JP2006097419A - Tower module, and tower formed by using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide tower modules and a tower built up by using the tower modules lightweight with high flexural rigidity while solving problems in transporting tower constitutive members and constructing the tower. <P>SOLUTION: A tower component is constituted by piling up and connecting a plurality of tower modules each comprising connecting members and one or more bar groups with a set of three bars having the same length and the same flexural rigidity and fixedly arranged at spaces of 120° on the circumference of the connecting members. In this tower, it is preferable that the tower module in the lowermost stage of the tower has larger flexural rigidity than the tower module in the uppermost stage. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a tower module and a tower formed using the tower module, and more particularly to a tower module suitable for a tower supporting a propeller type wind turbine generator and a tower formed using the tower module.

  Wind power generation has attracted attention as clean energy, and various attempts have been made to reduce power generation costs in order to increase the amount of power generated by wind power generation. As one direction to reduce power generation costs, the development of higher-efficiency wind power generators using propeller-type windmills with higher power generation efficiency has been promoted, and the size of propeller-type windmill generators and the height of the towers that support them have increased. Advancement is progressing.

  For example, a wind power generator having a propeller length and a tower height of more than 50 m is manufactured, and an upright cylindrical monopole type is usually used for the tower. In such a wind turbine generator, since the weight of the propeller type wind turbine generator is about 50 tons, it is important to ensure the strength of the tower. In securing the strength of the tower, since the bending moment increases toward the bottom of the tower, it is necessary to ensure a large bending rigidity at the bottom of the tower. Therefore, in the above example, the diameter of the lower end of the tower is about 3 m, and the weight of the tower exceeds 100 tons.

  In such a large-scale wind turbine generator, problems such as the difficulty in assembling the wind turbine generator including the transportation of its components to the installation site of the wind turbine generator and the foundation of the tower, and the increase in construction cost become problems. ing. Another problem is that the influence of wind pressure on the tower strength is large. For such a problem, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a tower of leg structures. That is, it is a tower provided with a windmill support part that supports the windmill so as to be able to turn, and the lower end part of each leg is fixed to the bedrock foundation, the upper end part of each leg converges upwardly, and the tapered shape is formed upward as a whole. A tower composed of a plurality of triangular legged tower structures or square legged tower structures has been proposed.

JP 2002-61564 A

  However, since the tower according to the proposal of Patent Document 1 is a leg structure in which three or four main pillars are vertically converged, it is strong enough to support a large propeller-type wind turbine generator as described above. There is a problem above. In addition, such a leg structure generally has different bending rigidity depending on the direction of the load. For this reason, the design is based on the strength in the direction of low bending rigidity so that the strength of the tower can be ensured regardless of the direction of the propeller type wind turbine generator, so the size and weight of the tower tends to increase. There is. Furthermore, the problem of transportation and construction of tower components when installing a wind turbine generator has not been sufficiently solved.

  Such a leg structure has been conventionally used for high-voltage electric power towers and communication towers, but the basic structure of each is three or four main pillars to be erected, and auxiliary members for connecting them, That is, it has a structure composed of connecting members disposed at appropriate height positions of the main pillars at an interval, and the strength of the main pillars is an important factor. For this reason, since the tower is designed on the basis of the portion of the main column that receives the maximum load, there is a problem that the size of the main pillar increases and the weight of the tower easily increases.

  In view of such a conventional problem, the present invention provides a tower module having a high bending rigidity and a light weight, and a tower formed using the tower module, while solving the problems of transportation of tower components and tower construction. With the goal.

  The inventor sets a connecting member and three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity with respect to the connecting member and arranged and fixed so as to be spaced apart at an angle of 120 ° on the circumference. The bending rigidity around the central axis of the columnar body consisting of one or more rod groups is equal in any direction, and if such a columnar body is used as a tower module to form a tower, the propeller type wind turbine generator can be reduced in weight. The present invention has been completed based on the finding that a suitable tower can be formed.

  The tower according to the present invention includes a connecting member, and three connecting members that have the same length and the same bending rigidity, and are arranged and fixed so as to be spaced apart at an angle of 120 ° on the circumference. A plurality of tower modules composed of a group of one or more bars each having a set of bars are stacked and connected.

  In the above invention, the towers are preferably connected so that the lowermost tower module has higher bending rigidity than the uppermost tower module.

  The tower module constituting the tower according to the present invention has a connecting member, and the connecting member has the same length and the same bending rigidity, and is arranged and fixed so as to be spaced apart at an angle of 120 ° on the circumference. And a group of one or more rods each having a set of three rods. In the tower module, the lower and upper connecting members are preferably annular bodies.

The tower according to the present invention is formed by stacking and connecting a plurality of the above tower modules,
At the site where the tower is installed, the tower can be formed by individually assembling the members constituting the tower module. That is, (1) on a foundation, one or more rod groups each including a set of three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity, and three rods belonging to the same rod group on the circumference A step of arranging the first tower module so as to be spaced apart at an angle of 120 °, and further fixing a connecting member on the rod group, and (2) the first tower module Above, one or more rod groups consisting of three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity, and three rods belonging to the same rod group are spaced 120 ° apart on the circumference The method of forming a tower comprising the steps of: arranging and fixing in a standing manner; and fixing the connecting member on the rod group to construct a second tower module; or further according to (2) A tower can be formed by a method for forming a tower comprising a step of repeating one or more steps.

  The tower module according to the present invention is light and has high bending rigidity, and the bending rigidity in any direction around the central axis is equal. A tower formed using such a tower module is light and has the same bending rigidity in any direction around the center axis of the tower, and is a propeller type or multiblade horizontal axis type windmill, Darius type or Savonius type vertical axis type windmill. Towers for wind turbine generators such as towers and towers for communication towers, especially towers for propeller type wind turbine generators that support heavy objects at the top of the tower and require high bending rigidity in any direction around the central axis of the tower Can be suitably used. In addition, an appropriate and economical means can be selected for transporting the tower component to the installation site of the propeller type wind turbine generator, etc., and the tower can be easily formed on the site using the transported tower component. be able to.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a tower according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The tower according to the present invention is formed, for example, by connecting tower modules shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as shown in FIGS. That is, the tower shown in FIG. 1 is an example in which the tower module 10 shown in FIG. The tower shown in FIG. 2 is an example where the tower module 10 shown in FIG. 3 is stacked on the tower module 11 shown in FIG. Thus, the tower according to the present invention is formed by combining and connecting required tower modules so as to satisfy the performance specifications (required height and strength) of the tower.

  The tower module according to the present invention has a basic structure composed of a connecting member and one or more rod groups that are integrally connected to the connecting member as a set of three bars. For example, the tower module 10 shown in FIG. 3 includes a bar group 100 including three bars 101, a lower connecting member 150 that connects the lower ends of the bar group 100, and an upper connecting member 160 that connects the upper ends of the bar group 100. Consists of The tower module 11 shown in FIG. 4 includes a rod group 100 composed of three rods 101 and a rod group 110 composed of three rods 111, a lower connecting member 151 that connects the lower ends of the rod groups 100 and 110, and a rod group And an upper connecting member 161 that connects the upper ends of 100 and 110. The bending rigidity of the tower module is larger as it has a larger number of rod groups. For this reason, generally, the tower module which comprises the lower part of a tower uses what has many rod groups.

  In the group of bars constituting one tower module, all the bars have the same length. In addition, the bending rigidity of the three rods belonging to the same group of rods (the cross-sectional secondary pole moment Iz of the rod cross section, E × Iz when Young's modulus is E) is the same.

Further, the three bars belonging to the same bar group are arranged on the circumference at an angle of 120 °. For example, in the example of FIG. 3, the three bars 101 constituting the bar group 100 are separated by an angle of 120 ° on the circumference C ₁ of the lower connecting member 150 and the circumference D ₁ of the upper connecting member 160, That is, it has a central angle of θ = 120 ° and is arranged at equal intervals on the circumference. In the example of FIG. 4, one set of three rods 101 constituting the rod group 100 is arranged on the circumference C ₁ of the lower connecting member 151 and the circumference D of the upper connecting member 161 in the same manner as shown in FIG. _The two pairs of three bars 111 that are arranged at an angle of 120 ° on ₁ and constitute the group of bars 110 are the circumference C ₁ of the lower connecting member 151 that is shifted from the position of the bars 101 by an angle α. The upper and upper connecting members 161 are arranged on the circumference D ₁ so as to be separated from each other by 120 °.

The bending rigidity of the tower module configured in this way is equal in any direction perpendicular to the upper or lower connecting member surface, that is, around the central axis of the tower module. In the example of FIG. 4, two sets of three bars 111 may be disposed on the circumference C ₂ of the lower connecting member 15 at an angle of 120 °. Also in this case, since the three bars belonging to the same group are arranged on the circumference at an angle of 120 °, the bending rigidity of the tower module is the same in any direction.

The diameters of the circumferences C ₁ and D ₁ where the rod groups 100 and 110 are arranged are not limited. However, since the bending moment applied to the tower is smaller at the upper part of the tower, and the bending rigidity of the upper tower module can be made smaller than that at the lower part, the circumference D ₁ should be smaller than the circumference C _1. . As a result, the upper connecting member 161 can have a small outer diameter, and the weight of the entire tower can be reduced.

  Note that the rods constituting the rod group can be either solid or hollow, and the cross-sectional shape can be either circular or square. In addition, for example, a conical column-shaped rod having a smaller cross-sectional area toward the top of the rod can be used. However, considering economy, it is preferable to use round bars, round or square pipes, H-section steel, and L-section steel that are widely available on the market.

  The lower connecting member and the upper connecting member that connect the rod group are combined integrally with the rod group to constitute the tower module, but have a great influence on the overall weight and torsional strength of the tower module. For this reason, a material with high torsional strength and light weight is required. For example, a lower connecting member or an upper connecting member as shown in FIG. 5 is preferable. Fig. 5 (a) shows a structure in which a round pipe is bent into an annular shape, (b) shows a structure consisting of a hexagonal plate with a hollowed center, and (c) shows an L-shaped steel in a hexagonal shape. The connected structure is shown. In addition, the joining method of a rod group and an upper or lower connection member can use joining methods, such as welding and a screw | thread, and can use any method which has suitable joint strength.

  A tower formed by connecting such tower modules has the same bending rigidity in any direction of the tower. Therefore, in the propeller type windmill power generator, the tower has a certain bending strength regardless of the direction of the propeller type windmill, and the weight of the tower can be reduced. Moreover, the wind pressure which a tower receives can be made small. The tower module constituting such a tower is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, a tower module configured as shown in FIG. 6 may be used. The tower module 12 shown in FIG. 6 (a) has a structure lacking the lower connecting member in the tower module of FIG. 1, and includes a bar group 100 composed of three bars 101 and an upper connecting member 160 that connects the upper ends thereof. It is configured. The tower module 13 shown in FIG. 6 (b) has a structure lacking the upper connecting member in the tower module of FIG. 1, and includes a group of three rods 101 and a lower connecting member 150 that connects the lower ends thereof. It is configured.

  FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a tower formed by stacking and connecting the tower modules 12 shown in FIG. Further, FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a tower in which a base member 170 is added to the tower shown in FIG. Such a base member 170 may be necessary depending on the structure of the foundation on which the tower is installed. Since the bending rigidity of the tower module is equal in any direction around the axis, the tower modules can be connected regardless of the arrangement of the respective rods of the tower modules to be connected as shown in FIG. . That is, it is not necessary to connect the tower modules 12 so that the rods constituting the rod group 100 of the three tower modules 12 forming the tower are on the vertical line of the tower. The rods constituting the group of rods are part of the tower module and do not have a function as a main pillar constituting the tower.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of a tower in which the tower module 13 shown in FIG. 6 (b) is connected in three stages, and a head member 175 is added to the top of the tower to provide a propeller type wind turbine generator installation section. . In this way, the top of the tower or the lower end of the tower becomes an installation part of the propeller type wind turbine generator or a part connected to the foundation of the tower, and since it is a unique part, necessary members are added as appropriate. There are many cases where work is done.

  As a method for connecting the tower modules, an appropriate method such as screw connection or welding is selected in consideration of the performance specifications and economics of the tower. When the tower modules are connected by screw connection, the tower module upper connection member and the tower module lower connection member stacked on the tower module are directly connected by screws and nuts to connect the tower module. As shown in FIG. 10, a method of connecting the tower module via a spacer between the upper connecting member and the lower connecting member is also used. FIG. 10A shows an example in which two tower modules 10 are connected between the upper connecting member 160 and the lower connecting member 150 with a bolt 25 and a nut 26 via a disc-like spacer 21. FIG. 10B shows an example in which two tower modules 10 are connected between the upper connecting member 160 and the lower connecting member 150 with a bolt 25 and a nut 26 via a cylindrical spacer 23.

  In the above, the example which connects a tower module and forms a tower was demonstrated. These towers are generally formed by transporting tower modules manufactured in a factory to a tower installation site and stacking and connecting the tower modules on the spot. However, when the installation site of the tower is inconvenient, etc., the members constituting the tower module are transported to the tower installation site in a disassembled state, and assembled at the site one by one to form the tower May be preferred. In such a case, for example, the tower can be easily formed by the method shown in FIG. 11 using the rod and the connecting member transported to the installation site of the tower.

  The method shown in FIG. 11 is performed by first fixing a group of rods 120 including three rods 115 to the foundation 50 and assembling a connecting member 165 at the upper end thereof. Next, the rod group 130 including the three rods 116 is assembled on the connecting member 165, and the connecting member 166 is attached to the upper end thereof. Further, a bar group 140 including three bars 117 is assembled on the connecting member 166, and a connecting member 167 is attached to the upper end thereof to form a tower. It should be noted that a higher tower can be formed by repeating the above steps. Further, for the connection between the rod group and the connecting member, a required connecting method such as welding or screw connection can be used.

It is a perspective view of one Example of a tower. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the tower. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the tower module which comprises the tower of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the tower module which comprises the lower stage of the tower of FIG. It is a perspective view of the Example of the connection member which comprises a tower module. It is a perspective view of the other Example of a tower module. It is a perspective view of the Example of the tower formed by connecting the tower module shown to Fig.6 (a). It is a perspective view of the Example of the modification of FIG. It is a perspective view of the Example of the tower comprised by connecting the tower module shown in FIG.6 (b), and also adding the head member. It is a perspective view of the Example in case a tower module is screwed together through a spacer. It is explanatory drawing which shows the formation method of a tower in the case of forming a tower in the installation site.

Explanation of symbols

10, 11, 12, 13 tower module
100, 110, 120, 130, 140 Bar group
101, 111, 115, 116, 117 bars
150, 151 Lower connecting member
160, 161 Upper connecting member
165, 166, 167 Connecting member
170 Base material
175 Head member
20 Screw connection
21 Spacer
23 Spacer
25 volts
26 Nut
50 Basics

Claims (6)

  One or more of a connecting member and a set of three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity with respect to the connecting member and arranged and fixed so as to be spaced apart at an angle of 120 ° on the circumference A tower formed by stacking and connecting a plurality of tower modules.   The tower according to claim 1, wherein the tower module at the bottom of the tower has a higher bending rigidity than the tower module at the top.   One or more of a connecting member and a set of three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity with respect to the connecting member and arranged and fixed so as to be spaced apart at an angle of 120 ° on the circumference A tower module consisting of a group of bars.   The tower module according to claim 3, wherein the lower and upper connecting members are annular bodies. (1) One or more rod groups consisting of three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity are set on the foundation, and three rods belonging to the same rod group are 120 ° on the circumference. The first tower module is constructed by arranging and fixing so as to be spaced apart from each other, and further fixing a connecting member on the rod group,
(2) On the first tower module, three or more rod groups each including a set of three rods having the same length and the same bending rigidity are combined with three rods belonging to the same rod group. A method of forming a tower comprising the steps of: arranging and fixing upright by disposing an angle of 120 ° on the circumference; and further, fixing a connecting member on the rod group to construct a second tower module ,
Or the formation method of the tower | column which further comprises the step which repeats the step of said (2) 1 or more.   The tower forming method according to claim 6, wherein the tower is formed such that the first tower module has a higher bending rigidity than the uppermost tower module.

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