KR20120038707A - Floating offshore wind power generation plant - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A floating offshore wind power generation plant is provided to reduce cost of generation of electric power of facility and fabrication cost. CONSTITUTION: A floating offshore wind power generation includes an upper tower(12), a lower structure(14), a single mooring line(16), a rotating unit(20). The wind power generation part is loaded in the upper tower. The lower structure is a floating body supporting the top tower. The single mooring line interlinks the lower structure and sea bed in order to moor the lower substructure. The rotary motion part is installed in the wind-force electricity generation part. The rotating unit turns the wind power generation unit for the upper tower according to the direction of the wind.

Description

Floating offshore wind power plant {FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND POWER GENERATION PLANT}

The present invention relates to a wind power plant for producing electricity using wind power. More specifically, the present invention relates to a floating offshore wind power plant installed at sea.

Due to the problems of environmental regulation and unstable supply and demand of fossil fuel due to global warming, wind power generation as a renewable energy production system is in the spotlight.

Wind power facilities have been installed mainly on land, but there is an increasing number of offshore installations. For wind power, offshore is generally better in wind quality than onshore, and has the advantage of being able to respond more easily to wing noise problems. In particular, it is required to secure large-scale complexes to secure economic feasibility, and it is difficult to provide such complexes on land, and offshore and offshore seas have emerged as large offshore wind farms.

The structure for installing wind turbines at sea can be largely divided into fixed and floating. The fixed structure is a type in which the structure is directly fixed to the sea floor to respond to environmental loads by structural deformation, and the floating type is floating on the surface and is subjected to self-weight, buoyancy, environmental load and mooring force. It is a way of overcoming environmental loads through exercise.

Until recently, offshore wind power plants were stationary and installed mainly in shallow waters. However, the fixed structure provides favorable operating conditions because the structure is fixed to the sea floor, but the deeper the depth, the larger the structure becomes and the risk of fatigue failure is difficult to avoid. In addition, as the size of facilities increases, the cost of manufacturing and installing the structure increases astronomically.

The wind is stronger and more constant away from the land, which can increase the power generation efficiency. Increasingly, the development of wind power is being raised even in deep waters far from the coast. Therefore, many studies on offshore wind power generation facilities using floating structures that are not limited by the size of the structure even if the depth of water deepens.

The floating structure can be classified into pontoon type, tension mooring type and columnar type according to the buoyancy restoring mechanism. Tensile mooring type is a structure that generates a restoring force by the rigidity of the mooring line by combining the buoyancy body with the seabed and the tensile mooring line. A representative type of this structure is the Tension Leg Platform (TLP). In the TLP type, a plurality of mooring lines are installed on the buoyant chain platform to connect to the sea floor, and the mooring lines are pulled so that the platform is pulled down slightly below the static equilibrium position so that the tension is applied.

In the case of columnar type, there is a spar type platform. The sparse platform is a structure in which a cylindrical structure having a center of gravity is placed vertically below the buoyancy center and a platform is installed thereon. A plurality of mooring lines are installed between the structure and the seabed.

In developing the floating offshore wind turbine, the stability and economics of the structure are very important considerations. Therefore, it is necessary to develop in a manner that is the least expensive to manufacture, install and operate on the premise of securing the stability of the facility.

Thus, it provides a floating offshore wind power plant that can secure economics by minimizing the length and number of installations of mooring lines.

It also provides a floating offshore wind turbine with good control over the yawing motion of the structure.

To this end, the facility is equipped with an upper tower equipped with a wind power generation unit, a substructure buoyant body supporting the upper tower, a single mooring line connecting the substructure and the sea bottom to moor the substructure, and the wind power generation unit. And it may include a rotating part for rotating the wind power generator with respect to the upper tower according to the direction of the wind.

The mooring line may be installed at the bottom of the lower structure and the anchor is installed at the front end to be fixed to the sea floor.

The mooring line can be a tensile mooring structure.

The wind power generator includes a rotor and a nacelle rotatably installed in the upper tower and rotatably supporting the rotor, and may further include a power generator, a power storage device, or a power transmission device.

The rotating part may include a tail boom installed on the nacelle and extending outward, a tail rotor rotatably installed at the rear of the tail boom to blow wind to rotate the nacelle with respect to the upper tower, and a driving part for driving the tail rotor. .

The tail boom can be installed on the opposite end of the rotor with respect to the nacelle.

The tail rotor may be a structure disposed toward the direction of rotation of the nacelle.

The driving unit may have a structure using a rotational force of the rotor.

The drive unit is connected between the drive shaft connected to the rotating shaft of the rotor, the transmission gear box connected to the drive shaft to transmit power, the tail drive shaft connected to the output gear box output shaft and extending rearward of the tail boom, between the tail drive shaft and the tail rotor. Is installed may include a tail rotor gearbox for converting the power of the tail drive shaft in the orthogonal direction to transmit to the tail rotor.

The main gear box and the generator are connected to the rotating shaft of the rotor in the nacelle, the drive shaft may be a structure that is connected to the generator to receive power.

The driving unit may further include a wind vane for detecting the direction of the wind, and a controller for controlling the rotational speed or the rotational direction of the tail rotor by controlling the driving of each gear box according to the detection signal of the wind vane.

As described above, the facility can reduce the time and effort required for installation work by minimizing the length and number of installations of mooring lines.

In addition, it is not necessary to provide a separate yaw control system for the yaw control it is possible to lower the manufacturing cost of the equipment, it is possible to increase the price competitiveness by lowering the power generation cost.

In addition, it is possible to secure good yaw control while minimizing mooring lines.

1 is a schematic view showing a floating offshore wind power plant according to the present embodiment.
2 is a cross-sectional view of the floating offshore wind power plant according to the present embodiment.
3 is a schematic view showing an operating state of the floating offshore wind power plant according to the present embodiment.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As can be easily understood by those skilled in the art, the following embodiments may be modified in various forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and the embodiments described herein. It is not limited to the example.

The drawings are schematic and illustrate that they are not drawn to scale. The relative dimensions and ratios of the parts in the figures have been exaggerated or reduced in size for clarity and convenience in the figures and any dimensions are merely exemplary and not limiting. The same or similar structures, elements or parts that appear in more than one figure are shown with the same reference numerals.

1 is a schematic view showing a floating offshore wind power plant according to the present embodiment.

According to the above drawings, the wind turbine 10 according to the present embodiment includes an upper tower 12 equipped with a wind power generation unit, a lower structure 14 that is a buoyant body supporting the upper tower 12, and the lower structure 14. And a single mooring line 16 connecting the substructure 14 and the sea bottom to moor).

The wind power generator may include a rotor 11 and a nacelle 13 coupled to the upper tower 12 to rotatably support the rotor. The wind power generator may further include a power generator, a power storage device, or a power transmission device. As shown in FIG. 2, as a power generation device, the nacelle 13 is connected to a main gear box 17 connected to a rotation shaft 15 of the rotor 11 and an output shaft of the main gear box 17. Is provided with a generator 19 for producing electric power by using the rotational force of the rotating shaft.

In this embodiment, the nacelle 13 is freely rotatable relative to the upper tower 12. In addition, the nacelle 13 includes a rotating part 20 for rotating the nacelle 13 with respect to the upper tower 12 so as to change the direction of the nacelle 13 in which the rotor 11 is installed according to the direction of the wind. do. The rotating unit 20 rotates the nacelle 13 to change the direction of the nacelle, so that the rotor installed in the nacelle is directed toward the wind.

The upper tower 12 is for positioning the rotor 11 at a predetermined height from the surface of the water and has a columnar shape having a predetermined length. The upper tower 12 is fixed to the lower structure (14). In addition, a bearing block 29 is further installed between the upper tower 12 and the nacelle 13. Accordingly, the nacelle 13 freely rotates with respect to the upper tower 12 through the bearing block 29.

The lower structure 14 is a buoyancy body that supports the weight of the upper tower 12 and the wind power generator installed on the upper side as buoyancy. In the present embodiment, the substructure 14 is in the form of a vertical cylinder, but is not particularly limited thereto. The substructure 14 is configured to generate buoyancy with a hollow structure inside. In addition, the lower structure may be mounted on the lower ballast (ballast) for placing the center of gravity under the buoyancy center.

The upper end of the mooring line 16 is installed at the lower end of the lower structure (14).

In this embodiment, the number of mooring lines 16 is one. As the equipment is moored by the single mooring line 16 as described above, the number of mooring lines 16 itself can be reduced, and the installation work of the mooring lines 16 can be minimized.

The mooring line 16 may be formed of a wire rope having rigidity. The wire rope may have a structure in which strands made by twisting wires are twisted together in a single or a plurality of layers, and are not particularly limited.

The upper end of the mooring line 16 is fixed to the lower end of the lower structure 14 and the anchor 18 is installed at the lower end is fixed to the sea bottom. The anchor 18 is for mooring the lower structure 14 connected to the mooring line 16 at a predetermined position. Gravity-type structures that sink by the weight of the can be applied and are not particularly limited.

In this embodiment, the mooring line 16 is installed in a tension mooring structure having a tension between the substructure 14 and the anchor 18. That is, the mooring line 16 is pulled to lower the substructure 14 into water against the buoyancy of the substructure 14 and moored to the anchor 18.

The mooring line 16 is subjected to a tension (tension) due to the excess buoyancy. The mooring line 16 is moored by applying a preset initial tension according to the condition of the facility. The mooring line 16 determines the specifications in consideration of the initial tension (pretension) applied to the mooring line 16 and the dynamic tension (dynamic tension) applied during operation, such as up and down shaking of the equipment.

On the other hand, since the facility is supported by a single mooring line 16, yaw control of the facility may not be performed smoothly. Thus, the facility has a rotating part 20 in the nacelle 13. It is provided to rotate the nacelle 13 with respect to the upper tower 12 during the yawing movement of the rotating equipment is to change the direction of the rotor.

In the present embodiment, the pivot 20 is installed on the nacelle 13 and extends outwardly, and is rotatably installed at the rear of the tail boom 21 to blow out wind and thereby form an upper tower 12. The tail rotor 22 which rotates the nacelle 13 with respect to), and the drive part which drives the tail rotor 22 are included.

The tail boom 21 is installed at the distal end of the rotor 11 on the basis of the nacelle 13. That is, the tail boom 21 extends to the opposite side of the rotor 11 along the axis line of the rotor 11. The tail rotor 22 is installed at the tip of the tail boom 21. The tail boom 21 is to sufficiently separate the tail rotor 22 from the nacelle 13, and the longer the length of the tail boom 21 is, the greater the torque applied to the nacelle by the tail rotor 22 is. It becomes easy to rotate. The length of the tail boom 21 may be variously selected depending on the torque and the load of the installation.

The tail rotor 22 is rotated by the drive unit to eject the wind, the propulsion force by the blowing force of the wind is transmitted to the nacelle 13 to rotate the nacelle 13 with respect to the upper tower 12, 12 Let's go. As mentioned, the nacelle 13, 13 is installed in the substructure 14 via the bearing block 29 and freely rotates with respect to the substructure 14.

The tail rotor 22 has a structure having a plurality of blades and is disposed in the direction of rotation of the nacelle 13. In this embodiment, the tail rotor 22 is disposed in a direction orthogonal to the rotor 11.

In the present embodiment, the drive unit for rotating the tail rotor 22 has a structure using the rotational force of the rotor 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, for this purpose, the drive unit includes a drive shaft 23 connected to the rotation shaft 15 of the rotor 11 and a transmission gear box 24 connected to the drive shaft 23 to transmit power. ), A tail drive shaft 25 connected to the output gearbox 24 output shaft and extending rearward of the tail boom 21, and installed between the tail drive shaft 25 and the tail rotor 22, and a tail drive shaft ( The tail rotor gear box 26 for converting the power of the 25 in the orthogonal direction to the tail rotor 22 is included.

The drive shaft 23 is connected to the generator 19 shaft inside the nacelle 13. Accordingly, the rotation shaft 15 of the rotor 11 is directly connected to the drive shaft 23 through the main gear box 17 and the generator 19 to transmit power to the drive shaft 23.

A transmission gear box 24 is installed between the drive shaft 23 and the tail drive shaft 25. The transmission gear box 24 has a plurality of gear groups therein, and shifts or reverses the rotational speed of the drive shaft 23 at an appropriate ratio, and transmits the result to the tail drive shaft 25 as the output shaft.

The tail drive shaft 25 extends along the inside of the tail boom 21 and is directly connected to the tail rotor 22 through the tail rotor gear box 26.

The tail rotor gear box 26 is provided with a plurality of gear groups therein, and transmits power to the shaft of the tail rotor 22 disposed orthogonal to the tail driving shaft 25. Here, the tail rotor gear box 26 may serve to transmit power in a direction perpendicular to each other and to adjust a blade pitch angle of the tail rotor 22.

As such, the facility transmits the rotational force generated from the rotor 11 to the tail rotor 22 through the drive shaft 23 and the tail rotor 22 shaft to rotate the tail rotor 22.

In addition, the drive unit is configured to control the driving of the tail rotor 22 according to the direction of the wind so that the direction of the nacelle 13 can be exactly matched according to the direction of the wind.

To this end, the driving unit controls the respective gearboxes 24 or the tail rotor gearbox 26 according to the wind vane 28 for detecting the direction of the wind and the detection signal of the wind vane 28, and thus the tail rotor 22. It further comprises a controller 27 for controlling the amount of rotation of the.

The wind vane 28 may be installed on a facility including a nacelle, and is not limited to a position surface installation position capable of confirming an accurate wind direction.

The controller 27 is electrically connected to the wind vane 28 to calculate a signal of the wind vane 28 to detect the direction of the nacelle 13 with respect to the direction of the wind. The controller 27 outputs a control signal to the transmission gear box 24 or the tail rotor gear box 26 according to the direction of the nacelle 13 calculated with respect to the direction of the wind to the transmission gear box 24 or the tail rotor. The drive of the gearbox 26 is controlled.

3 shows the rotation of the nacelle 13 by the above-described rotating part.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the yaw control of the substructure 14 is not performed properly, the substructure is rotated by yawing, or when the direction of the wind is changed while the rotor 11 faces the wind, the rotor is rotated. (11) and the wind direction is shifted, so that the rotor 11 does not hit the wind in the front.

The wind vane 28 installed in the facility detects the direction of the wind with respect to the nacelle 13 in real time. The detected value of the wind vane 28 is applied to the controller 27 and the controller 27 calculates the direction of the current rotor 11 with respect to the direction of the wind.

The controller 27 applies an output signal to the transmission gear box 24 or the tail rotor gear box 26 to control the driving when the direction of the rotor 11 is different from the direction of the wind according to the calculation value. When the tail rotor gear box 26 is configured to adjust the pitch angle of the blade of the tail rotor 22, the controller 27 also controls the tail rotor gear box 26 to adjust the pitch angle of the blade.

As the transmission gearbox 24 is driven, power of the drive shaft 23 is appropriately converted to a rotational direction or a rotational speed and transmitted to the tail drive shaft 25. The tail rotor 22 connected through the tail drive shaft 25 and the tail rotor gear box 26 is driven at a controlled rotation speed or direction.

When the tail rotor 22 is rotated to a controlled value, the wind is ejected in the direction of rotation of the nacelle 13. The propulsion force by the blowing pressure of the wind is transmitted to the nacelle (13). In the nacelle 13, a torque about the upper tower 12 is generated, and the nacelle 13 rotates in one direction with respect to the upper tower 12.

As the nacelle 13 rotates, the direction of the rotor 11 which is shifted from the direction of the wind is changed to face the wind blowing side. This process continues and the controller 27 rotates the nacelle 13 according to the direction of the wind so that the rotor continues to face the wind.

As such, the yaw control of the facility is smoothly performed through the tail rotor 22, so that the rotor 11 can always be directed toward the wind regardless of the yawing motion of the undercarriage 14 or the change of the wind. .

While the illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, various modifications and alternative embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art. Such variations and other embodiments will be considered and included in the appended claims, all without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

10: wind power generator 11: rotor
12: upper tower 13: nacelle
14: substructure 15: axis of rotation
16: mooring line 17: main gear box
18: Anchor 19: Generator
20: rotating part 21: tail boom
22: tail rotor 23: drive shaft
24: Gearbox 25: Tail Drive Shaft
26: tail rotor gearbox 27: controller
28: wind vane 29: bearing block

Claims (9)

An upper tower equipped with a wind power generation unit,
Buoyant chain lower structure for supporting the upper tower,
A single mooring line connecting the substructure and the sea bottom to moor the substructure,
Rotating unit provided in the wind power generation unit for rotating the wind power generation unit with respect to the upper tower according to the direction of the wind
Floating offshore wind power plant comprising a. The method of claim 1,
The mooring line is a floating offshore wind power plant consisting of a wire rope. The method of claim 1,
The mooring line is fixed to the bottom of the lower structure and the floating offshore wind turbine of the structure is fixed to the bottom by the anchor is installed on the front end. The method of claim 1,
The mooring line is a floating offshore wind power plant is a tensile mooring structure. The method of claim 1,
The wind turbine is a floating offshore wind turbine comprising a rotor and a nacelle rotatably installed on the upper tower and rotatably supporting the rotor. The method of claim 5, wherein
The rotating part includes a tail boom installed on the nacelle and extending outward, a tail rotor rotatably installed at the rear of the tail boom to blow wind to rotate the nacelle with respect to the upper tower, and a driving part for driving the tail rotor. Floating offshore wind power plants. The method according to claim 6,
The driving unit is a floating offshore wind turbine of the structure using the rotational force of the rotor. The method according to claim 6 or 7,
The drive unit includes a drive shaft connected to the rotation shaft of the rotor, a transmission gear box connected to the drive shaft to transmit power, a tail drive shaft connected to the transmission gear box output shaft and extending rearward of the tail boom, and the tail drive. A floating offshore wind turbine is installed between the shaft and the tail rotor, and includes a tail rotor gear box for converting power of a tail driving shaft in a orthogonal direction to the tail rotor. The method of claim 8,
The driving unit includes a wind vane for detecting the direction of the wind, and a floating offshore wind power generation further comprises a controller for controlling the drive of the transmission gear box or the tail rotor gear box according to the detection signal of the wind vane to convert the rotation value of the tail rotor equipment.

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