CN117846897A

CN117846897A - Cable traction assembly for wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system

Info

Publication number: CN117846897A
Application number: CN202211211336.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郭力; 贾维银
Original assignee: Anhui Ronds Science & Technology Inc Co
Current assignee: Anhui Ronds Science & Technology Inc Co
Priority date: 2022-09-30
Filing date: 2022-09-30
Publication date: 2024-04-09

Abstract

The invention relates to a cable traction assembly for a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, comprising: a plurality of traction trolleys, each comprising a bracket and including a guide wheel mounted on the bracket and configured to travel on a track of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system; the cable is fixed on the traction trolley, so that the cable can run along with the traction trolley; wherein, the traction trolley and the blade monitoring device of the wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system share the track operation.

Description

Cable traction assembly for wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of wind power generation, in particular to a wind power generator blade clearance monitoring system and a cable traction assembly thereof.

Background

Wind generators, also known as wind turbine generators, wind turbines, etc., are devices that convert the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. The single machine power of the wind driven generator is continuously increased, the length of the blade is continuously increased, and the clearance between the blade tip and the tower of the wind driven generator is more and more difficult to ensure. At this time, once the tips of the blades rotating at high speed collide with the tower, the risk of the tower being destroyed by the machine is faced, and huge property loss and life safety possibly endangering are caused. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the clearance and status of the blade.

Blade clearance actually refers to the minimum clearance between the blade tip and the tower surface. For example, the GL certification code requires that the minimum clearance be no less than 30% of the blade in the undeformed state during operation of the unit. The requirements are for guaranteeing the safety of the wind turbine generator, and the blade tip and the tower barrel are prevented from interfering in the loading deformation process of the blade.

Although the blade clearance corresponding to various working conditions can be simulated in various simulation software, the wind conditions are complex and changeable in the actual running process of the unit, and the blade clearance is dynamically changed. For example, when wind thrust is large, the blade tip deforms in the tower direction, the nacelle is displaced horizontally rearward and the head assumes a downward inclined posture, resulting in a substantial reduction in blade clearance. Therefore, real-time monitoring of blade clearance is necessary.

The more common schemes in the industry for monitoring blade clearance currently include: the first method is to install a monitoring device under the nacelle, so that although the monitoring device can be guaranteed to rotate along with the hub, the clearance distance to be measured by the monitoring device is the length of the whole blade, and false alarms are easy to generate particularly in severe weather, such as heavy rain, haze, sand storm, heavy fog and the like. The second method is to install and fix the monitoring device at the horizontal position where the blade tip is right opposite to the tower, and around the tower at equal angles, because the monitoring device has higher cost and limited deployment quantity, the measurement angle is difficult to be guaranteed to be at the optimal position, and in addition, the horizontal position is tens of meters away from the ground, and the maintenance cost is high. The third method is that a movable monitoring device is arranged at the horizontal position of the blade tip opposite to the tower drum and surrounds the tower drum at equal angles, when the battery is used for supplying power, continuous uninterrupted operation is difficult to achieve, when the cable is used for supplying power and communicating, the reliability of the cable is difficult to ensure, in addition, the horizontal position is tens of meters away from the ground, and the maintenance cost is high.

In view of the foregoing, there is a strong need in the art for new wind turbine blade clearance monitoring schemes that mitigate or even eliminate deficiencies in the art and achieve further beneficial technical results.

The information included in this background section of the specification of the present invention, including any references cited herein and any descriptions or discussions thereof, is included solely for the purpose of technical reference and is not to be construed as a subject matter that would limit the scope of the present invention.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been developed in view of the above and other further concepts.

One of the basic concepts of the present invention is to provide a novel wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system that may have a novel arrangement of running rails on which a blade clearance monitoring device may follow the rotation of the blade circumferentially and may follow the rails from a horizontal rail in an operational position down along an upright rail to the ground for servicing and/or replacement, and then return to the operational position along the rail path. The blade clearance monitoring device can also conveniently follow the track from the ground to a working position near the horizontal height of the blade when being installed. Moreover, since the data for headroom monitoring needs to enter the control system, the data may need to be communicated with the control system in real time, and the monitoring device may need to work continuously, the power supply and the communication may be in a wired mode, so that the communication with the control system, such as real-time communication, can be realized, and the design of the horizontal track where the track can extend upwards from the bottom of the tower to the working position provides great convenience for wired power supply, communication and maintenance. In addition, because the power is taken from the position near the bottom of the tower, the cable extends upwards from the bottom of the tower, so that the installation and arrangement of the cable can avoid the severe environment, such as strong wind, lightning stroke and the like, when the cable is downwards arranged from the high altitude at the top of the tower, and the system power supply at the bottom of the tower has higher stability and reliability. The closed type rail, such as a rail with a square cross section, is easier to manufacture and supply, has low cost and can avoid dust accumulation.

Another basic idea of the invention is to provide a new wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system with a new drive design. According to the driving design, a transmission chain is arranged on the track along the track, a driving motor, a speed reducing mechanism, a transmission chain wheel and a blade clearance monitoring device can be assembled into a whole through a mounting bracket (such as a mounting seat), and the integrated assembly is driven to run on the track through meshing rolling of the transmission chain wheel on the transmission chain. The mounting bracket, e.g., the mounting seat, may have guide/limit wheels mounted thereon. All or part of the drive chain of this drive design, for example a drive chain mounted in a curved track section, is preferably a drive chain which can be bent sideways/has a three-dimensional degree of freedom of extension. The arrangement of the transmission chain and the chain wheel has great superiority compared with the traditional pulley sliding rail design and the transmission design of the gear rack. The running process and the track of the pulley slide rail are unstable and basically cannot run under load; the pinion-and-rack motion is substantially less likely to achieve two-dimensional and three-dimensional degrees of freedom of motion, and is less likely to achieve motion from an upright motion trajectory to a curved/twisted trajectory to a horizontal circumferential motion trajectory. The reduction gear, preferably a worm gear, not only saves installation space, but is naturally self-locking, which is very important and advantageous for fixing and maintaining the position of the drive and the blade clearance monitoring device on the rail when required.

Another basic idea of the invention is to provide a new circuit traction design. According to the traction design, a plurality of traction trolleys are arranged on the track along the track, the traction trolleys are connected in series through traction ropes, and the cable is fixed on the traction trolleys, so that the driving device and/or the blade clearance monitoring device can be conveniently supplied with power, the cable can conveniently and smoothly follow the driving device without basically acting the tension force, the installation and the operation of the cable are convenient, and the reliability of power supply and the service life of the cable are ensured.

More specifically, in accordance with the concepts of one aspect of the present invention, a cable traction assembly for a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system is disclosed, comprising: a plurality of traction trolleys, each comprising a bracket and including a guide wheel mounted on the bracket and configured to travel on a track of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system; a cable which is fastened to the traction carriage and can thus run following the traction carriage; wherein, the traction trolley and the blade monitoring device of the wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system share the track operation.

According to an embodiment, each of said traction trolleys comprises at least two pairs of upper and lower guide wheels running respectively on the upper and lower sides of said track.

According to an embodiment, the support is a support having a bottom plate and two side plates, on each of which a pair of said upper guide wheels and a pair of said lower guide wheels are mounted, respectively, in a side-by-side manner, so as to be able to roll along the upper and lower sides of the track, respectively.

According to an embodiment, the bracket is a U-shaped bracket further comprising a side guide mounted on each of the side plates between the pair of upper guide rollers and the pair of lower guide rollers, the side guide being configured to roll on a respective side of the track.

According to an embodiment, the bracket is machined from stainless steel, carbon steel or aluminum profiles.

According to an embodiment, a cable mount is provided on the support, via which cable mount the cable is fixed to the traction trolley, so that the cable can be moved with the movement of the traction trolley.

According to an embodiment, the end of the cable electrically connected to the drive means is fixed to the blade monitoring means of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system and/or to the drive means.

According to one embodiment, the track is a square track with a square cross section as a whole, and the upper guide wheel and the lower guide wheel of the traction trolley are respectively matched on the top surface and the bottom surface of the square track to roll.

According to an embodiment, the cable traction assembly further comprises a traction cable connecting the plurality of traction trolleys in series spaced apart from each other and connected to the drive device of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system.

According to an embodiment, the support is further provided with a traction cable mounting member.

According to an embodiment, the length of the cable between two adjacent said traction trolleys is greater than the length of the traction cable between said two traction trolleys.

According to an embodiment, the traction cable is continuous or segmented.

According to an embodiment, one end of the cable is electrically connected to the driving means and/or the blade monitoring means of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, and the other end is electrically connected to a system power supply near the bottom of the wind turbine tower.

According to an embodiment, the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, the side of the flange adjacent to the track being a bevel, the bevel forming an oblique angle A with respect to a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the guide wheel, wherein 0 < A.ltoreq.30°. According to one embodiment, 5A 20.

According to an embodiment, the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, the side of the flange adjacent to the rail is an arc-shaped surface, and the arc radius of the arc-shaped surface is smaller than the bending radius of the rail.

Also disclosed is a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, comprising: a rail mounted on a tower of the wind turbine, the rail comprising a first rail section extending upwardly from a bottom of the tower along the tower, and a second rail section mounted around the tower at a position near a horizontal height where the tips of the wind turbine blades are directly opposite the tower and extending generally horizontally about one turn; the driving device comprises a motor, a speed reducing mechanism and a transmission sprocket, wherein the rotation motion of the motor is transmitted to the transmission sprocket through the speed reducing mechanism so as to drive the transmission sprocket to rotate; the mounting seat is provided with a guide wheel which rolls on the track, and the driving device is rotatably arranged on the mounting seat; the transmission chain is fixedly arranged on the track along the extending direction of the track, and the transmission chain wheel is meshed and matched with the transmission chain so as to be capable of travelling along the track together with the driving device and the mounting seat when rotating; and the blade clearance monitoring device is used for monitoring the blade clearance of the wind driven generator, and is connected to the mounting seat, so that the wind driven generator can be driven by the driving device to travel along the track.

According to an embodiment, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system further comprises a system power supply and a communication gateway at or near the ground at the bottom of the tower for powering and communicating with the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system.

According to an embodiment, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system further comprises a cable pulling assembly comprising: a plurality of traction trolleys, each of which is installed in the track and runs along the extending direction of the track; and one end of the cable is electrically connected to the motor and/or the blade clearance monitoring device, and the other end of the cable is electrically connected to the system power supply and can be further connected to a communication gateway in the case that the communication is wired communication.

According to an embodiment, the cable is fixed or clamped on the plurality of traction trolleys, so that the cable can move with the movement of the traction trolleys.

According to an embodiment, the cable traction assembly further comprises a traction cable having one end connected to the drive means, wherein the plurality of traction trolleys mounted within the track are each secured to the traction cable at a plurality of spaced apart locations thereof by brackets, such that the traction trolleys and the traction cable are fixedly connected to the drive means.

According to an embodiment, the end of the cable electrically connected to the blade clearance monitoring device and/or the motor is fixed to the blade clearance monitoring device and/or the drive device.

According to an embodiment, the cable between two adjacent traction trolleys is longer than the traction cable.

According to one embodiment, the traction trolley comprises a bracket, and two pairs of upper guide wheels and two pairs of lower guide wheels mounted on the bracket and configured to run along the left and right sides of the track above and below the track, respectively.

According to an embodiment, the bracket is a U-shaped bracket further comprising side guide wheels mounted between the pair of upper guide wheels and the pair of lower guide wheels on each of the side plates, the side guide wheels being configured to roll on corresponding sides of the track, respectively.

According to an embodiment, the traction trolley and the mounting seat share the track rolling motion.

According to an embodiment, the drive chain is a side-bendable drive chain.

According to an embodiment, the drive chain is a loadable toothed or roller chain.

According to an embodiment, the mounting comprises a lower bracket and two upper bracket parts, wherein each of the upper bracket parts is independently pivotable relative to the lower bracket.

According to an embodiment, the upper bracket parts are upper U-shaped parts, each of which comprises a bottom plate and two side plates extending upwards from the bottom plate.

According to an embodiment, an upper guide wheel and a lower guide wheel are respectively mounted on each side plate of each upper U-shaped part, and the upper guide wheel and the lower guide wheel respectively roll on the upper surface and the lower surface of the rail.

According to an embodiment, a side guide is further mounted on each of the side plates of each of the upper U-shaped portions between the upper guide and the lower guide thereof, the side guide being configured for rolling movement on the sides of the track.

According to an embodiment, two pivot holes are provided in the lower bracket, the two upper bracket parts each being pivotally mounted on the lower bracket by a pivot passing through a respective one of the pivot holes.

According to an embodiment, a thrust ball bearing sleeved on the pivot is further arranged at the lower end of the pivot hole of the lower bracket.

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is fixedly mounted to the bottom surface of the rail and extends along the rail.

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is fixedly mounted by rivets or screws in a position near the centre line on the bottom surface of the rail.

According to an embodiment, the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, the side of the flange adjacent to the track being a bevel, the bevel forming an oblique angle A with respect to a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the guide wheel, wherein 0 < A.ltoreq.30°.

According to one embodiment, 5A 20.

According to an embodiment, the blade clearance monitoring device is an integral blade monitoring device with a blade clearance monitoring function; alternatively, the blade clearance monitoring device is a tandem blade monitoring device composed of a plurality of serially arranged functional modules, wherein one of the functional modules is a clearance monitoring module. The tandem functional module arrangement has a number of technical advantages, for example, the drive and monitoring device can be loaded less, the center of gravity is more stable, and the operational stability, reliability and maintainability can be improved.

According to an embodiment, the speed reducing mechanism is a worm wheel and a worm in meshed engagement, wherein the worm is in driving engagement with a rotating shaft of the motor, and the worm wheel is in driving engagement with the driving sprocket.

According to one embodiment, the worm wheel is fixed to one side of a lower bracket of the mount, and the drive sprocket is rotatably mounted to the opposite side of the lower bracket coaxially with the worm wheel.

According to an embodiment, the rail has an overall polygonal cross section, the polygonal shape being configured such that the rail has a flat bottom and top surface after installation and has two perpendicular sides or two inclined upper sides or two curved upper curved surfaces.

According to an embodiment, the cross section of the track is selected from one of the following: square, trapezoidal, truncated isosceles triangle, pentagon, hexagon and drum.

According to an embodiment, the track is a square track with a square cross section as a whole, and the upper guide wheel and the lower guide wheel of the traction trolley, and the upper guide wheel and the lower guide wheel of the mounting seat roll on the top surface and the bottom surface of the square track respectively. Square rails are easier to manufacture and supply and are less costly.

According to an embodiment, the rail further comprises a mounting member fixed to the top surface, by means of which the rail is mounted on the tower of the wind power generator.

According to an embodiment, the rail is mounted at a level substantially flush with the blade tip or within 1 meter of the level of the blade tip.

According to an embodiment, the blade clearance monitoring device comprises at least one of a millimeter wave range finder, a laser range finder, an ultrasonic range finder and a video camera.

According to an embodiment, the track is a metal track and is grounded.

According to an embodiment, the blade clearance monitoring device is capable of following the rotation of yaw of the wind turbine along the track, such that the blade clearance monitoring device is capable of rotating to a vertically lowest point position in alignment with the blade tip.

According to an embodiment, the track further comprises a curved track section interposed between the first track section and the second track section, the curved track section tapering from an upwardly, e.g. vertically extending, orientation of the first track section to a horizontally extending orientation of the second track section.

According to an embodiment, the traction cable is selected from one of a metal cable, a metal wire and a metal chain.

According to an embodiment, a plurality of dredging holes for draining water and/or sand are provided on the rail.

According to an embodiment, a part or all of the drive chain is a laterally bendable chain drive chain with three-dimensional degrees of freedom of extension.

According to an embodiment, the track is formed from stainless steel, carbon steel or aluminium profiles.

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is an uninterrupted chain fixedly mounted on the rail along the length of the rail.

According to an embodiment, the drive chain is constituted by at least two, for example three, strands of chain which are spliced along the length of the track and fixed thereto.

According to an embodiment, the track is preferably made of an aluminium alloy profile, providing advantages in terms of cost, weather resistance, easy workability, easy replacement and maintainability.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the transmission is realized by adopting the meshing between the chain wheel and the chain fixedly arranged on the track and the speed reducing mechanism in the form of a worm gear, so that the device has the advantages of no slip, strong climbing capacity, self-locking during shutdown, stable position of the driving device even when bearing external force, simple structure and the like.

Further embodiments of the invention also enable other advantageous technical effects, not listed one after another, which may be partly described below and which are anticipated and understood by a person skilled in the art after reading the present invention.

Drawings

The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of these embodiments, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the embodiments of the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wind turbine complete machine equipped with a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the layout and installation locations of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion of the wind turbine shown in FIG. 1, illustrating an enlarged view of a blade tip of the wind turbine and a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged schematic view of a portion of the wind turbine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, illustrating a horizontal track segment extending approximately one turn generally horizontally about the tower of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the blade monitoring device.

FIG. 4A is an enlarged schematic side view of a portion of the wind turbine and wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 2, illustrating a portion of the horizontal track section and the curved track section of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system and a plurality of cable pulling assemblies disposed thereon.

FIG. 4B is a further enlarged schematic illustration of a partial configuration of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 3, illustrating a portion of a horizontal rail section of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system and a blade monitoring device mounted thereon, and a portion of a cable pulling assembly disposed on the horizontal rail section.

Fig. 5 is a further enlarged partial view of the configuration shown in fig. 4B from another perspective.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic view of a drive device and a blade monitoring device of a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows an enlarged schematic view of the drive device and the blade monitoring device shown in fig. 6 assembled together by means of a mounting seat in a partially cut-away form.

Fig. 8 schematically shows the drive device, blade monitoring device, mount etc. configuration of fig. 6 from another perspective.

FIG. 9 is a view showing the configuration of the drive device of FIG. 8 with the blade monitoring device removed and showing the two upper U-shaped members of the mount each independently pivotable relative to the lower portion.

Fig. 10 is a partial perspective schematic view of the drive arrangement of fig. 8-9, particularly illustrating the idler and pivot designs of the mount.

FIG. 11 is a partial perspective schematic view of another embodiment of a drive device, which is substantially identical to the configuration shown in FIG. 10, except for the addition of a side guide design to the mount.

Fig. 12 illustrates a square cross-section track in which an electrical heating device may be provided, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates an arrangement and design of a guide wheel of a mount according to an embodiment, particularly illustrating a flange design on the guide wheel and a beveled design of the flange that facilitates smooth over-bending of the guide wheel.

FIG. 14 illustrates a configuration of a jockey wheel in accordance with an embodiment, particularly illustrating its flange design and bevel design and chamfer design on the flange that facilitate smooth over-bending of the jockey wheel.

Fig. 15 shows an enlarged schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a traction cart according to an embodiment, showing the construction and details of the traction cart of this embodiment.

Detailed Description

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

It is to be understood that the illustrated and described embodiments are not limited in application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The illustrated embodiments may be other embodiments and can be implemented or performed in various ways. Examples are provided by way of explanation, not limitation, of the disclosed embodiments. Indeed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the various embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. For example, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield still a further embodiment. Accordingly, the present disclosure is intended to cover such modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of "including," "comprising," or "having" and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

In the present invention, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "coupled," and the like are to be construed broadly and include, for example, either permanently connected or removably connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to the specific circumstances.

The invention is described and illustrated in further detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wind turbine overall installed with a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the layout and installation locations of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion of the wind turbine shown in FIG. 1, illustrating an enlarged view of a blade tip of the wind turbine and a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 1.

1-2, the general construction of a wind turbine 100 and a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system 200 mounted thereon is illustrated. Wind turbine 100 generally includes a tower (or tower), a rotor, and a generator, tower 120 being shown. A wind turbine generally consists of blades, a hub, reinforcement members, etc., with the blades 110 being particularly labeled and illustrated as shown. Blades 110 of wind turbine 100 are rotated by wind power to generate electricity, and the headpiece of the generator is rotatable together with blades 110. The wind power generation power source may include, for example, a wind power generator set, a battery charge controller, an inverter, an unloader, a grid-tie controller, a battery pack, and the like.

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged schematic view of a portion of the wind turbine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, illustrating a horizontal track segment 210 extending approximately one turn generally horizontally about the tower 120 of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and a blade monitoring device 300. Although the blade monitoring device 300 is illustrated as a unitary blade monitoring device 300 having blade clearance monitoring functionality, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the blade monitoring device 300 may be comprised of a plurality of tandem functional modules (not shown, wherein one functional module has clearance monitoring functionality) that operate on the rail 200 in a tandem arrangement, and that a tandem arrangement of functional modules may be advantageous, particularly where the blade monitoring device 300 is required to perform a plurality of functions including blade clearance monitoring, for example, the drive and monitoring devices may be less loaded, the center of gravity may be more stable, and the stability, reliability, and maintainability of operation may be improved.

According to this embodiment of the invention, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system may include a rail 200, as shown in fig. 1-3, the rail 200 being mounted on the tower of the wind turbine, including a generally upright rail section 230 extending upwardly from the bottom of the tower 120 along the tower 120, and a horizontal rail section 210 mounted around the tower 120 and extending generally horizontally for about one turn (about 360 degrees, which may also be less than 360 degrees depending on the particular application) at a generally same level of the wind turbine blade tip 111, for example at a level equal to or slightly above the blade tip 111. For example, the horizontal rail segment 210 may be mounted at a level that is substantially flush with the blade tip 111 or within 2 meters, e.g., within 1 meter, of the level of the blade tip 111 to ensure that the blade monitoring device 300 is at that level to monitor at least the parameters/conditions of the blade tip 111 including clearance.

The curved track section 220 is connected between the horizontal track section 210 and the upright track section 230, enabling a smooth transition from the upright track section 230 to the horizontal track section 210. In other words, the curved track section 220 tapers from an upwardly extending, e.g., generally vertically extending, orientation of the upright track section 230 to a generally horizontally extending orientation of the horizontal track section 210. In addition, depending on the orientation of the horizontal track section 210 and the vertical track section 230, and to facilitate smooth operation of the cable traction assembly and monitoring device on the track, the curved track section 220 may undergo gradual lateral bending and twisting in addition to the in-plane bending shown in FIG. 2 to achieve a smooth transition between the horizontal track section 210 and the vertical track section 230. Track segments 210, 220, and 230 are each mounted on a surface of tower 120, as shown, and as further detailed below. Of course, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that although the track segment 230 is shown as generally upright in FIGS. 2-3, it is merely required to maintain an integral upwardly extending orientation from about the bottom of the tower, such as obliquely upward, helically upward, etc., which may be accomplished and are within the scope of the present invention.

This rail arrangement of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system of the present invention is clearly different from the prior art and has a number of advantages. In particular, some prior art blade clearance monitoring devices merely arrange a circle of track around the tower, neither such a bottom-up, e.g., vertically oriented track section nor a curved track section of the present invention. The blade clearance monitoring devices of the prior art are typically powered by a power source located at the top of the wind turbine tower, and therefore may or may not have a straight rail extending downwardly from the top of the tower and also disposed on the surface of the tower, but merely run power cables extending downwardly from above to the blade clearance monitoring device and/or the motor, such cables running at high altitudes with various risks, and installation and maintenance are not easy. In contrast, the track design of the present invention, where the track extends upwardly from near the bottom of the tower, the cable pulling assembly and the blade clearance monitoring device may all run on the entire track, and thus the power supply for the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system of this embodiment of the present invention is located near the bottom of the tower, such as on the ground or other ground facilities. This track arrangement allows not only the various condition monitoring devices on the track, including the blade clearance monitoring devices, but also the drive devices such as motors and the like, to be conveniently transported back to the ground for service and maintenance, which is not readily and reliably accomplished by the prior art. Moreover, the cable placement from the ground up avoids the drawbacks of prior art cable placement from the overhead down. In addition, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system may provide greater reliability and safety and may avoid risks such as lightning strikes to a greater extent by taking power from power facilities located at the foundation or ground.

Various devices may be mounted on the track, including blade clearance monitoring devices such as millimeter wave rangefinders, other condition monitoring devices such as laser ranging equipment, ultrasonic ranging equipment, video cameras, cable traction assemblies, and the like. As described below.

FIG. 4A is an enlarged schematic side view of a portion of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIGS. 2-3, illustrating a portion of the horizontal track section 210 and the curved track section 220 of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, and a plurality of traction trolleys 470 disposed thereon. FIG. 4B is a further enlarged schematic illustration of a partial configuration of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 3, illustrating a portion of the horizontal rail section 210 of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system and the blade monitoring device 300 mounted thereon, and a portion of the traction cart 470 disposed thereon. As shown, these traction trolleys 470 are provided primarily for the purpose of traction cable 450 to power the drive apparatus 400 and monitoring apparatus 300, etc. to ensure proper operation thereof. Moreover, because the drive device 400 and the monitoring device 300 may be movable on the track, the cable pulling cart 470 should also be movable on the track to facilitate pulling (power and/or communication) the cable 450, as described further below.

Fig. 5 is a further enlarged partial view of the configuration shown in fig. 4B from another perspective. Fig. 7 shows, in partial cross-section, the assembly of the drive device 400 on the square rail 200, and an exemplary assembly configuration of the drive chain 240. It is apparent that the track 200 has a generally square cross-section as shown, however, other forms of construction and cross-section of the track 200 are possible. For example, the rail 200 may have an overall polygonal cross-section, the polygonal shape being configured such that the rail 200 has a flat bottom and top surface, and two perpendicular sides, or two sloped upper sides, or two curved upper curves, when installed. The track 200 may be square, trapezoidal, truncated isosceles triangle, pentagonal, hexagonal, drum-shaped, etc. in cross-section. The rail 200 may be integrally formed, for example, from a metal such as aluminum, aluminum alloy, steel, or the like.

As shown in fig. 5-6, the horizontal square rail 210 is secured to the tower 120 by rail mounting brackets 122 on the top surface, according to the orientation shown in fig. 5 and 7. For example by direct welding, screwing or by other means of direct or indirect fastening to the tower. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other track segments such as 220 and 230 may be mounted to the tower 120 in the same or similar manner.

In addition, it is important that the drive chain 240 be fixedly mounted to the rail 200, such as near the centerline of the bottom surface of the rail 200 or elsewhere, by means of rivets, screws, bolting, etc., as shown in fig. 5 and 7-10, the drive chain 240 being disposed along a portion or the entire extension and direction of extension of the rail 200, and in the present invention, being fixedly mounted to the rail 200 so that the sprocket 440 engages therewith and travels along the drive chain 240, in the orientation shown in fig. 5. Fig. 5 and 7 also show the motor 410 and the reduction mechanism 430 mounted on the mount 420 of the drive device 400, and the blade monitoring device 300, which may be mounted on the other side opposite the motor, for example. The reduction mechanism 430 may be, for example, a worm gear reduction mechanism, as described in further detail below.

In some cold, e.g., ice prone, application environments, such as high altitude areas or when wind turbines are installed offshore, the track 200 of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system of the present invention may ice due to rain and cold, thereby affecting the normal use of the track 200. Thus, as shown in fig. 12, a preferably heating wire mounting groove 260 may also be provided in, for example, a square rail 200, in which an electric heating element 250, such as an electric heating belt, heating wire or thermistor PTC, may be accommodated for heating the rail, de-icing and/or de-watering. Although the heating elements 250 are provided on both sides as shown in fig. 12, the number and arrangement positions of the heating elements 250 may be changed as desired, for example, more or less, and may be provided on any configuration of the rail 200.

An additional benefit of a regularly shaped closed track, such as square track 200, is that in some rainy and dusty application environments, water and sand accumulation in the grooves of the track (in the case of track grooving) can be avoided, and the cost of manufacturing and machining a regularly shaped closed track is lower, while the strength and rigidity can be higher.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic view of a drive device 400 and a blade monitoring device 300 of a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 7 shows a schematic end view of the construction shown in fig. 6 in partial cutaway. Fig. 8 to 10 show the configurations of the drive device, the blade monitoring device, the mount and the like of one embodiment. As shown in fig. 6-10, this embodiment of the drive device 400 may include a motor 410, a reduction mechanism 430, and a drive sprocket 440. As an illustrative example, the reduction mechanism 430 is mainly constituted by a worm wheel and a worm screw engaged with each other. The worm gear type speed reducing mechanism 430 not only can well perform speed reduction left and right, but also is self-locking, so that the blade clearance monitoring device is convenient to fix on a track, which is not provided with other types of speed reducing mechanisms. The motor shaft of the motor 410 is, for example, coaxially and drivingly connected to a worm to transmit rotational motion from the motor, and the rotational motion is transmitted to the drive sprocket 440 by a worm wheel engaged therewith and decelerating. As shown in fig. 7, the worm gear reduction mechanism 430 is mounted on the illustrated right side of the mount 420, and on the illustrated left side of the mount 420, the drive sprocket 440 may be mounted by, for example, coaxial or coaxial means. Thus, the blade monitoring device 300 and the driving device 400 are assembled together by the mount 420. The drive sprocket 440 engages a drive chain 240 secured to the track as shown in fig. 7. Thus, when driven to rotate by the motor 410, the driving sprocket 440 of the driving device 400 can be engaged with the driving chain 240 fixed on the rail 200 to roll along the rail 200, for example, roll forward or backward, and thus the driving device 400, the mounting seat 420 and the blade monitoring device 300 together can be driven to travel along the rail 200.

The drive chain 240 may be a roller chain. Of course, the drive chain 240 may be in other forms of mating engagement with a drive sprocket, such as a toothed chain. Since the drive chain 240 needs to extend upwardly, e.g., generally upright, horizontally, circumferentially with the track 200, lateral bending and/or twisting may be required, it is preferred that at least a portion or all of the drive chain 240 be a laterally bendable chain drive chain, which may have three-dimensional degrees of freedom of extension.

To facilitate smooth travel of the entire drive apparatus 400 and blade monitoring apparatus 300 along the track 200, as shown in fig. 8-10, according to one embodiment, the mount 420 may include a lower bracket 423 and two upper bracket portions 421 and 422, such as upper bracket portions 421 and 422 that are generally U-shaped, each upper U-shaped portion 421 or 422 being independently pivotable relative to the lower bracket 423, such as upper U-shaped portion 421 or 422 being independently pivotable relative to the lower bracket 423 from the orientation shown in fig. 8 to the orientation shown in fig. 9, such that the mount 420 can flexibly adjust as it is bent over the track, smoothly passing over a curve.

Each of the upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422 includes a bottom plate and two side plates extending upward from the bottom plate. As shown in fig. 10, an upper guide wheel 421A and a lower guide wheel 421C are mounted on one side plate of the upper U-shaped portion 421, and an upper guide wheel 421B and a lower guide wheel 421D are mounted on the other side plate opposite thereto, and a pivot 480 is mounted on the bottom plate of the upper U-shaped portion 421, as described in detail below. Similarly, one side plate of the upper U-shaped portion 422 is mounted with an upper guide wheel 422A and a lower guide wheel 422C, and the other side plate opposite thereto is mounted with an upper guide wheel 422B and a lower guide wheel 422D, and the bottom plate of the upper U-shaped portion 422 is mounted with another pivot 480, as described in detail below. The upper and lower guide wheels are configured to roll over and under the track 200, act as a guide, limit and centralize for movement, and prevent bouncing during operation. The guide wheels facilitate smooth operation of the driving device 400 and the blade monitoring device 300 along the rail 200, and prevent jumping, derailment, etc. during operation.

As shown in fig. 5-10, a lower bracket 423 may be provided with a straight plate 423A on which the blade monitoring device 300, such as a clearance gauge, or other condition monitoring apparatus, may be mounted. The lower bracket 423 may also be provided with two pivot holes 423D and 423E at positions corresponding to the bottom plates of the two upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422. The two pivot holes 423D and 423E may be purposely thickened as shown so that two lengths of pivot 480 may pass therethrough, as shown in fig. 10. One end of the two pivots 480 may be secured to the floor of the corresponding upper U-shaped portion, for example, by threading into the two pivot holes 423D and 423E, or/and may be otherwise secured with a nut or nut. The other ends of the two pivots 480 are pivotally mounted to the lower bracket 423. The pivoting of the upper U-shaped part relative to the lower bracket can be achieved, for example, by the end flange of the other end abutting against the end face of the corresponding pivot hole. As a preferred example, thrust ball bearings 423B and 423C may be interposed between the end flange of the other end and the corresponding pivot holes 423D and 423E, so that it is ensured that the two upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422 are exactly and reliably fitted with respect to the lower bracket 423, and that the two upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422 are each smoothly pivoted independently with respect to the lower bracket 423.

Fig. 11 is a partial perspective schematic view of another embodiment of a drive apparatus 400, which is substantially identical to the configuration shown in fig. 10, except for the addition of a side guide design to the mount. A side guide is added to each side plate of the upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422, 421E, 421F, 422E and 422F, respectively. These side guide wheels 421E, 421F, 422E and 422F roll on the left and right sides of the rail after the driving device 400 is mounted on the rail 200, further play a role in guiding movement, (left and right) limiting, centering and preventing derailment, and of course may further contribute to smooth overstretching.

Fig. 13-14 illustrate one design of a guide wheel that facilitates track bending. As shown in fig. 13-14, the upper guide 421A of the mounting block is illustrated as an example. The upper guide wheel 421A may have a roller body 421A1 rolling on a rail, and a flange 421A2 integrally formed therewith. An arc, such as concave arc C, is used between flange 421A2 and roller body 421A1 to avoid stress concentrations and may more or less facilitate over-bending. Preferably, the end face of the flange 421A2 on the side proximate to the rail after installation is designed as a bevel S forming an oblique angle A with a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation R of the guide wheel, where 0 < A.ltoreq.30 °, for example more preferably 5.ltoreq.A.ltoreq.20 °. In the case where the end face of the flange 421A2 on the side proximate to the rail after installation is designed as an arcuate face, particularly an arcuate face that bows outwardly, the arcuate face preferably has a radius of arc that is less than the radius of curvature of the rail to facilitate over-bending. Fig. 13 shows the upper guide wheel with a design of the bevel S in the case of an over-bend, it being seen that, in particular inside a bend of the rail, the design of the bevel S greatly reduces or even avoids interference/obstruction of the rail side against the rolling of the guide wheel. While fig. 13-14 illustrate only this design for the upper guide wheel of the mount, the lower guide wheel of the mount may be used with this design. Likewise, the upper and lower guide wheels of the traction cart may be of such a design, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Fig. 15 illustrates an embodiment of one of the traction trolleys 470 that can roll on the track. For example, as shown in fig. 4A-4B, the cable 450 and/or the traction cable 460 may be secured to the traction cart 470. The traction cable 460 may be selected from one of a metal cable, a metal wire, and a metal chain, for example, may be in the form of a steel wire or a steel rope, and the use of the traction cable 460 to connect all of the traction trolleys 470 on the track has the advantage that the cable 450 may be substantially free of traction/tension during traction, which may be advantageous to ensure a life of the cable 450 and reliable power supply, thereby improving the reliability of operation of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system.

Fig. 15 is an enlarged schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a traction cart 470, showing the construction and details of the traction cart 470 of this embodiment. Similar to the placement of the guide wheels on the mounting block 420, in this embodiment, the traction cart 470 has a bracket, e.g., a U-shaped bracket, integrally formed from a bottom plate and two side plates extending upwardly from the bottom plate, which may be machined, for example, from channel steel (or aluminum alloy) or I-steel (or aluminum alloy profile). A total of 8 guide wheels are mounted on the U-shaped bracket. Wherein, a pair of upper guide wheels 471A and 471B and a pair of lower guide wheels 471C and 471D, which can all play a role of guiding, limiting and righting movement, are mounted on one of the side plates 471 of the traction cart 470. A pair of upper guide wheels 472A and 472B and a pair of lower guide wheels 472C and 472D, which serve to guide, limit and centralize movement and prevent run-out, may be mounted to the other side plate 472 of the towing trolley 470. These guide wheels may help the traction cart 470 roll smoothly along the track 200, so that as the blade monitoring device 300 and the drive device 400 run along the track 200, their (power and/or communication) cables 450 may be carried by the traction cart 470 to follow them along the track 200, providing safe and reliable power and/or communication. The upper and lower guide wheels of the traction cart 470 may each have the same configuration and design as the upper and lower guide wheels of the mounting block 420, as they will operate the common rail 200. In addition, the upper and lower guide wheels of the traction cart 470 may also have a curve-passing design with a slope S or a cambered surface. These are all understood by those skilled in the art and are within the scope of the present invention.

On the pulling trolley 470, for example on its bottom plate 473, there can also be provided a cable mount 475, which can for example comprise a body with a clamping groove 475A for receiving the mounted cable 450, and for example two fastening screws 476, which can fasten the cable 450 in the clamping groove 475A. A traction cable mount may also be provided on traction cart 470, which may be, for example, a lug (not shown) or other configuration for mounting traction cable 460. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the traction cable mounts and traction trolleys may take forms other than those shown, so long as the attachment of the stationary traction cable and cable is enabled, and remain within the scope of the invention. In addition, in order to avoid the cable 450 from being pulled as much as possible, the length of the cable 450 installed between the adjacent two traction trolleys 470 of the track 200 should be arranged to be longer than the length of the traction cable 460 installed between the two traction trolleys 470, so that the risk of the cable being pulled directly during the operation of the traction trolleys 470 can be avoided as much as possible.

To perform the function of monitoring tip clearance, the blade monitoring device 300 includes at least a blade clearance monitoring instrument, such as a rangefinder. Additionally, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, the blade monitoring device may also include other devices, such as video cameras, infrared cameras, temperature sensors, and the like, in order to enable monitoring of other states and/or parameters of the blade.

In addition, a wire storage box may be further disposed at the bottom of the tower 120 for receiving the traction cable and/or the electric cable.

In the event that the weight of the traction assembly is insufficient, it is also contemplated that a counterweight suspended from the traction cable may be provided near the bottom of the tower 120 for properly tensioning the traction assembly.

According to an example, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system of the present invention may include a lightning strike protection ground design, e.g., the entire track is made of metallic material and grounded.

According to an example, the blade monitoring device 300 is configured to be able to follow the rotation of the blades 110 of the wind turbine along the track 210.

Therefore, although the present invention has been described in more detail by way of the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, which are merely for the purpose of describing and illustrating the present invention. Many other equivalent embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A cable traction assembly for a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, the cable traction assembly comprising:

a plurality of traction trolleys, each comprising a bracket and including a guide wheel mounted on the bracket and configured to travel on a track of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system;

A cable which is fastened to the traction carriage and can thus run following the traction carriage;

wherein, the traction trolley and the blade monitoring device of the wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system share the track operation.

2. The cable pulling assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the pulling trolleys includes at least two pairs of upper and lower guide wheels that run above and below the track, respectively.

3. The cable pulling assembly of claim 2, wherein the bracket is a bracket having a bottom plate and two side plates, a pair of the upper guide wheels and a pair of the lower guide wheels being mounted on each of the side plates in a side-by-side manner, respectively, so as to be capable of rolling movement along an upper face and a lower face of the rail, respectively.

4. The cable pulling assembly of claim 3, wherein the bracket is a U-shaped bracket further comprising a side guide mounted between the pair of upper guide rollers and the pair of lower guide rollers on each side plate, the side guide configured to roll on a respective side of the track.

5. The cable hauling assembly of claim 1, wherein a cable mount is provided on the bracket, the cable being secured to the hauling trolley via the cable mount such that the cable is movable with movement of the hauling trolley.

6. The cable pulling assembly of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the track is a square track having a square cross section overall, and the upper and lower guide wheels of the pulling cart are engaged in rolling motion on top and bottom surfaces of the square track, respectively.

7. The cable hauling assembly of any one of claims 1-5, further including a hauling cable connecting the plurality of hauling dollies in series spaced apart from one another and connected to a drive of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system.

8. The cable retractor assembly of claim 7, wherein said bracket further includes a retractor cable mount.

9. The cable hauling assembly of claim 7, wherein a length of the cable between two adjacent hauling dollies is greater than a length of the hauling cable between the two hauling dollies.

10. The cable pulling assembly of claim 7, wherein the pulling cable is continuous or segmented.

11. A cable traction assembly according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein one end of the cable is electrically connected to the drive means and/or blade monitoring means of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system and the other end is electrically connected to a system power supply near the bottom of the wind turbine tower.

12. The cable pulling assembly of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the guide pulley is a flanged guide pulley, the side of the flange proximate the track being a bevel, the bevel forming an oblique angle a relative to a plane perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the guide pulley, wherein 0 < a ∈30 °.

13. The cable pulling assembly of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the guide is a flanged guide, the side of the flange proximate the track being an arcuate surface having a radius of curvature less than a radius of curvature of the track.

14. The cable pulling assembly of claim 7, wherein the pull cable is selected from one of a metal cable, a metal wire, and a metal chain.