CN218235354U - Cable traction assembly for wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a cable traction assembly for aerogenerator blade headroom monitoring system, include: a plurality of tractors, each tractor including a support and including a guide wheel mounted on the support and configured to travel on a track of a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system; the cable is fixed on the traction trolley and can run along with the traction trolley; the blade monitoring device of the traction trolley and the blade clearance monitoring system of the wind driven generator run on a common rail.

Description

Cable traction assembly for wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a wind power generation technical field, concretely relates to aerogenerator blade headroom monitoring system and cable draw subassembly thereof.

Background

Wind power generators, also called wind turbine generators, and the like, are devices for converting kinetic energy of wind into electric energy, and have been vigorously developed in China as a clean and environmentally friendly energy industry in recent years. The power of a single machine of the wind driven generator is continuously increased, the length of the blade is continuously increased, and the clearance between the blade tip of the wind driven generator blade and a tower barrel is difficult to guarantee. At this time, once the blade tips of the blades rotating at a high speed collide with the tower barrel, the risk of falling of the tower is met, huge property loss is caused, and life safety is possibly threatened. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the clearance and condition of the blades.

Blade clearance refers in practice to the minimum clearance of the blade tip from the surface of the tower. For example, GL certification regulations require that the minimum clearance during operation of the unit be no less than 30% of the undeformed state of the blade. This requirement prevents that the blade apex from taking place to interfere with a tower section of thick bamboo in the deformation process that receives the load in order to guarantee wind turbine generator system safety purpose.

Although the blade clearance corresponding to various working conditions can be simulated in various simulation software, the wind condition is complex and changeable in the actual operation process of the unit, and the blade clearance dynamically changes. For example, when the wind thrust is high, the blade tip deforms towards the tower, the nacelle generates horizontal backward displacement, and the head part of the nacelle is in a downward inclined posture, so that the blade clearance is greatly reduced. Therefore, real-time monitoring of blade clearance is necessary.

The more common solutions currently used in the industry for monitoring blade clearance include: the first method is to install a monitoring device under the nacelle, so that although the monitoring device can be ensured to rotate along with the hub, the clearance distance to be measured from the monitoring device is the length of the whole blade, and false alarm is easy to generate particularly in severe weather, such as interference of heavy rain, haze, sand storm, heavy fog and the like. The second method is to install and fix the monitoring device at a horizontal position where the blade tip is over against the tower drum and at an equal angle around the tower drum, because the monitoring device has higher cost and limited deployment quantity, the measurement angle is difficult to ensure 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 a horizontal position where the blade tip is over against the tower drum at an equal angle around the tower drum, when a battery is adopted for power supply, continuous uninterrupted work is difficult to achieve, when wired power supply and communication are adopted, the reliability of a cable is difficult to guarantee, in addition, the horizontal position is dozens of meters away from the ground, and the maintenance cost is high.

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

The information included in this background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be considered subject matter which would limit the scope of the invention.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned and other more numerous concepts.

One of the basic concepts of the present invention is to provide a novel wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, which can have a novel track layout, and the blade clearance monitoring device can follow the rotation of the blade on the track and circumferentially run along the track, and can reach the ground along the vertical track from the horizontal track where the working position is located, so as to perform maintenance and/or replacement, and then return to the working position along the original track of the track. The blade clearance monitoring device may also be conveniently mounted from the ground following the track to an operating position near the blade level. And, because the data of clearance monitoring need to enter the control system, the data may need to communicate with the control system in real time, may need the monitoring devices to work continuously, power and communication can adopt the wired way, thus can realize the communication with the control system, for example real-time communication, the design that this kind of track can extend to the horizontal track where the operating position locates from the tower bottom upwards provides very big facility for wired power supply, communication and maintenance. And, because the electricity is got from near position of tower section of thick bamboo bottom, the cable upwards extends from the tower section of thick bamboo bottom and arranges, the installation and the arrangement of cable just so can avoid from the tower section of thick bamboo top high altitude when arranging the cable downwards harsh environment, for example strong wind, thunderbolt, etc. moreover the system power of tower section of thick bamboo bottom naturally has higher stability and reliability. The closed track, such as the track with a square cross section, is easier to manufacture and supply, has low cost and can avoid dust and water accumulation.

Another basic idea of the present invention is to provide a novel wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, which has a novel driving design. According to the driving design, a driving chain is arranged on the track along the track, the driving motor, the speed reducing mechanism, the driving chain wheel and the 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 the meshing rolling of the driving chain wheel on the driving chain. Guide/limit runners can be mounted on mounting brackets, such as mounting blocks. All or part of the drive train of this drive design, for example a drive train mounted in a curved track section, preferably employs a drive train that can be bent sideways/has three-dimensional extension freedom. Compared with the traditional pulley and slide rail design, the gear and rack transmission design has great superiority. The running process and the track of the pulley sliding rail are unstable, and basically cannot run under load; the rack and pinion motion is substantially less likely to achieve two-dimensional and three-dimensional degrees of freedom of motion, and less likely to achieve motion from a straight trajectory to a curved/twisted trajectory to a horizontal circumferential trajectory. The reduction mechanism, preferably a worm gear, not only saves installation space, but is naturally self-locking, which is very important and advantageous for the fixing and maintaining of the position of the drive and the blade clearance monitoring device on the rail when required.

Another basic idea of the present invention is to provide a novel 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 cables, and the cables are fixed on the traction trolleys.

More specifically, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is disclosed a cable pulling assembly for a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system, comprising: a plurality of tractors, each said tractor including a support and including a guide wheel mounted on said support and configured to run on a track of said wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system; a cable fixed to the wagon so as to be capable of following the wagon; wherein the traction trolley and a blade monitoring device of the wind driven generator blade clearance monitoring system share the rail operation.

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

According to one embodiment, the bracket is a bracket having a bottom plate and two side plates, on each of which a pair of the upper guide wheels and a pair of the lower guide wheels are respectively mounted in a side-by-side manner so as to be capable of rolling along the upper and lower surfaces of the rail, respectively.

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

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

According to one embodiment, a cable mount is provided on the carriage, via which cable mount the cable is fixed on the wagon so that the cable can move with the movement of the wagon.

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

According to one embodiment, the rail is a square rail 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 with the top surface and the bottom surface of the square rail to roll.

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

According to an embodiment, a tow cable mounting is further provided on the bracket.

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

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

According to one embodiment, 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.

According to one embodiment, the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, the face of the flange adjacent to the rail being an inclined face forming an oblique angle a with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the guide wheel, wherein 0 < a ≦ 30 °. According to one embodiment, A is 5 DEG-20 deg.

According to one embodiment, the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, and the side of the flange close 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 track mounted on the tower of the wind turbine, the track including a first track segment extending upwardly from the base of the tower along the tower, and a second track segment mounted about the tower at a location near a level at which the tip of the wind turbine blade faces the tower and extending generally horizontally for about one turn; the driving device comprises a motor, a speed reducing mechanism and a transmission chain wheel, and the rotating motion of the motor is transmitted to the transmission chain wheel through the speed reducing mechanism so as to drive the transmission chain wheel to rotate; a mounting seat on which a guide wheel rolling on the rail is mounted, and on which the driving device is rotatably mounted; a driving chain fixedly mounted on the rail along the extending direction of the rail, and a driving chain wheel meshed with the driving chain and matched with the driving chain so as to travel along the rail together with the driving device and the mounting seat when rotating; a blade clearance monitoring device for monitoring blade clearance of the wind turbine, wherein the blade clearance monitoring device is connected to the mounting base so as to be drivable by the drive means to travel along the track.

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

According to an embodiment, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system further comprises a cable pulling assembly, the cable pulling assembly comprising: the traction trolleys are arranged in the track and run along the extending direction of the track; a cable electrically connected at one end to the motor and/or the blade clearance monitoring device and at another end to the system power supply and further connectable to a communications gateway in the event that communications are wired communications.

According to an embodiment, the cables are fixed or clamped on the trolleys, so that the cables can move with the movement of the trolleys.

According to an embodiment, the cable pulling assembly further comprises a pulling cable having one end connected to the drive means, wherein the plurality of pulling carriages mounted in the track are each secured thereto by brackets at a plurality of mutually spaced locations of the pulling cable, such that the pulling carriages and the pulling 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 one embodiment, the cable between two adjacent trolleys is longer than the traction cable.

According to one embodiment, the wagon includes a bracket, and two pairs of upper and 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 one embodiment, the bracket is a bracket having a bottom plate and two side plates, on each of which a pair of the upper guide wheels and a pair of the lower guide wheels are respectively mounted in a side-by-side manner so as to be capable of rolling along the upper and lower surfaces of the rail, respectively.

According to one embodiment, the bracket is machined from stainless steel, carbon steel or aluminum profile.

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

According to one embodiment, the tractor trolley and the mounting seat share the rail to roll.

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

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is a toothed chain or a roller chain that can be loaded with load.

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 one embodiment, the upper bracket portion is an upper U-shaped portion, each of the upper U-shaped portions including a bottom plate and two side plates extending upwardly from the bottom plate.

According to one embodiment, each side plate of each upper U-shaped portion is fitted with an upper guide wheel and a lower guide wheel, respectively, which run rolling on the upper and lower faces of the rail, respectively.

According to an embodiment, a side guide configured to roll on a side surface of the rail is further installed on each of the side plates of each of the upper U-shaped portions between the upper guide and the lower guide thereof.

According to one embodiment, two pivot holes are provided in the lower bracket, and the two upper bracket portions are each pivotably mounted on the lower bracket by a pivot shaft passing through the respective pivot hole.

According to an embodiment, a thrust ball bearing is further provided at a lower end of the pivot hole of the lower bracket to be fitted over the pivot shaft.

According to an embodiment, the drive chain is fixedly mounted on the bottom surface of the track and extends along the track.

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is fixedly mounted by rivets or screws at a position near the midline on the bottom surface of the track.

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

According to one embodiment, A is 5 DEG.ltoreq.20 deg.

According to one embodiment, the blade clearance monitoring device is an integrated 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 arrangement of the functional modules in series has technical advantages, for example, the drive and monitoring device can be less heavily loaded, the center of gravity can be more stable, and the operational stability, reliability and maintainability can be improved.

According to one embodiment, the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, and the side of the flange close 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.

According to one embodiment, the reduction mechanism is a worm wheel and a worm in meshing engagement, wherein the worm is in driving engagement with the rotating shaft of the motor, and the worm wheel is in driving engagement with the driving sprocket.

According to an embodiment, the worm wheel is fixed to one side of the lower bracket of the mounting seat, and the driving 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 mounting and has two perpendicular side surfaces or two inclined upper side surfaces 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, pentagonal, hexagonal, and drum-shaped.

According to one embodiment, the rail is a square rail 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 respectively roll on the top surface and the bottom surface of the square rail. The square rail is easier to manufacture and supply and is less costly.

According to an embodiment, the rail further comprises a mounting member fixed to the top surface, and the rail is mounted on a tower of the wind turbine through the mounting member.

According to an embodiment, the rail is mounted at a level substantially level with the blade tip or within 1 meter above 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 yaw rotation of the wind turbine to follow the track, so that the blade clearance monitoring device can be aligned with the position of the blade tip rotating to the vertical lowest point.

According to an embodiment, the track further comprises a curved track section between the first track section and the second track section, the curved track section tapering from an upwardly, e.g. upright, 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 arranged on the rail.

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

According to one embodiment, the rail is machined from stainless steel, carbon steel or aluminum profiles.

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is a full uninterrupted chain fixedly mounted on the track along the length of the track.

According to one embodiment, the drive chain is made up of at least two, for example three, lengths of chain spliced along the length of the track and fixed thereto.

According to one embodiment, the rails are preferably made of aluminum alloy profiles, thereby providing advantages in cost, weather resistance, ease of processing, ease of replacement, and maintainability.

According to the utility model discloses an embodiment, come the transmission through the meshing between the chain that adopts fixed mounting on sprocket and the track to the reduction gears of cooperation worm gear form can provide a great deal of advantage, for example, does not skid, and climbing ability is strong, can auto-lock when shutting down, and drive arrangement still can keep stable in position, simple structure, etc. when bearing external force.

Further embodiments of the present invention are also capable of achieving other advantageous technical effects not listed, which other technical effects may be described in part hereinafter, and which are anticipated and understood by those skilled in the art upon reading the present invention.

Drawings

The above features and advantages 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 view of a complete wind turbine with a blade clearance monitoring system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing the layout and installation location of the 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 the 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 of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 extending approximately one turn generally horizontally about a tower and a blade monitoring device.

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

FIG. 4B is a further enlarged schematic view of a partial configuration of the aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system of FIG. 3, showing a portion of the horizontal rail segment of the aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system and the blade monitoring devices mounted thereon, as well as a portion of the cable pulling assembly disposed on the horizontal rail segment.

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 arrangement and a blade monitoring device of a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates, in partial cross-section, an enlarged schematic view of the drive assembly and blade monitoring assembly of FIG. 6 assembled together by a mount.

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

Fig. 9 is a view illustrating the configuration of the drive arrangement 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 assembly of fig. 8-9, particularly illustrating the guide wheel and pivot design of the mount.

Fig. 11 is a partial perspective schematic view of a drive apparatus of another embodiment, which is substantially the same as the configuration shown in fig. 10, except that a side guide design is added to the mount.

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

FIG. 13 illustrates the arrangement and design of a guide wheel of a mounting block according to one embodiment, particularly illustrating the design of a flange on the guide wheel and the design of a ramp of the flange to facilitate smooth over-bending of the guide wheel.

FIG. 14 illustrates the construction of a guide wheel according to one embodiment, particularly illustrating its flange design and the bevel design and chamfer design on the flange to facilitate smooth overbending of the guide wheel.

Fig. 15 illustrates an enlarged schematic perspective view of an embodiment of a wagon according to an embodiment, illustrating the construction and details of the wagon 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 embodiments illustrated and described 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 following drawings. The illustrated embodiments are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Examples are provided by way of explanation of the disclosed embodiments, not limitation. Indeed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment, can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Accordingly, the present disclosure covers such modifications and variations as come 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 otherwise expressly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and the like are to be construed broadly and can include, for example, fixed and removable connections; may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific situations by those skilled in the art.

The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an overall wind turbine with an installed aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing the layout and installation location of the aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system in accordance with 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 the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1-2, the overall configuration of wind turbine 100 and a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system 200 mounted thereon is illustrated. Wind turbine generator system 100 generally includes a tower, a rotor, and a generator, with tower 120 shown. The rotor is generally comprised of blades, hub, stiffeners, etc., with blades 110 being particularly labeled and illustrated as shown. The blades 110 of the wind motor 100 are rotated by wind to generate electricity, and the head of the generator is rotatable together with the blades 110. The wind power source may include, for example, a wind turbine 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 the horizontal track segment 210 and the blade monitoring device 300 of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 extending generally horizontally about the tower 120 for approximately one turn. Although the blade monitoring device 300 is shown as an integrated blade monitoring device 300 with blade clearance monitoring function, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the blade monitoring device 300 may also be composed of a plurality of functional modules arranged in series (not shown, one of the functional modules having clearance monitoring function) and arranged in series to operate on the track 200, and especially in the case where the blade monitoring device 300 is required to perform a plurality of functions including blade clearance monitoring, the arrangement of the functional modules in series is advantageous, for example, the driving device and the monitoring device 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 present 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 substantially upright rail section 230 extending upward from the bottom of the tower 120 along the tower 120, and a horizontal rail section 210 mounted around the tower 120 and extending substantially horizontally for about one turn (about 360 degrees, and less than 360 degrees depending on the specific situation) at substantially the same level position of the blade tip 111 of the wind turbine, for example at a level equal to or slightly higher than the level of the blade tip 111. For example, horizontal track segment 210 may be mounted at a level substantially level with blade tip 111 or within 2 meters, such as within 1 meter, of the level of blade tip 111 to ensure that blade monitoring device 300 is at that level to monitor parameters/conditions of blade tip 111 including at least clearance.

Curved track section 220 is connected between horizontal track section 210 and upright track section 230, enabling a smooth transition from upright track section 230 to horizontal track section 210. In other words, curved track segment 220 transitions from an upwardly extending, e.g., generally vertically extending, orientation of upright track segment 230 to a generally horizontally extending orientation of horizontal track segment 210. In addition, depending on the orientation of horizontal track section 210 and upright track section 230, and to facilitate smooth operation of the cable pulling assembly and monitoring devices on the track, curved track section 220 may be gently curved sideways and twisted in addition to being curved in a plane as shown in fig. 2 to provide a smooth transition between horizontal track section 210 and upright track section 230. Track segments 210, 220, and 230 are each mounted on a surface of tower 120, as shown, and as described in further detail below. Of course, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that while the track segments 230 are shown as generally upright in FIGS. 2-3, they may be implemented while maintaining an integral upwardly extending orientation from near the bottom of the tower, such as obliquely upwardly, helically upwardly, etc., and remain within the scope of the present invention.

The utility model discloses a aerogenerator blade headroom monitoring system's this kind of track arrangement is obviously different from prior art to have a great deal of advantage. In particular, some of the prior art blade clearance monitoring devices simply arrange a circle of track around the tower, neither such a bottom-up, e.g. vertically oriented, track section nor curved track section as in the present invention. The prior art blade clearance monitoring device is generally powered by a power supply at the top of the tower of the wind turbine, so that a straight rail extending downwards from the top of the tower and also arranged on the surface of the tower may be provided, or the straight rail may not be provided, and only a power supply cable is arranged to extend downwards to the blade clearance monitoring device and/or the motor from the top, and the cable routing is in various risks in high altitude, and the installation construction and maintenance are not easy. In contrast, the utility model discloses a this kind of track design, track upwards extend from near tower section of thick bamboo bottom, and cable traction assembly and blade headroom monitoring device all can operate on whole track, consequently the utility model discloses a aerogenerator blade headroom monitoring system's of this embodiment power supply is located near tower section of thick bamboo bottom, is located ground or other ground facilities for example. This track arrangement allows not only various condition monitoring devices on the track, including blade clearance monitoring devices, drive devices such as motors and the like, to be conveniently transported back to the ground for maintenance and repair, which prior art has not been able to conveniently and reliably achieve. Moreover, the arrangement of the cable from the ground upwards avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art in which the cable is arranged from the top of the tower downwards. In addition, the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system draws power from a power supply facility located at the tower footing or the ground, may also provide greater reliability and safety, and may provide greater protection from risks such as lightning strikes.

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 rangefinders, ultrasonic rangefinders, video cameras, cable traction assemblies, and the like. As described hereinafter.

FIG. 4A is an enlarged side schematic view of a portion of the aerogenerator 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 aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system, and a plurality of tow carts 470 disposed thereon. FIG. 4B is a further enlarged schematic view of a partial configuration of the aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system shown in FIG. 3, illustrating a portion of the horizontal track segment 210 of the aerogenerator blade clearance monitoring system and the blade monitoring devices 300 mounted thereon, and a portion of the tow cart 470 disposed on the horizontal track segment. As shown, the tow trucks 470 are provided primarily to power the drive unit 400 and the monitoring unit 300, etc. via the tow cables 450 to ensure proper operation thereof. Moreover, because the drive unit 400 and the monitoring unit 300 may be intended to move on rails, the cable trailer 470 should also be movable on the rails to facilitate towing (powering and/or communicating) the cable 450, as further described below.

Fig. 5 is a further enlarged fragmentary view of the configuration of fig. 4B from another perspective. Fig. 7 shows the assembly of the drive 400 on the square rail 200 and an exemplary assembly configuration of the drive chain 240 in a partial cross-sectional view. It will be apparent that the track 200 as shown has a generally square cross-section, however, other configurations and cross-sections 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 surface and a top surface after installation, and has two perpendicular side surfaces, or two inclined upper side surfaces, or two curved upper curved surfaces. The cross-section of the track 200 may be square, trapezoidal, truncated isosceles triangle, pentagonal, hexagonal, and barrel-shaped, among others. The rail 200 may be integrally formed of, for example, metal such as aluminum, aluminum alloy, steel, or the like.

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

In addition, it is important that the driving chain 240 is fixedly installed on the rail 200 by means of rivets, screws, bolts, etc. in the orientation shown in fig. 5, for example, near the center line of the bottom surface of the rail 200 or other portions, as shown in fig. 5 and fig. 7 to 10, the driving chain 240 is arranged along a part of or the entire extension length and extension direction of the rail 200, and in the present invention, it is required to be fixedly installed on the rail 200 so that the sprocket 440 is engaged therewith and travels along the driving chain 240. Fig. 5 and 7 also show a motor 410 and a speed reducing mechanism 430 mounted on a mount 420 of the drive device 400, and the blade monitoring device 300, for example, may be mounted on the other side opposite the motor. The reduction mechanism 430 may be, for example, a worm gear reduction mechanism, as described in further detail below.

In some cold, e.g. icing prone, applications, such as high latitudes or when installing a wind turbine at sea, the track 200 of the present invention may be frozen by rain and cold, thereby affecting the normal use of the track 200. Therefore, as shown in fig. 12, a preferably heating wire mounting groove 260 may also be provided in the, for example, square rail 200, in which a heating element 250, such as a heating tape, a heating wire, or a thermistor PTC, may be received for heating the rail, removing ice and/or water. Although the electric heating members 250 are provided at both sides as shown in fig. 12, the number and arrangement positions of the electric heating members 250 may be changed as desired, for example, more or less, and may be provided on any configuration of the rails 200.

An additional benefit of a regularly shaped closed track, such as square track 200, is that in some rain and sand laden application environments, water and sand accumulation in the grooves of the track (in the case of track grooving) can be avoided, and the regularly shaped closed track is also less expensive to manufacture and machine, while being stronger and more rigid.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged schematic view of a driving apparatus 400 and a blade monitoring apparatus 300 of a wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 7 shows a schematic end view of the construction of figure 6, partially in section. Fig. 8-10 illustrate the configuration of the drive device, blade monitoring device, and mount, etc., of an 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 speed reduction mechanism 430 is mainly constituted by a worm wheel and a worm that are engaged with each other. The speed reducing mechanism 430 in the form of the worm and gear can well achieve left and right speed reduction and is self-locked, so that the blade clearance monitoring device is convenient to fix on a rail, which is not provided by other forms of speed reducing mechanisms. The motor shaft of the motor 410 and the worm may be, for example, coaxially drivingly connected to transmit a rotational motion from the motor, and the rotational motion decelerated by the worm wheel engaged therewith is transmitted to the driving sprocket 440. As shown in fig. 7, the worm gear reduction mechanism 430 is mounted on the right side of the illustration of the mount 420, and on the left side of the illustration of the mount 420, a drive sprocket 440 may be mounted, for example, coaxially or coaxially. Thus, the blade monitoring device 300 and the driving device 400 are assembled into a single unit by the mount 420. The driving sprocket 440 is engaged with the driving chain 240 fixed on the track as shown in fig. 7. Thus, when the driving sprocket 440 of the driving device 400 is driven by the motor 410 to rotate, it can engage with the driving chain 240 fixed on the track 200 to roll along the track 200, such as to roll forward or backward, and thereby the entire driving device 400, the mounting seat 420 and the blade monitoring device 300 can be driven to roll along the track 200.

The drive chain 240 may be a roller chain. Of course, the drive chain 240 may be in other forms adapted to engage with a drive sprocket, such as a toothed chain. Since the drive chain 240 needs to extend with the track 200, e.g. substantially vertically upwards, horizontally along the circumference, possibly requiring a lateral bending and/or twisting, it is preferred that at least a part or all of the drive chain 240 is a laterally bendable chain drive chain, which may have a degree of freedom of extension in three dimensions.

To facilitate smooth travel of the entire drive device 400 and blade monitoring device 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, e.g., 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, e.g., each 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 may flexibly adjust when negotiating curves in the track, smoothly negotiating curves.

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, an upper guide wheel 421B and a lower guide wheel 421D are mounted on the other side plate opposite to the upper guide wheel 421, and a pivot shaft 480 is mounted on a bottom plate of the upper U-shaped portion 421, as described in detail below. Similarly, an upper guide wheel 422A and a lower guide wheel 422C are mounted on one side plate of the upper U-shaped portion 422, an upper guide wheel 422B and a lower guide wheel 422D are mounted on the opposite side plate, and another pivot shaft 480 is mounted on the bottom plate of the upper U-shaped portion 422, as described in detail below. These upper and lower guide wheels are configured to roll on and off the track 200, serving as a motion guide, limit and righting, and preventing bouncing during operation. The provision of these guide wheels facilitates smooth and smooth running of the driving device 400 and the blade monitoring device 300 along the rail 200, and prevents run-out, derailment, and derailment, etc.

As shown in FIGS. 5-10, the lower support 423 may be configured with a straight plate 423A on which a blade monitoring device 300, such as a clearance gauge, or other condition monitoring device, may be mounted. Two pivot hole portions 423D and 423E may be formed at the lower bracket 423 at positions corresponding to the bottom plates of the two upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422. The two pivot hole locations 423D and 423E may be purposely thickened as shown so that two lengths of pivot shaft 480 may be passed therethrough, as shown in fig. 10. One end of the two pivot shafts 480 may be secured, for example, to the bottom plate of the corresponding upper U-shaped portion, may be secured, for example, by threads in the two pivot hole locations 423D and 423E, or/and may otherwise be secured by nuts or nuts. The other ends of the two pivots 480 are pivotally mounted on the lower bracket 423. 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 respective pivot hole site. As a preferable example, thrust ball bearings 423B and 423C may be fitted between the end flange of the other end and the corresponding pivot hole portions 423D and 423E, so that it is possible to ensure a reliable assembly of the two upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422 with respect to the lower bracket 423 and to ensure a smooth pivoting of the two upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422 with respect to the lower bracket 423, respectively.

Fig. 11 is a partial perspective schematic view of a drive apparatus 400 of another embodiment, which is substantially the same as the configuration shown in fig. 10, except that a side guide design is added to the mount. A side guide wheel, 421E, 421F, 422E and 422F respectively, is added to each side plate of the upper U-shaped portions 421 and 422. These side guide wheels 421E, 421F, 422E and 422F roll on the left and right sides of the track after the driving device 400 is mounted on the track 200, further serving as motion guide, limit (left and right), centralize and prevent derailment, and of course further contributing to smooth overbending.

Fig. 13-14 illustrate one design of a guide wheel that facilitates the negotiating of a curve in a track. As shown in fig. 13 to 14, an upper guide wheel 421A of the mount is illustrated as an example. The upper guide roller 421A may have a roller main body 421A1 rolling on the rail, and a flange 421A2 integral therewith. A circular arc, for example a concave circular arc C, is used to transition between the flange 421A2 and the roller body 421A1 to avoid stress concentrations and may contribute more or less to the bending. Preferably, the end face of the flange 421A2 on the side which, when mounted, is adjacent to the rail is designed as an inclined surface S which forms 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 adjacent to the rail after installation is designed as an arc-shaped face, in particular, an arc-shaped face that bows outward, the arc radius of the arc-shaped face is preferably smaller than the bending radius of the rail, so as to facilitate the overbending. Fig. 13 illustrates the situation when the upper runner is over-bent with a bevel S design, it being observed that, particularly on the inside of the curve of the rail, the design of the bevel S greatly reduces or even avoids the interference/hindrance of the rail side to the runner rolling. Although fig. 13-14 illustrate only the design of the upper guide wheel of the mounting block, the lower guide wheel of the mounting block may also be of this design. Similarly, the upper and lower guide wheels of the wagon may be of this design, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Fig. 15 illustrates one embodiment of one of the trolleys 470 that may be rolled on the track. For example, as shown in fig. 4A-4B, a tow cart 470 may have a cable 450 and/or tow cable 460 secured thereto. The pull cable 460 may be selected from one of a metal cable, wire and metal chain, for example, in the form of a steel wire or rope, and the use of the pull 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 is advantageous in ensuring the life of the cable 450 and reliable power supply, thereby improving the reliability of the operation of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system.

Fig. 15 is an enlarged schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the wagon 470, illustrating the construction and details of the wagon 470 of this embodiment. Similar to the arrangement of the guide wheels on the mounting block 420, in this embodiment the towing carriage 470 has a bracket, for example U-shaped, which is integrally formed by a bottom plate and two side plates extending upward from the bottom plate, and which can be machined from channel steel (or aluminum alloy) or i-steel (or aluminum alloy profile), for example. A total of 8 guide wheels are arranged 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 are installed on one of the side plates 471 of the trailer wagon 470, and they can all play the roles of motion guiding, limiting and righting. On the other side plate 472 of the wagon 470, a pair of upper guide wheels 472A and 472B and a pair of lower guide wheels 472C and 472D may be installed, which all function as motion guide, limit and righting, and prevent jumping during operation. These guide wheels may help the tow car 470 to smoothly roll along the track 200, such that as the blade monitoring device 300 and the drive device 400 travel along the track 200, their (power and/or communication) cables 450 may be carried by the tow car 470 to follow them along the track 200, providing safe and reliable power and/or communication. The above-described upper and lower guide wheels of the wagon 470 may each have the same construction and design as the upper and lower guide wheels of the mounting block 420, as they will run on the common rail 200. Additionally, the upper and lower idler of the wagon 470 may also have a ramp S or cambered over-the-curve design. These are understood by those skilled in the art and are within the scope of the present invention.

On the wagon 470, for example on its floor 473, there may also be provided a cable mount 475, which may for example comprise a body with a slot 475A for receiving a mounting cable 450, and for example two fastening screws 476 which may fasten the cable 450 in the slot 475A. A tow cable mount, which may be, for example, a lug (not shown) or other configuration for mounting the tow cable 460, may also be provided on the tow car 470. Of course, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the tow rope mount and the tow car may take other forms than shown, provided that they are capable of mounting and securing a tow rope and cable, and such are within the scope of the present 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 two adjacent bogies 470 of the track 200 is arranged to be greater than the length of the traction cable 460 installed between the two bogies 470, so that the risk of the cable being directly pulled during the operation of the bogies 470 can be avoided as much as possible.

To perform the function of monitoring tip clearance, the blade monitoring device 300 at least comprises a blade clearance monitoring instrument, such as a distance meter. In addition, according to one or more embodiments of the present invention, in order to realize monitoring of other states and/or parameters of the blade, the blade monitoring device may further include other devices, such as a video camera, an infrared camera, a temperature sensor, and the like.

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

In the case of an insufficient self-weight of the traction assembly, it is also conceivable to provide a counterweight suspended on the traction cable near the bottom of the tower 120 for appropriately tensioning the traction assembly.

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

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

Therefore, although the present invention has been described in more detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, which are only for the purpose of describing and explaining the present invention. Many other equivalent embodiments may be included without departing from the inventive concept, and the scope of the invention is to be determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (14)

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

a plurality of tow carts, each tow cart comprising a support frame and including a guide wheel mounted on the support frame and configured to run on a track of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system;

a cable fixed to the wagon so as to be capable of following the wagon;

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

2. The cable pulling assembly according to claim 1, wherein each of the pulling carriages comprises at least two pairs of upper and lower guide wheels running respectively on the upper and lower faces of the track.

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 so as to be rollably movable along upper and lower surfaces of the rail, respectively.

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

5. The cable pulling assembly of claim 1, wherein a cable mount is provided on the bracket, the cable being secured to the pulling cart via the cable mount, thereby enabling the cable to move with movement of the pulling cart.

6. The cable pulling assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the track is a square track having a generally square cross-section, and the upper and lower guide wheels of the pulling trolley are adapted to roll on the top and bottom surfaces of the square track, respectively.

7. The cable pulling assembly of any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a pulling cable connecting the plurality of pulling cars in series spaced apart from each other and connected to a drive of the wind turbine blade clearance monitoring system.

8. The cable pulling assembly of claim 7, wherein a pulling cable mount is further provided on the bracket.

9. The cable pulling assembly of claim 7, wherein the length of the cable between two adjacent pulling carts is greater than the length of the pull cable between the two pulling carts.

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

11. The cable pulling assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 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 source near the bottom of the wind turbine tower.

12. The cable pulling assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, the side of the flange adjacent to the track being an inclined surface forming an oblique angle A with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the guide wheel, wherein 0 < A ≦ 30 °.

13. The cable pulling assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the guide wheel is a flanged guide wheel, and the side of the flange adjacent to the rail is an arcuate surface having a radius of curvature smaller than the radius of curvature of the rail.

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

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