JP2003035248A - Operation control method of wind power generator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation control method of a wind power generator capable of surely avoiding the occurrence of a shadow flicker to a specific area, and capable of largely promoting the spread of the introduction of the wind power generator. SOLUTION: This operation control method has a shadow area detecting process of detecting a shadow area capable of forming a shadow of a rotor by using at least site information of the wind power generator, windmill information including a rotor diameter and the hub height, and time information including the date and the time, a solar radiation quantity detecting process of detecting a quantity of solar radiation in an installing position of the wind power generator, and a determining process of determining whether or not at least a part of the shadow area detected by the shadow area detecting process is positioned in a preset specific area. Rotation of a rotor is stopped when at least a part of the shadow area is positioned in the specific area and the quantity of solar radiation is a preset threshold value or more on the basis of a determining result in the determining process and the quantity of solar radiation detected by the solar radiation quantity detecting process.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wind power generator operation control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, wind power generators have become popular as pollution-free generators. The wind power generator has a nacelle 52 accommodating a generator or the like rotatably attached to the upper end of a tower 51, and a hub 53 and a blade 54 are attached to the nacelle 52 as shown in FIG. In particular, in a large wind power generator, the pitch of the blades 54 is variable to increase the starting torque, and the rotation speed is controlled according to the wind speed. When the wind is strong, the blade 54 is controlled so as to be parallel with the wind direction to reduce the output.

[0003]

By the way, since the rotor of the wind power generator rotates, the shadow of the blade flickers during sunshine, so-called shadow flicker occurs. For this reason, for example, when installing in the vicinity of an urban area, it is feared that the living environment of the residents will be affected, but at the time of introduction, it is difficult to obtain the understanding of the residents affected by shadow flicker, which hinders the spread of the introduction. There is.

Particularly, in recent wind power generators, from the viewpoint of economies of scale, the height of the tower is high and the diameter of the rotor is also large. Therefore, when it is installed in the vicinity of an urban area, it is affected by shadow flicker. Becomes wider and installation is more difficult.

Therefore, an object of the present invention made in view of the above point is to reliably avoid the occurrence of shadow flicker in a specific area where shadow flicker becomes a problem even when installed in the vicinity of an urban area, and to introduce a wind power generator. An object of the present invention is to provide an operation control method of a wind power generator that can significantly promote its spread.

[0006]

The invention of the operation control method for a wind power generator according to claim 1, which achieves the above object, is at least site information including the longitude and latitude of the installation position of the wind power generator, and the wind power. A wind turbine information including a rotor diameter of a generator and a height of a hub as a center thereof, a shadow area detecting step of detecting a shadow area where a shadow of the rotor may be formed by using time information including a date and a time; A solar radiation amount detecting step of detecting the solar radiation amount at the installation position of the wind power generator, and a determining step of determining whether or not at least a part of the shadow area detected in the shadow area detecting step is located in a preset specific area. With the determination result in the determination step and the solar radiation amount detected in the solar radiation amount detection step, at least a part of the shadow region is located in the specific region, and When serial insolation amount is equal to or larger than the predetermined threshold is characterized by stopping the rotation of the rotor.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when at least a part of the shadow area of the rotor is located in a predetermined specific area and the amount of solar radiation is equal to or greater than the threshold value, that is, when the sun is shining, the rotation of the rotor is stopped to identify Since the occurrence of shadow flicker in the area is reliably avoided, the impact on the living environment of the residents is suppressed even when the wind generator is installed in the vicinity of the city area, and it is easier for the residents to obtain their understanding. It is possible to greatly promote the introduction and dissemination of.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the wind turbine generator operation control method according to the first aspect, in the shadow area detecting step, the shadow area is further detected by using an azimuth angle of the rotor. And

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the shadow area is detected in consideration of the azimuth angle of the rotor. Therefore, the shadow area can be detected more accurately in a horizontal axis type wind power generator. It is possible to minimize the stop time of the rotor and reduce the decrease in the amount of power generation.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an embodiment of an operation control method for a wind power generator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(First Embodiment) FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an operation control device, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation thereof. It is a flowchart.

In this embodiment, the operation of the wind power generator 1 having the same configuration as that shown in FIG. 4 is remotely controlled, and the site information memory 2, the wind turbine information memory 3, the solar information memory 4, the specific area information memory 5, It has a clock 6, a solar radiation sensor 7, and a calculation control circuit 8.

The site information memory 2 stores site information including the longitude and latitude of the installation position of the wind power generator 1, and the wind turbine information memory 3 stores wind turbine information including the rotor diameter and the hub height of the wind power generator 1. The sun information memory 4 stores sun information such as data for determining the altitude angle and azimuth of the sun, and the specific area information memory 5 stores information on a specific area for avoiding shadow flicker as the wind power generator 1 The horizontal distance from the installation position and the azimuth angle are stored in the range corresponding to the area, and the site information, windmill information, sun information, and specific area information are supplied to the arithmetic control circuit 8.
The site information memory 2, the wind turbine information memory 3, the solar information memory 4, and the specific area information memory 5 do not necessarily have to be provided independently, and may be provided in different areas of one memory.

The clock 6 is configured to output time information including the date and time, and supplies this time information to the arithmetic control circuit 8.

Further, the solar radiation sensor 7 is provided at an appropriate place of the wind power generator 1 or in the vicinity thereof, and its output is supplied to the arithmetic and control circuit 8.

The operation control circuit 8 includes a site information memory 2,
A shadow area detecting step of detecting a shadow area where a shadow of the rotor may be formed based on the site information, windmill information and sun information respectively stored in the windmill information memory 3 and the sun information memory 4 and the time information from the clock 6. , At least a part of the detected shadow area is the specific area information memory 5
At least one of the shadow areas based on the result of the determination and the amount of solar radiation from the solar radiation sensor 7 detected in the amount of solar radiation detection step. When the part is located in a specific area and the amount of solar radiation is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value, that is, during sunshine, a stop signal for stopping rotation of the rotor is output to the wind power generator 1,
This stops the rotation of the rotor in the wind power generator 1.

In order to stop the rotation of the rotor by the stop signal from the arithmetic and control circuit 8, for example, when the wind power generator 1 has a built-in rotor brake device, the brake device is driven to stop the rotor rotation. When the brake device is not built in, a new brake device is provided to stop the rotation of the rotor. In this case, when the variable pitch mechanism is provided, it is preferable to stop the rotor in a state where the resistance to the wind is reduced by the feathering that makes the blade parallel to the wind direction.

Next, an example of processing in the arithmetic control circuit 8 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the altitude angle and azimuth angle of the sun are calculated based on the site information, the sun information, and the time information (step S1). Here, the altitude angle and the azimuth angle of the sun are, for example, the latitude and longitude of the site information from the altitude angle and the azimuth data of the sun at the date and time at the previously calculated latitude and longitude of the sun information by a known method. Then, the altitude angle and the azimuth angle of the sun at the corresponding time at the point are obtained.

Next, the shadow area is calculated based on the calculated altitude angle and azimuth angle of the sun, and the rotor diameter and the hub height of the wind turbine information (step S2) and compared with the specific area information (step S3). .

If at least a part of the shadow area is located in the specific area (Yes), it is next determined whether the amount of solar radiation from the solar radiation sensor 7 is equal to or more than a threshold value (step S4). When it is equal to or more than the threshold value (when Yes), it is assumed that the weather is fine and shadow flicker occurs in the specific area, and a stop signal is output to the wind power generator 1 to stop the rotation of the rotor (step S5), and the process returns to step S1. .

On the other hand, when at least a part of the shadow area is not located in the specific area in step S3 (No), or when the amount of solar radiation is less than the threshold value (No) in step S4, that is, when it is not sunny. Assuming that shadow flicker does not occur in the specific area, continues the operation without stopping the rotation of the rotor, and if the rotor is stop-controlled at that time, release the control and restart the operation, Return to step S1.

As described above, in this embodiment, the rotation of the rotor is stopped when at least a part of the shadow area of the rotor is located in the preset specific area and the amount of solar radiation is equal to or more than the threshold value and is sunny. As a result, it is possible to reliably avoid the occurrence of shadow flicker in a specific area, making it easier for the residents to understand when installing a wind power generator in the vicinity of an urban area, and the loss of power generation due to the rotor being stopped is also small. It can be suppressed and the introduction and spread of wind power generators can be greatly promoted.

For example, according to a simulation by the present inventor, a wind power generator having a rated output of 40 kW, a hub height of 24 m, and a rotor diameter of 15 m is installed at 0 ° north latitude and 0 ° east longitude, and a horizontal distance from the installation position to the east. When 100 m or more is set in a specific area, the probability of clearness at the installation location is 50%, the facility utilization factor of the wind power generator is 20% (assumed to be constant depending on time and season), and the total annual power generation amount is 70.1 MWh (utilization). If the ratio is 20%), the ratio of the time when the shadow of the rotor enters the specific area (the ratio of the time when the rotor is operable and stopped) is 2.3
%, The facility utilization rate is 19.5% (-0.5%), and the total annual power generation amount is 68.5 MWh (-1.6 MWh), which enables installation with a slight loss of power generation amount.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an operation control device for carrying out an operation control method for a wind turbine generator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, the rotor azimuth angle detection sensor 11 for detecting the azimuth angle of the rotor is provided in the wind power generator 1 in the first embodiment, and the rotor azimuth angle detection sensor 11 detects the rotor azimuth angle. Are used in the calculation control circuit 8 to calculate the shadow area. Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

As described above, when the rotor azimuth angle is also taken into consideration when calculating the shadow area, the shadow area can be detected more accurately, so that the stop time of the rotor can be minimized and the amount of power generation can be reduced. The decrease can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the first embodiment can be applied not only to the horizontal axis type wind power generator but also to the operation control of the vertical axis type wind power generator. Further, in the second embodiment, instead of detecting the rotor azimuth angle, the wind direction can be detected and used for the calculation of the shadow area. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the arithmetic control circuit 8 and the like are provided outside to remotely control the operation of the wind power generator, but the operation control device described above can be incorporated into the wind power generator for control.

[0029]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, when at least a part of the shadow area of the rotor is located in a predetermined specific area and the amount of solar radiation is equal to or more than a threshold value, that is, when the sun is shining, the rotor is Since the rotation of the wind turbine is stopped, it is possible to reliably avoid the occurrence of shadow flicker in a specific area, and it is possible to suppress the impact on the living environment of the residents when installing a wind power generator near the city area, and It will be easier for the residents to understand, and the introduction and spread of wind power generators can be greatly promoted. Further, when the azimuth angle of the rotor is taken into consideration when detecting the shadow area as in the second aspect of the invention, the shadow area can be detected more accurately, especially in the case of a horizontal axis type wind power generator. The downtime of the rotor can be minimized to reduce the decrease in the amount of power generation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an operation control device for implementing an operation control method for a wind turbine generator according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an operation control device that implements an operation control method for a wind turbine generator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing an example of a wind power generator that can implement the operation control method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 wind power generator 2 Site information memory 3 Windmill information memory 4 solar information memory 5 Specific area information memory 6 clocks 7 solar radiation sensor 8 arithmetic control circuit 11 Rotor azimuth angle detection sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. At least site information including the longitude and latitude of the installation position of the wind power generator, wind turbine information including the rotor diameter of the wind power generator and the height of the hub at its center, and time including the date and time. A shadow area detection step of detecting a shadow area where the shadow of the rotor may be formed using information, a solar radiation amount detection step of detecting an amount of solar radiation at the installation position of the wind power generator, and a shadow area detection step. At least a part of the shadow area has a determination step of determining whether or not it is located in a preset specific area, based on the determination result in the determination step and the solar radiation amount detected in the solar radiation amount detection step, At least a part of the shadow region is located in the specific region, and when the amount of solar radiation is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value, rotation of the rotor is stopped. Wind turbine generator operation control method. 2. The operation control method for a wind power generator according to claim 1, wherein in the shadow area detecting step, the shadow area is further detected by using an azimuth angle of the rotor.