade. The machine nacelle often houses the generator and a gearbox. Depending on the direction of wind, the gondola is turned into the wind in order to optimise the amount of wind energy converted to electrical energy.

The rotor blades of a wind turbine are rotated by pitch drives which are controlled by pitch drive controllers. Customer specific requirements has resulted in a variety of individual designed housings and increasing production costs. If the housing of a module has to be changed each time a customer wants to include specific controls or terminals each variant causes considerable costs. There is an urgent need for improvement in pitch cabinets.

An object of the invention is to allow in an easy way customer customizable versions.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a pitch drive control module for a wind turbine, comprising a housing and a sub-housing, wherein the sub-housing is configured to be received in the housing and comprising a receiving means, the receiving means being configured to receive at least one customer customizable part.

The advantage of putting the serviceable parts into a sub housing is that the sub housing can be accessed from the outside of the housing. A person who accesses the sub housing does not have to open the main housing. This reduces the risk to which this person is exposed to, as he can access the sub housing while the main housing can remain being connected to a power supply. This allows to send a person that does not have to meet safety criteria, for example special training, which may be needed to open the main housing, e.g. a switch cabinet. This also reduces the time to change the sub housing as the power supply does not need to be switch off before the sub housing is accessed and the power supply does not need to be switched on again after the same sub housing or a different sub housing is reinserted to the main housing.

In one aspect of the invention the housing comprises an opening which is covered by a faceplate of the sub-housing when the sub-housing is received in the housing. The serviceable part may be arranged directly behind the faceplate in the sub housing, so that it is easily accessible after the faceplate has been removed from the housing.

In another aspect of the invention the faceplate is configured such that it has a front and a back, the back being configured to receive at least one serviceable part. This aspect of the invention has the advantage when the faceplate is removed from the housing, the serviceable part is accessible without to have access the interior of the housing.

vln another aspect of the invention the receiving means is a carrier element, for example a In another aspect of the invention the receiving means is a carrier element, for example a shelf. The shelf allows to mount the serviceable parts on it. The shelf is for example a printed circuit board that connects electrically and mechanically to a corresponding connector inside the housing when the faceplate is attached to the housing again.

In another aspect of the invention the serviceable part comprises at least one surge protection device or a fuse. The surge protection devices or fuses are an example of a device that due to its nature cannot be guaranteed to survive the life expectancy of the pitch drive. In order to protect the pitch drive from adverse conditions, such as lightening, these devices are deliberately designed to become defective and therefore need replacement if this happens.

In another aspect of the invention the at least one serviceable part comprises at least one customizable circuit. This allows to individualize a pitch drive according to customer requirements without changing the layout or circuitry of a pitch cabinet.

In another aspect of the invention the at least one serviceable part comprises a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board preferably connects to a corresponding connector inside the housing to the internal wiring of the housing. This allows to add additional circuitry according to customer requirements which can communicate and/or control the standard circuitry of the pitch drive.

In another aspect of the invention the faceplate comprises at least one display element, such as a light emitting diode. This allows to indicate additional information to the service personal, for example that the surge suppresser has become defective.

In another aspect of the invention the faceplate comprises at least one user interface wich would allow for example to connect with measurement equipment to the internal circuitry of the housing.

In another aspect of the invention the user interface is a manual control element.

In another aspect of the invention the housing comprises an inner wall, the inner wall defining a receiving portion and a closed portion, the receiving portion being configured to receive the sub-housing. Preferably the inner wall is configured to prevent access to the closed portion through the opening. This prevents a service person to accidentally touch any current carrying parts if the changes the faceplate.

In another aspect of the invention the housing comprises a guide rail for guiding the subhousing into the housing. This allows easier insertion of the faceplate, especially if printed circuit boards, or other circuitry or elements are attached to the faceplate.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic showing an embodiment of the pitch drive control module with a faceplate;

Figure 2 shows the embodiment of Fig. 1 without the lid;

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of the housing of the pitch drive control module with a drawer;

Figure 4 shows the embodiment of Fig. 3 without the lid;

Figure 5 shows a wind turbine.

Description of Embodiments of the Invention

The following detailed description and figures provide examples of how the present invention can be implemented and should not be seen as limiting examples, rather illustrations of how the various features of the pitch drive control module can be used. Other optional variations will be evident upon a reading of the following description in light of the figures.

The above embodiments are provided as examples only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Further aspects of the present invention will be apparent from the appended claims.

Fig. 1 shows the housing 1 of a pitch drive module comprising a housing body 2 and a lid 3 for closing the housing. The lid 3 is fixed with screws 31 to the housing body 2. Terminals at the backside of the housing body 2 (not shown, as not visible in the perspective view of the figures) allow to connect circuitry which is accommodated by the housing 1 to external power supply wires, control inputs and control outputs (also not shown). The control outputs are the supply wires for a pitch motor (not shown) that is controlled by the circuitry of the pitch drive module. The housing body further comprises an opening 4 which in this embodiment can be closed with a face plate 5. In a preferred embodiment, the housing body has a groove 6 on the outside of the housing body 2, which is circumventing the opening 4 of the housing body 2. This groove 6 can accommodate a principally rectangular shaped seal 7, which allows protecting the interior of the housing 1 against dust and water spray when the faceplate 5 closes the opening 6.

The faceplate 5 can be individually equipped with a printed circuit board 51 which is attached to the back side of the face plate, i.e. the side of the face plate that is inside the housing when the face plate 5 is put over the opening 4 to cover the opening 4. For different specific clients requirements different printed circuit boards 51 may be used. For example the individual printed circuit boards may have a communication interface for each different bus system that is used by a specific client. Such communication bus systems may be Ethernet, RS485, CAN, Profibus, device net, FSOE to name the most common bus systems. By providing the various customer customized communication modules as individually equipped face plates 5 only one basic pitch drive module needs to be stocked and individual pitch modules can be assembled by inserting the appropriate customer customizable module into one single pitch drive module.

Such communication interfaces are vulnerable to over voltage and could be easily destroyed, for example by lightening. In one embodiment of the invention the invention the customized communication interfaces are equipped with voltage suppressors which protect the communication interface by sacrificing the less expensive voltage suppressor element. The easily accessible customer customizable module advantageously allows to easily exchange the voltage suppressor element without the need to remove the lid 3 from the housing body 2.

The face plate 5 may have additional plugs 52 or manual control elements such as switches, signalling elements such as LEDs, or display elements, such as LCD screens. The printed circuit board 51 and the elements on the outside of the face plate 5 may be connected to the circuitry in the inside of the housing 1 by cables 53.

Alternatively, in a standard version, where no additional elements or circuitry need to be provided, a plain faceplate can be used to close opening 4 of the housing body. This reduces the costs as the costs for a housing with a plain face plate is less than producing two versions of a housing, one with no opening and no face plate and one housing with an opening and a face plate.

Fig. 2 reveals more details of this embodiment as this figure shows the housing body from a similar perspective as Fig. 1, but without the lid 3 and without any circuitry. The housing body 2 may provide at the outside flanges 21 with through holes for fastening the housing 1 inside the hub of a hub of a wind turbine. The housing body further may provide at the outside cooling fins 22. Threaded holes 26 correspond with through holes (not visible as obscured by the screws 31) of the lid 3 through which the screws 31 pass to fix the lid 3. At the back of the housing body terminal holes 23 allow accommodating plugs for connecting power supply lines and control lines to the circuitry that will be accommodated by the housing 1. Inside the housing spacers 24 are provided for fixing printed circuit boards (not shown) for the circuitry. Partition walls 25 divide the interior of the housing body 2 into a space for the regular circuitry and a compartment 20 for receiving customer customized circuitry. One side of the compartment 20 comprises the opening 4 and allows to access the compartment 20 from the outside of the housing body 2.

The compartment 20 may be used to place additional circuitry or elements inside the compartment 20. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 and 2 however, the customer customized circuitry 51 is fixed to the back side of the faceplate 5 and protrudes to the inside of the compartment 20 when the faceplate 5 closes the opening 4 of the housing body 2.

Fig. 3 shows in another embodiment a housing 1 with a drawer 8. The drawer 8 comprises similar to the first embodiment a faceplate 81 which is attached to a drawer box 80. The drawer box 80 corresponds to the dimensions of the compartment 20 so that the drawer box 80 can be slide through the opening 4 into the compartment 20. Optionally rails inside the compartment may be used to guide the drawer box 80. The embodiment with the drawer 8 allows accommodating more voluminous circuitry as it would be possible with a printed circuit board attached to the back of the faceplate 5 as in the first embodiment. The drawer box 85 may receive one or more printed circuit boards. Connecting wires 83 may be connected to these circuit boards with plugs 84. Faceplate through holes 89 allow to fix the faceplate 81 to corresponding threaded holes 41 placed around the opening with face plate screws (not shown).

Fig. 4 shows the same embodiment as in Fig. 3, but this time without the lid 3 of the housing

1.

Another advantage of the invention is that for safety reasons maintenance personal may not be authorized to open the lid 3 of the housing 1. Therefore the arrangement of compartment 20, opening 4 and face plate 5 or the drawer 8 respectively, allows to give access to maintenance personal to part of the pitch drive module without risking that unauthorized removal of the lid 3 may cause damage to the circuitry residing in the housing body 2. It also allows to place elements with shorter life cycle expectancy or circuitry that is designed to be sacrificed for the purpose of preventing greater damage, such as voltage suppressors, in a customer customizable module and have it accessed or exchanged by non-specifically trained personal.

The described customer customizable pitch drive module is part of a wind turbine. Figure 5 shows an embodiment of a wind turbine 100 from a side view. A tower 1022 which supports the other component of the wind turbine 100 is fixed to the ground. Of course, the invention is not limited to on-shore installations but could also be used in connection with so-called offshore installations where the tower is fixed to a structure in the sea or floating in the sea. On top of the tower 102 a nacelle 101 is rotatable mounted such that the nacelle 101 rotates around the axis TA of the tower 102. The nacelle 101 comprises a rotor 103 and at least one rotor blade 104a which is rotatable fixed to the rotor 103. The wind turbine depicted in Figure 1 comprises three rotor blades 104a, 104b whereby only two rotor blades 104a, 104b are visible. The third rotor blade is not visible as it happens to be concealed by the rotor 103.

Each rotor blade 104a, 104b is mounted to a pitch drive unit 105a, 105b. As the wind turbine 100 in this example has three rotor blades 104a, 104b, there are three pitch drive units 105a, 105b, one for each rotor blade 104a, 104b. The three pitch drive units 105a, 105b are controlled by a pitch system controller 106. Each pitch drive unit 105a, 105b turns each rotor blade 105a, 105b around a rotor blade axis BA. By turning the rotor blades 105a, 105b around their axis BA the angle of attack of the rotor blades 105a, 105b to the wind can be set to an angle between 0 and 90 degrees, in some installations even negative angles or angles greater than 90 degrees are known. The angle of attack may be chosen thus that the blades 105a, 105b produce no lift, produce maximum lift, or any desired lift in between these two extremes.

In Figure 5 the nacelle 101 is pivoted around its axis TA such that the rotor 103 is facing the wind. In case the rotor blades 105a, 105b are pitched such that the wind generates lift on the rotor blades 105a, 105b, the lift will force the rotor 103 to spin around a rotor axis RA. An electric current generator 109 coupled by a generator shaft 108 to the rotor 103 produces electric energy which may be fed into an energy distributing net (not shown). The pitch angle of the rotor blades 105a, 105b eventually controls the rotation speed of the rotor 103 and thus also the amount of produced energy.

In one aspect of a wind turbine the pitch system controller 106 and the three pitch drive units 105a, 105b, constitute a pitch control sub system 106, 105a, 105b which controls the pitch angle of the rotor blades 104a, 104b independently from other sub systems of the wind turbine 100. A wind turbine may consist of several sub systems, for example another subsystem (not shown) for controlling the rotation of the nacelle 101 around the vertical axis TA and another subsystem comprising the current generator 109 for generating electric power. Each sub system may be supplied by a different manufacturer, respectively subcontractor and may be centrally controlled by the wind turbine control unit 107. In order to communicate with the wind turbine control unit 107 the communication modules of the pitch drives 105a, 105b are chosen to be compatible with the wind turbine control unit 107. By using customer customizable pitch drives 105a, 105b the pitch drives 105a, 105b can be easily adapted to the communication standard used by the wind turbine control unit 107.

Another example for an electric element arranged in the customer customizable module 5 is a relais as part of a safety chain. As relais due to their electromechanical nature may fail in a shorter time than the pure electronic parts, it is beneficial to arrange them in the customer customizable module 5, 8 to allow an easy replacement in case of failure of the safety chain relais.

Claims

1. A pitch drive control module for a wind turbine, comprising a housing and a subhousing, wherein the sub-housing is configured to be received in the housing and comprising a receiving means, the receiving means being configured to receive at least one customer customizable part.

2. A pitch drive control module according to claim 1 wherein the customer customizable part is a communication interface.

3. A pitch drive control module according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one customer customizable part comprises at least one surge protection device.

4. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the subhousing comprises a faceplate.

5. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the housing comprises an opening, and the faceplate of the sub-housing is configured to cover the opening when the sub-housing is received in the housing.

6. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the faceplate is configured such that it has a front and a back, the back being configured to receive at least one serviceable part.

7. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the receiving means is a carrier element.

8. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the receiving means is a shelf.

9. A pitch drive control module according any preceding claim, wherein the at least one serviceable part comprises at least one fuse.

10. A pitch drive control module according any preceding claim, wherein the at least one customer customizable part comprises at least one customizable circuit.

11. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the at least one customer customizable part comprises a printed circuit board.

12. A pitch drive control module according to any of claims 4 to 11, wherein the faceplate comprises at least one display element.

13. A pitch drive control module according to claim 12 wherein the at least one display element is a light emitting diode.

14. A pitch drive control module according to any of claims 4 to 13, wherein the faceplate comprises at least one user interface.

15. A pitch drive control module according to claim 14, wherein the user interface is a manual control element.

16. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the housing comprises an inner wall, the inner wall defining a receiving portion and a closed portion, the receiving portion being configured to receive the sub-housing.

17. A pitch drive control module according to claim 16, wherein the inner wall is configured to prevent access to the closed portion through the opening.

18. A pitch drive control module according to any preceding claim, wherein the housing comprises a guide rail for guiding the sub-housing into the housing.

19. A sub-housing configured to be received in a housing of a pitch drive control module for a wind turbine, the sub-housing comprising a faceplate and a shelf.

20. A sub-housing according to claim 19, wherein the faceplate comprises at least one display element.

21. A sub-housing according to claim 19, wherein the at least one display element is a light emitting diode.

22. A sub-housing according to any of claims 19 to 21, wherein the faceplate comprises at least one user interface.

23. A sub-housing according to claim 22, wherein the user interface is a manual control element.

24. A sub-housing according to any of claims 19 to 23, wherein the sub-housing comprises at least one surge protection device.

25. A sub-housing according to any of claims 19 to 24, wherein the at least one serviceable part comprises at least one fuse.

26. A sub-housing according to any of claims 19 to 25, wherein the sub-housing comprises at least one customizable circuit.

27. A sub-housing according to any of claims 19 to 26, wherein the sub-housing comprises a printed circuit board.

28. A housing of pitch drive control module for a wind turbine, the housing comprising an opening configured to receive a sub-housing.

29. A housing according to claim 28, wherein the housing comprises an inner wall, the inner wall defining a receiving portion and a closed portion, the receiving portion configured to receive the sub-housing.

30. A housing according to claim 29, wherein the inner wall is configured to prevent access to the closed portion through the opening.

31. A housing according to any of claims 28 to 30, wherein the housing comprises a guide rail for guiding a sub-housing into the housing.

32. A pitch drive comprising a pitch drive control module according to any of claims 1 to

20.

33. A wind turbine comprising a pitch drive according to claim 32.

34. A sub-housing to any of the preceding claims in which a relais for a safety chain is arranged.