JP4848398B2 - Wind power generator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wind turbine generator that cools equipment and the like disposed inside a nacelle using a fan cooler.

The outside temperature range of the environment where the wind turbine generator is installed is a wide range of about -30 ° C to + 40 ° C. Mainly, internal equipment such as main bearings, gearboxes, generators, transformers and inverters are based on temperature. Must be controlled within the range of values.
Specific temperature control systems include a hydraulic control that constitutes the blade pitch system of the wind turbine blades, an oil piping system that supplies lubricating oil to the gearbox and the main bearing, and a cooling piping system that air-cools the inverter. And a fan cooler is provided. Each heater and fan cooler is ON / OFF controlled based on the set temperature. The air supply / exhaust port is provided in the outer shell of the nacelle.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a fan cooler that ventilates and cools the nacelle 30 of the wind turbine generator. In addition, the refrigerant | coolant of a fan cooler is the air in the nacelle 30, and cools internal equipment by the temperature difference with this air.
The nacelle 30 includes an intake port 31 provided below the front end portion of the nacelle outer shell, and an exhaust port 33 serving as an outlet of a duct 32 provided on the upper portion. The duct 32 is connected to the outlet opening 34 of the nacelle 30 provided with the heat exchanger 34 and the ventilation fan 35 in order from the upstream side. Therefore, by operating the ventilation fan 35, outside air serving as ventilation air is sucked into the nacelle 30 from the intake port 31. The ventilation air circulates in the nacelle 30 to ventilate high-temperature air, lowers the internal air temperature, and flows out from the exhaust port 33 through the heat exchanger 34, the ventilation fan 35 and the duct 32. To do. At this time, in the heat exchanger 34, the ventilation air is cooled by exchanging heat with a cooling medium (such as lubricating oil whose temperature has risen) flowing through the heat exchanger 34.

In addition, in the conventional axial fan, in order to prevent stalling of the moving blades and to prevent the efficiency from being reduced even at a large flow rate, the angle changing means of the inlet guide blade corresponding to the flow rate is small. It has been proposed to provide an opening / closing plate that is driven by a small gear and a rack that are linked to each other. This opening / closing plate closes or opens the inlet at the moving blade front end of the circulation flow path. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
JP 7-279896 A

By the way, in the conventional wind power generator described above, the same ventilation fan 35 is used when the outside air temperature is high / low, and the temperature control of the equipment installed in the nacelle 30 is performed by turning this ventilation fan 35 ON / OFF. Has been implemented.
However, since the above-described fan cooler has a high air temperature in the nacelle 30 that is a refrigerant of the fan cooler when the outside air temperature is high, the internal cooling effect by the ventilation fan 35 is reduced.
On the other hand, when the outside air temperature is low, the air temperature in the nacelle 30 that is the refrigerant of the fan cooler is also low, so the cooling effect by the ventilation fan 35 is great.

Therefore, the above-described operation control of the ventilation fan 35 is not necessarily optimal under an outside air temperature condition where the installation environment of the wind turbine generator is wide. That is, the conventional fan cooler covers a wide range of outside air temperature conditions, and it has been difficult to efficiently cool the devices and the like disposed in the nacelle 30.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wind turbine generator capable of efficiently cooling equipment inside the nacelle by a fan cooler under a wide range of outside air temperature conditions. There is to do.

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above problems.
The wind turbine generator according to the present invention is a wind turbine generator provided with a fan cooler that cools the devices disposed inside the nacelle, wherein the fan cooler opens into the outer shell of the nacelle and the outside air enters the nacelle. An air inlet that introduces air, an outlet opening that is provided in the outer shell of the nacelle and discharges air inside the nacelle, and an exhaust that discharges air inside the nacelle to the atmosphere formed at the outlet of a duct connected to the outlet opening. A ventilation fan installed near the outlet opening inside the nacelle and sucking outside air from the intake port and exhausting air inside the nacelle from the exhaust port, on the downstream side of the ventilation fan, A bypass flow path for returning a part of the air discharged from the exhaust port to the inside of the nacelle is provided.

  According to such a wind turbine generator, the fan cooler opens to the outer shell of the nacelle and introduces the outside air into the nacelle, the outlet opening provided in the outer shell of the nacelle and discharges the air inside the nacelle, An exhaust port that is formed at the outlet of a duct connected to the outlet opening and discharges air inside the nacelle to the atmosphere, and is installed near the outlet opening inside the nacelle, and sucks outside air from the intake port and from the exhaust port to the inside of the nacelle. Air, and a bypass passage that returns a part of the air discharged from the exhaust port to the inside of the nacelle is provided downstream of the ventilation fan. This will cause a flow of As a result, the amount of air inside the nacelle that is discharged from the exhaust port to the atmosphere decreases, and the amount of outside air introduced into the intake port also decreases, so the negative pressure inside the nacelle that becomes the resistance of the ventilation fan decreases and the fan air volume Will increase.

In the wind power generator described above, it is preferable that the flow path cross-sectional area of the bypass flow path is variable, thereby adjusting the flow path cross-sectional area according to the season and the installation environment and optimizing the fan air volume.
In the wind power generator described above, the bypass flow path is preferably a gap formed between the outlet of the ventilation fan and the duct, whereby the bypass flow path can be easily formed. The channel cross-sectional area of the gap that becomes the bypass channel can be adjusted by attaching / detaching a member that fills the gap, sliding the installation position of the member that fills the gap, or sliding the installation position of the ventilation fan itself. .

According to the wind power generator of the present invention described above, the bypass flow path for returning a part of the air discharged from the exhaust port to the inside of the nacelle is provided. As a result, the amount of air inside the nacelle discharged from the exhaust port to the atmosphere decreases, and the amount of outside air introduced into the intake port also decreases. Therefore, the negative pressure inside the nacelle, which becomes the resistance of the ventilation fan, decreases and the fan air volume increases.
For this reason, in the installation environment where the outside air temperature is high, the cooling capacity inside the nacelle increases due to the increase in the fan air volume. Air does not affect the cooling capacity. Therefore, in the wind turbine generator installed under a wide range of outside air temperature conditions, the equipment inside the nacelle can be efficiently cooled by the fan cooler.
In addition, if the fan air flow increases due to the negative pressure drop inside the nacelle, the operating time of the ventilation fan can be shortened, so the power generation amount of the wind turbine generator increases as much as the power consumption required for driving the fan can be reduced. To improve efficiency.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a wind turbine generator according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
A wind power generator 1 shown in FIG. 2 includes a support column (also referred to as a “tower”) 2 standing on a foundation 6, a nacelle 3 installed at the upper end of the support column 2, and a substantially horizontal rotation axis. And a rotor head 4 that is rotatably supported and provided on the nacelle 3.
A plurality of (for example, three) wind turbine rotor blades 5 are attached to the rotor head 4 in a radial pattern around the rotation axis. As a result, the force of the wind striking the wind turbine rotor blade 5 from the direction of the rotation axis of the rotor head 4 is converted into power for rotating the rotor head 4 around the rotation axis.

Such a wind turbine generator 1 is provided with a fan cooler that cools the devices disposed inside the nacelle 3.
The fan cooler shown in FIG. 1 has an inlet port 11 that opens into the nacelle shell 10 and introduces outside air into the nacelle, an outlet opening 12 that is provided in the nacelle shell 10 and discharges air inside the nacelle, and an outlet opening. 12 is formed at the outlet of the duct 13 connected to the exhaust port 14 for discharging the air inside the nacelle to the atmosphere, and is installed in the vicinity of the outlet opening 12 inside the nacelle. A ventilation fan 15 is provided to discharge air inside the nacelle from the mouth 14.
In the present invention, a bypass passage 16 such as a gap or an opening is provided on the downstream side of the ventilation fan 15 in order to return a part of the air discharged from the exhaust port 14 to the inside of the nacelle.

  The fan cooler configured as described above sucks outside air having a temperature lower than that of air inside the nacelle from the intake port 11 by operating the ventilation fan 15. This outside air functions as ventilation air that circulates in the nacelle 3 and cools the devices in the nacelle by air cooling. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 1, since the heat exchanger 17 of the lubricating oil system is installed on the upstream side of the ventilation fan 15, the ventilation air discharged from the exhaust port 14 to the atmosphere passes through the heat exchanger 17. Heat is exchanged with high-temperature lubricating oil flowing inside the heat exchanger 17 to cool it.

The above-described fan cooler is provided with a bypass passage 16 for returning a part of the ventilation air whose temperature has risen by circulating inside the nacelle to the inside of the nacelle 3. For this reason, a flow of air is generated inside the nacelle 3 so that a part of the ventilation air returns to the inside of the nacelle.
As a result, the amount of ventilation air inside the nacelle discharged from the exhaust port 14 to the atmosphere is reduced, and the amount of outside air introduced into the intake port 11 is also reduced. Then the fan air volume increases. Such an increase in the fan air volume increases the cooling capacity by ventilating the interior of the nacelle 3. The improvement of the cooling capacity due to such an increase in the fan air volume can reduce the operation time of the ventilation fan 15, and therefore the power generation amount increases by the amount of electric power consumed for the operation of the ventilation fan 15. This is also effective for improving the power generation efficiency of the apparatus 1.

Therefore, in an installation environment where the outside air temperature is high, the cooling capacity inside the nacelle increases due to an increase in the fan air volume. On the other hand, in an installation environment such as a cold district where the outside air temperature is low, the air temperature inside the nacelle is originally low, so the air flowing back into the nacelle does not affect the cooling capacity.
That is, the increase in the fan air volume described above can be explained by the fan performance curve (curve showing the relationship between the pressure P and the flow rate Q) shown in FIG. In this figure, when the nacelle pressure loss characteristic changes from the state indicated by the broken line (Po-Pn) to the state indicated by the solid line (Po-P'n), the ventilation fan 15 reduces the pressure P by ΔP and the flow rate Q is increased. It is increased by ΔQ.

  Here, the nacelle pressure loss characteristic (Po−Pn) indicated by a broken line in FIG. 4 is the same as that of the conventional technique shown in FIG. 6, where Q is the total fan air volume sucked from the intake port 31 and discharged from the exhaust port 33. The outer pressure (atmospheric pressure) of the nacelle 30 is Po, the inner pressure of the nacelle 30 is Pn, Ain is the inlet area of the intake port 31, ζin is the resistance coefficient of the inlet at the intake port 31, and the pressure balance shown in [Equation 1] It is calculated by the formula.

また、図４に実線で示すナセル圧損特性（Ｐo −Ｐ′ｎ）は、数２に示す圧力のバランス式から求められる。このバランス式は、本発明の実施形態として示した図１の構成において、吸気口１１から吸引される風量をＱ′、バイパス流路１６からナセル内部に戻されるバイパス風量をｑとすれば、排気口１４から排出されるファン合計風量は（Ｑ−ｑ）と表すことができるので、ナセル３の外側圧力（大気圧力）をＰo、ナセル３の内側圧力をＰ′ｎ、Ａinを吸気口１１の入口面積、ζinを吸気口１１における入口の抵抗係数とすれば、下記に示す〔数２〕のようになる。

Further, the nacelle pressure loss characteristic (Po−P′n) shown by a solid line in FIG. 4 is obtained from the pressure balance equation shown in Equation 2. In the configuration of FIG. 1 shown as the embodiment of the present invention, this balance equation is defined as Q ′ as the air volume sucked from the intake port 11 and q as the bypass air volume returned from the bypass flow path 16 to the inside of the nacelle. Since the total fan air flow discharged from the port 14 can be expressed as (Qq), the outer pressure (atmospheric pressure) of the nacelle 3 is Po, the inner pressure of the nacelle 3 is P'n, and Ain is the intake port 11. If the inlet area, ζin, is the resistance coefficient of the inlet at the intake port 11, [Equation 2] shown below is obtained.

The cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a specific arrangement and cooling system for main devices arranged inside the nacelle 3.
The nacelle 3 includes an intake port 11 that opens below the front end of the nacelle shell 10 and an outlet opening 12 that opens at the top of the nacelle shell 10. A duct 13 is connected to the outlet opening 12, and the outlet of the duct 13 serves as an exhaust port 14 for discharging the air inside the nacelle to the atmosphere. Further, on the downstream side of the ventilation fan 15, a bypass channel 16 is provided for returning a part of the air discharged from the exhaust port 14 to the inside of the nacelle.

A main bearing 21 that supports a main shaft 20 that rotates integrally with the rotor head 4 is installed inside the nacelle 3. The rotation of the main shaft 20 drives the generator 24 via the output shaft 23 of the speed increaser 22. The temperature of the main bearing 21, the speed increaser 22, and the generator 24 rises due to frictional heat generated in the sliding portion of the rotating part, and thus cooling by lubricating oil or air cooling is necessary.
Inside the nacelle 3, heat generating devices such as a control panel 25 and an inverter 26 are installed. Such heat generating devices need to be cooled by air cooling or the like.

For cooling the devices installed inside the nacelle 3, ventilation air is used in which outside air introduced from the intake port 11 and exhausted from the exhaust port 14 circulates inside the nacelle. This ventilation air operates inside the nacelle 3 until the outside air sucked from the intake port 11 is exhausted from the exhaust port 14 by operating the ventilation fan 15 installed near the outlet opening 12 inside the nacelle. Circulate and cool equipment by air cooling.
More specifically, the outside air introduced from the intake port 11 circulates in the nacelle 3 and becomes ventilation air discharged from the exhaust port 14. This ventilation air exchanges heat with the lubricating oil by passing through a heat exchanger (a lubricating oil cooling radiator) 17 installed in a lubricating oil system that supplies the main bearing 21 and the speed increaser 22 with lubricating oil. Cool hot lubricant. Reference numerals 17a and 17b in the figure are lubricating oil passages of the lubricating oil system that connect the heat exchanger 17, the main bearing 21, and the speed increaser 22.

  The generator 24 is cooled by air cooling using the ventilation air in the nacelle 3. In the illustrated configuration example, the generator 24 includes a generator cooler 24a. The generator cooler 24a operates the cooler fan 24b to introduce the ventilation air in the nacelle 3. This ventilation air is exhausted directly to the outside of the nacelle 3 through the duct 24c after cooling a necessary portion of the generator 24. In such an air cooling system of the generator 24 as well, by forming a gap, an opening, or the like at an appropriate position of the duct 24c, a bypass is provided to return a part of the ventilation air whose temperature has risen after cooling back to the nacelle 3 side. A flow path 24d may be provided.

The inverter 26 is cooled by an inverter cooler 27. The inverter cooler 27 drives the cooler fan 27 a to introduce the ventilation air in the nacelle 3 and exchanges heat with the refrigerant of the inverter cooling system circulating through the inverter cooler 27. As a result, the refrigerant that has become high temperature by cooling the inverter 27 is cooled by the ventilation air, and is directly exhausted to the outside of the nacelle 3 through the duct 27b. In such refrigerant cooling of the inverter 26 as well, by forming a gap, an opening, or the like at an appropriate position of the duct 27b, a bypass flow in which a part of the ventilation air whose temperature has risen after cooling is caused to flow backward to the nacelle 3 side. A path 27c may be provided.
Also, the control panel 25 may be cooled by supplying ventilation air to necessary portions inside the panel.

As described above, in the wind turbine generator 1 of the present invention, the bypass flow path is generated so that the exhaust of the ventilation fan 15 flows toward the outside through the duct 13 and the flow toward the back of the nacelle 3. 16 is provided, the outside air introduced from the intake port 11 becomes ventilation air flowing through the inside of the nacelle 3 and further passes through the heat exchanger 17 and the ventilation fan 15. The temperature rises. Part of the ventilation air whose temperature has risen in this way is returned to the internal space of the nacelle 3 and recirculated.
When the wind turbine generator 1 configured as described above is installed in a cold region, the original refrigerant is generated even if the ventilation air in the nacelle 3 heated through the ventilation fan 15 flows back into the nacelle 3 again. Since the air temperature in the nacelle is low, there is practically no problem with the cooling capacity of the ventilation fan 15. Further, by recirculating the air whose temperature has increased into the nacelle 3, oils such as lubricating oil whose viscosity increases at a low temperature can be warmed.

By the way, although the bypass channel 16 of the above-described embodiment has a constant channel cross-sectional area determined by a gap or an opening, in another embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the bypass channel 16A having a variable channel cross-sectional area. Is adopted.
That is, if the cross-sectional area of the bypass flow path 16A is made variable, the cross-sectional area of the ventilation fan 15 can be optimized by adjusting the cross-sectional area as appropriate according to the season and installation environment.

In the summertime when the outside air temperature is high, for example, as shown in FIG. As a result, the high-temperature ventilation air does not flow back into the nacelle 3, and therefore, the equipment can be efficiently cooled by the relatively low temperature outside air and ventilation air.
On the other hand, in winter when the outside air temperature is low, for example, as shown in FIG. As a result, part of the ventilation air whose temperature has risen flows back into the nacelle 3 and recirculates, so that it is possible to increase the fan air volume of the ventilation fan 15 and to warm the lubricating oil having a high viscosity at a low temperature.

The bypass channels 16 and 16A described above are preferably gaps that are formed between the outlet of the ventilation fan 15 and the duct 13 and communicate with the interior of the nacelle 3. Such bypass bypass passages 16 and 16A can be easily formed by partially notching the lower end of the duct 13, for example.
The bypass channel 16A having a variable channel cross-sectional area can be detachable, such as a lid member 16a shown in FIG. 5A, in which a member filling the gap is fixed with a bolt or the like. In this case, it is possible to divide the lid member 16a into a plurality of pieces and set the flow passage cross-sectional areas in a plurality of stages according to the number of lid members 16a to be fixed.

Further, the above-described bypass channel 16A having a variable channel cross-sectional area allows the position of a member filling the gap to be moved along a guide or the like so that the channel cross-sectional area can be adjusted in a plurality of steps or steplessly within a predetermined range. A slide type or a fan slide type in which the installation position of the ventilation fan 15 is moved on a rail or the like and the cross-sectional area of the flow path can be adjusted in a plurality of steps or steplessly within a predetermined range may be adopted.
In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it can change suitably.

It is sectional drawing inside a nacelle which shows the structural example of the fan cooler which ventilates and cools the inside of a nacelle as one Embodiment of the wind power generator which concerns on this invention. It is a side view which shows the outline | summary of a wind power generator. It is sectional drawing inside a nacelle which shows the specific arrangement | positioning of the main apparatuses arrange | positioned in a nacelle, and the outline | summary of a cooling system. It is a figure which shows the relationship between a fan performance (PQ) curve and a nacelle pressure loss characteristic. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the structural example of the bypass flow path which made the flow-path cross-sectional area variable as other embodiment, (a) is a flow path cross-sectional area, and (b) The case where the road cross-sectional area is fully opened is shown. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional structure of the fan cooler which ventilates and cools the inside of the nacelle of a wind power generator.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wind power generator 3 Nacelle 4 Rotor head 5 Windmill rotary blade 10 Nacelle outer shell 11 Inlet port 12 Outlet opening 13 Duct 14 Exhaust port 15 Ventilation fan 16, 16A Bypass flow path

Claims (3)

In the wind turbine generator provided with a fan cooler for cooling the devices arranged inside the nacelle,
The fan cooler opens to the outer shell of the nacelle and introduces outside air into the nacelle, an outlet opening provided in the outer shell of the nacelle for discharging air inside the nacelle, and a duct connected to the outlet opening An exhaust port that is formed at the outlet and discharges air inside the nacelle to the atmosphere, and is installed in the vicinity of the outlet opening inside the nacelle, and sucks outside air from the intake port and draws air inside the nacelle from the exhaust port. With a ventilation fan to discharge,
The wind turbine generator according to claim 1, wherein a bypass passage is provided downstream of the ventilation fan to return a part of the air discharged from the exhaust port to the inside of the nacelle.   The wind turbine generator according to claim 1, wherein a channel cross-sectional area of the bypass channel is variable.   The wind power generator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bypass channel is a gap formed between an outlet of the ventilation fan and the duct.

Images