RU2662101C1 - Wind powered balloon - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: power engineering.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of high-altitude wind energy. Wind-powered balloon contains a radial-blade turbine, which axis of rotation coincides with wind direction and which is a part of a wind power unit of a multiplier and generator in a nacelle body, and a frame with a horizontal bar. Suspension of the wind-powered unit is carried out with the help of an assembly including a liner, lost in the center of the horizontal bar, below a vertical post that ends with the connection to the nacelle. Strength of the horizontal bar is reinforced with a trussed arch, the rigidity of the frame is reinforced with the connection of the sidewalls with one spacer bar. Balloon can be equipped with an electric aircraft engine operating with variable draft, directed against the wind, and installed on a shelf on a leeward side of the balloon.

EFFECT: invention is aimed at reinforcing the rigidity and strength of the suspension assembly and minimizing the production area for placing the balloon.

3 cl, 3 dwg

Description

It is used to generate wind energy in electricity of industrial capacities, achieved at the height of high-speed layers of the atmosphere.

The present power device relates to wind turbines, the radial-blade turbine of which has an axis of rotation that coincides with the direction of the wind.

After advances in technology and materials made it possible to refuel aeronautics with a frequency of no more than a year or even much less, tethered balloons became a new way to raise wind power blocks to high altitudes of speeds from 20 m / s (patent RU 2602650 C1 , 01/26/2016; WO 2017131551, 08/03/2017). The mobility of these systems, the ease, simplicity of lifting the wind equipment and its descent from a working height of 300-600 meters to the ground berth nodes using gas-filled helium or hydrogen aerostat shells carrying wind-power blocks, significantly reduce exorbitant construction costs, remove difficult operational problems, characteristic for wind turbines on high-rise tower supports. However, balloons, when used to obtain industrial power from wind, are loaded with a significant weight of generating units, which increases the strength requirements of all the elements and components that make up the aeronautical modules.

At the same time, the developers of aeronautical and aircraft wind-generating systems are faced with the problem of allocating large areas for the safe operation of plants. The aeronautical modules of the MARS wind generator aerostat of the American company Mogenn Power and the BAT aerostat turbine of the Canadian company Altaeros Energies have a high windage, which leads to the displacement of the modules under the pressure of air at a distance of 600-1000 meters from the berth nodes when they rise to high-speed winds the corresponding size of the production zone of increased danger of one hundred or more hectares under the aeronautical spaces of the aforementioned wind energy complexes. The creators of the Makani Power Wing 7 (flying wing) generator admitted that their device would be forced to be placed not on land, but most likely above sea surfaces, where the territorial factor does not matter. The same conclusion should be made regarding energy "kites" from the company Joby Energy.

The most common types of tethered balloons are spherical shells filled with light gas and their cigar-shaped shapes (respectively, patents RU 2046734 C1, 06/13/1991 and US 20090152391 A1, 03/04/2006), to which baskets are suspended from below using flexible slings (patent RU 2026238 C1, 11/21/1991), most often for the placement of video surveillance systems, meteorological instruments, repeaters, etc. equipment. Suspension of a wind-driven block with a radial-blade turbine, the axis of rotation of which must coincide with the direction of the wind, to the balloon in the form of a gas-filled ball using flexible lines is used in the device (CN 104895744 A, 09/09/2015). The use of flexible slings in this case causes the power unit to swing under gusts of wind, the condition for the optimal coincidence of the axis of rotation of the turbine and the direction of the wind is not fulfilled, the efficiency of wind generation is lost. When the wind direction changes, the tethered cable will twist and collapse. Similarly, with the same negative result, two radial-vane turbines are suspended on flexible, extended slings from the airship (patent US 4470563 A, 09/11/1984). When the turbines rotate in the opposite direction, their jet moments will be extinguished, the mooring unit of the airship is oriented towards the wind, but all the advantages of such a device are exhausted.

The spatial instability due to the use of flexible slings for suspension of a beam with a wind-powered block, lifted into the air by two balloons, is possessed by a high-altitude generator (KR 20120013682 A, 02.15.2012). This device uses a number of means to ensure that the axis of rotation of the radial blade turbine coincides with the direction of the wind, including air rudders at the windward end of the beam, stabilizing plumage at its leeward end, moving cargo in the cavity of the beam, and other technical solutions that however work exclusively if the wind direction slightly by ± 15-20 ° changes its angle of inclination to the ground, but does not give the desired result if the wind flow is converted into crosswind.

The negative consequences of the use of hangers on flexible slings were eliminated in a balloon wind turbine (patent RU 2657589 C1, 12/05/2017), in which the wind-driven wind-driven block is placed below the balloon on the horizontal crossbar of the H-shaped frame, while the balloon is drawn by meridian ribbons , the annular mounting base, the said frame are made in one piece, and the tethered cables are pulled down to the mooring unit from the lower extremities of the sidewalls of the same frame. But high-speed orthogonal-vane rotors, with their inherent low efficiency, also have a high windage, which requires an increase in the lift of the aerostat so that the aeronautical module under pressure is not moved below the level of high-speed winds and is nailed closer to the ground.

Low-speed radial-vane turbines are characterized by high efficiency and lower windage, but are more difficult to combine with aerostat shells, require installation on horizontal beams with a large span between the supports, as a result of which they are bent under the weight of massive wind power blocks, if they are designed to generate energy from industrial facilities. In a balloon wind generator (patent RU 2602650 C1, 01/26/2016) with a turbine with a diameter of 12-25 meters or more for generating industrial capacities from 150 kW, massive wind power units are supported by an arched truss capable of withstanding multi-ton loads. A close technical solution for the same purposes was used in a high-altitude wind power installation (patent RU 2576103 C1, 02.27.2016).

The essence of the technical solution lies in the fact that the wind power unit with a leeward radial-blade turbine, a multiplier and a generator in the nacelle body is raised as a part of the aeronautical module to the height of high-speed winds, suspended under a balloon and has the ability to swing freely, while always maintaining its own weight optimal spatial orientation of the axis of rotation of the turbine, coinciding with the direction of the wind. The effect of spatial stability is enhanced by the weight of the cable, the deviations can be corrected by a software-controlled mechanical drive of the cable bay, related to the rotary platform of the land mooring site. To achieve the installation of high-altitude-wind generation of industrial capacities, a massive wind-power block was used, the suspension unit of which was given greater rigidity and strength to the balloon. If there is a need to narrow the aeronautics space and reduce the area under it, as an extensive production zone of increased danger, the high-altitude module of the device is supplemented by at least one variable-thrust electric aircraft engine, which is directed against the wind and does not allow the module to move far away from the berth . This particular result can be improved with aerodynamic wings located under the bottom of the balloon.

The aim of the invention is to increase the stiffness and strength of the suspension unit to the aerostat of the wind-driven block from the lee radial-blade turbine, whose rotation axis coincides with the direction of the wind, the multiplier and the generator, which is the most massive element of the aeronautical module raised to the level of high-speed atmospheric air to achieve wind generation of industrial power flows, in the particular case - a decrease in the area under the aeronautics space of a wind energy balloon, which relates I'm to the hazardous area.

This goal is achieved by the fact that a massive industrial-power wind-power unit with a lee radial-blade turbine, a multiplier and a generator in the nacelle body swings under the aerostat so that it maintains a constant effective orientation of the axis of rotation of the turbine in the wind, being suspended on a horizontal beam of the frame hanging in a rigid connection through a mounting base with a balloon shell and a plane perpendicular to the wind. The suspension unit includes a sleeve, loosely dressed in the center of the crossbar, below a vertical strut, ending with a connection to the nacelle. The arched truss gives the required strength to the said crossbar, and the frame stiffness is reinforced by another spreader bar located below the area swept by the turbine blades. The device can be supplemented with at least one electric aircraft engine of variable thrust directed against the wind, placed on the shelf connecting the brackets with the weather vane, extended from the mounting base to the leeward side of the balloon. On the last condition of the presence of an electric aircraft engine with the indicated direction of variable thrust, hollow wings of an aerodynamic profile can be applied, extended from the mounting base in both directions symmetrically and across the wind flow.

In FIG. 1 shows a general view of a wind power balloon (hereinafter referred to as an aerostat); in FIG. 2 is a view of the aeronautical module of the same device from the leeward side; in FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the aeronautical balloon aerostat module (wind power unit is not conventionally shown).

Aeroenergostat consists of an aeronautical module and a ground mooring unit, connected by safety ropes 1 and cable-cable 2. The module includes a semi-rigid aerostat having an internal frame and a soft balloon 3, which, together with the mounting base 4, are pressed onto the bottom of the aerostat by meridian ribbons 5 extending from the base leeward brackets with weathercocks 6 and frame 7, whose plane is perpendicular to the wind, made in one piece. On a horizontal beam 8, reinforced by an arched truss 9, of the aforementioned frame, a wind power unit from a leeward radial-vane turbine 10 is suspended, the axis of rotation of which coincides with the direction of the wind, the multiplier and the generator in the nacelle housing 11. The assembly unit includes a sleeve 12, freely dressed in the center of the crossbar, located below the vertical strut 13, ending with a connection to the gondola. Outside the area swept by the turbine blades, the sidewalls of the frame are connected by another spacer bar 14. The tie ropes are stretched from the ends of the frame sidewalls to two coaxial winches 15, and the cable-cable hangs from the nacelle to the cable bay 16. The winches are located on the leeward side of the turntable 17 land mooring unit, the cable bay and its own mechanical drive are also shifted there. The supporting element of the land mooring unit is a concrete pedestal 18.

In the particular case, the brackets with weathervanes are connected by a shelf 19, on which at least one variable-thrust electric aircraft engine 20 is placed, directed against the wind. To improve the result in a particular case, hollow wings 21 of an aerodynamic profile can be installed on both sides symmetrically from the mounting base and across the wind flow.

The work of this aeroelectric power is as follows. The soft shell of a semi-rigid balloon is filled with light gas in the volume until the lifting force necessary to lift it off the ground, lift it to the top of the aeronautical module and pull its cable and cable ties to the ground mooring unit. Tether cables and cable cables are simultaneously bleed from the winch drums and cable bay until the module reaches the level of strong winds having a speed of 20-30 m / s. In the process of lifting the module and when it reaches a predetermined height (from 300 to 600 meters in most of the continental territories), it unfolds in an air flow along a circular path around the land mooring site and is fixed so that the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the module, the axis of rotation of the lee radial-blade turbine and cable coincide with the direction of the wind. The high-speed pressure of the wind rotates the turbine, mechanical energy is supplied to the multiplier, and then to the generator, where it is converted into electrical energy sent via a cable through the controller, the battery and the inverter to consumers. When the direction of the air flow changes, its pressure acts on the windward side surface of the aerostat and weather vane, which entrains the entire aeronautical module and turns it around so that the direction of the tethered cables and cable, the axis of rotation of the turbine coincides with the new direction of the wind.

When the wind speed suddenly increases, and the length of the tethered cables and cable cable remains unchanged, then under the pressure of the atmospheric flow, the aeronautical module will lose its initial height. In this case, the cable and cable-cable will be located at a sharper angle to the ground. However, the wind-power unit, since it is suspended on a vertical strut through a freely dressed sleeve to the horizontal beam of the frame, under the influence of gravity and gravity of the cable, invariably occupies a position in which the axis of rotation of the leeward radial-blade turbine does not deviate from the direction of the wind. If the wind force is weakened below the nominal value, a similar result will occur, only the cable and cable cable will be tensioned at a large angle to the surface of the earth.

The semi-rigid design of the aerostat using the inner skeleton allows the shell of lightweight fabric material to stably hold a spherical volumetric shape with good streamlining, which reduces the distance by which the aeronautical module is mixed from the ground berth unit under the pressure of the wind. However, in the particular case when the allocation of a large plot of land for a balloon or aircraft is a problem, which occurs in densely populated regions, industrial regions, and areas of active agriculture, such a measure is insufficient. Here, it becomes relevant to create a system of air pressure on a balloon directed against the pressure on it of a high-speed variable-speed wind flow. Such a system is the addition of the proposed device with at least one electric aircraft engine operating with variable thrust acting against the wind. The engine is mounted downwind from a balloon on a shelf connecting existing brackets for a weather vane. In this regard, it is interesting to use Siemens electric aircraft engines, which weigh only 50 kg. develop a power of 260 kW and a rotor speed of up to 2500 rpm. A positive result from the operation of such a system, if it reliably maintains the slope of the safety ropes to the ground at least 60 ° versus 30-45 ° for analogs, is expressed in a 3-9-fold reduction in the area of land allocation for the production zone of increased danger for any existing wind energy balloon.

Improving the result in the described particular case can serve as hollow wings extended from the mounting base in both directions symmetrically and across the wind flow. Spatially arranged wings in this way, having an aerodynamic profile, create additional lifting force acting on the aeronautical module of the aeroelectrostat. As the material of the wings, it is desirable to use lightweight plastic reinforced with carbon fiber. However, the addition of the aeronautical module of the proposed device with aerodynamic wings gives its effect only if there is a sign of the invention, which consists in the use of an electric aircraft engine, which creates a thrust opposite to the wind pressure.

In vortex flows, it is useful to equip the cable-cable bay with its own mechanical drive programmatically controlled so that the cable-cable is stretched and returns the rack to a vertical position, while restoring the coincidence of the direction of the axis of rotation of the turbine with the movement of the wind. Upon termination of the vortex, the cable-cable is discharged from the bay and returns to the free-hanging mode under the aeronautical module.

The addition of the remote control of the aeroelectric power station and the explosion-proof performance of its electrical equipment with the fixed dimensions of the production zone of increased danger under the aeronautical module creates real conditions for the replacement of helium as a gas filler of an aerostat shell with hydrogen, seven times cheaper at prices on the Russian technically gas market. There is an opportunity to create a complex of aeroelectric power and electrolytic installation, which allows not only to produce hydrogen to refuel the balloon, but also serve as a store of surplus wind energy.

For well-known reasons, wind power seeks to comprehensively increase the capacity of each individual wind turbine, which leads to the use of increasingly heavyweight power units. Due to this, as well as the special operating conditions of the equipment at the height of high-speed winds, the stiffness and strength of the critical and most loaded nodes of aeronautical modules are of prime importance. Without this, measures to improve the orientation of the turbines in the wind, minimize production areas, and other improvements in the properties and qualities of the aerostat, its well-known prototypes will not lead to the generation of electricity of industrially significant capacities.

The aeroenergostat is primarily intended for use outside of favorable atmospheric and climatic conditions with strong lower winds of a stable direction, namely, where the effective operation of wind power units of wind turbines is possible only under the pressure of high-altitude winds at a level of at least 300-600 meters from the earth surface. In addition, the installation of a real turbine, which does not require the creation of massive foundations and building supports, is preferable on light soils, in permafrost and on ice shelves, in areas of dust storms and seismic activity.

Claims (3)

1. A wind energy balloon, comprising a semi-rigid balloon made of the inner frame and soft shell made in one piece, a mounting base pressed against the bottom of the balloon by meridian ribbons, leeward brackets with weathercocks, a frame whose plane is perpendicular to the wind, with a horizontal crossbeam, and from a multiplier and a generator in the gondola body, the leeward radial-blade turbine, whose axis of rotation coincides with the direction of the wind, tethered cables, cable-cable and ground berth green, on the rotary platform of which there are two coaxial winches and a cable bay, characterized in that the wind power unit is suspended from the crossbar using a node that includes a sleeve, freely dressed in the center of the crossbar, a lower vertical stand ending with a connection to the gondola; the crossbar is reinforced with an arched truss, and below the area swept by the turbine blades, the sidewalls of the frame are connected by another spacer bar. 2. A balloon according to claim 1, characterized in that the leeward brackets are connected by a shelf on which at least one electric aircraft engine is installed, operating with variable thrust directed against the wind. 3. The balloon according to claim 2, characterized in that the hollow wings of the aerodynamic profile are extended symmetrically and across the wind flow from the mounting base in both directions.

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