DK200900112A

DK200900112A - Lightning prediction system

Info

Publication number: DK200900112A
Application number: DKPA200900112A
Authority: DK
Inventors: John Johannes Mathias Hubertus Nieuwenhuizen
Original assignee: Vestas Wind Sys As
Priority date: 2009-01-26
Filing date: 2009-01-26
Publication date: 2010-01-27

Claims

1. A wind turbine comprising a lightning prediction apparatus.

2. The wind turbine according to claim 1, wherein the lightning prediction apparatus includes a sensor for registering shifts in electrostatic field.

3. The wind turbine according to claim 2, wherein the sensor comprises a surface arranged to carry a high impedance static voltage reference charge.

4. The wind turbine according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein the wind turbine further comprises a warning system arranged for providing a visual indication of a risk of a lightning strike at the wind turbine.

5. The wind turbine according to claim 4, wherein the visual indication includes a colored light and/or the visual indication includes a light intensity modulation.

6. The wind turbine according to claim 4 or 5 wherein the visual indication includes green light for indicating no or low risk and red light for indicating high risk.

7. The wind turbine according to claim 5, wherein the intensity modulation is a flashing light and/or includes a reflector rotating around a light source and/or a low light intensity indicates a low risk of lightning strike and a high light intensity indicates a high risk of lightning strike.

8. The wind turbine according to any of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the lightning prediction apparatus further comprises a memory unit for storing measurements from a predefined period of time.

9. The wind turbine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the wind turbine further comprises a lightning protection system configured for receiving a signal from the lightning prediction apparatus indicating a risk of lightning and the wind turbine still further comprising a wind turbine controller being configured to receive a signal from the lightning prediction apparatus indicating a risk of lightning and the wind turbine controller being further configured to initiate the lightning protection system in response to the signal from the lightning prediction apparatus.

10. A wind park comprising a plurality of wind turbines, the wind park comprising: a monitoring unit monitoring the wind park, the monitoring unit comprising a communication unit configured to communicate with a wind turbine controller in each of the plurality of wind turbines in the wind park, at least one of the plurality of wind turbine including a lightning prediction system, the monitoring unit being configured to receive a signal from the lightning prediction system and further being configured to transmit a status signal to each of the plurality of wind turbines in response to the signal.

11. The wind park according to claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of wind turbines are configured to initiate a lightning protection system in each of the wind turbines.

12. The wind park according to any of the claims 10 or 11, wherein a multitude of wind turbines each include a lightning prediction system, and the monitoring unit being configured to receive a signal from each of the lightning prediction systems.

13. The wind park according to any of the claims 10-12 wherein at least one of the wind turbines is a wind turbine according to any of the claims 1-9.

14. A method for providing lightning prediction in a wind turbine, the method comprising: providing a wind turbine, and providing a lightning prediction system and mounting the lightning prediction system in the wind turbine.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the wind turbine and/or the lightning prediction system comprises any of the features mentioned in claims 1-13.