公开(公告)号：US09828972B2

公开(公告)日：2017-11-28

申请号：US14373153

申请日：2013-01-09

Applicant: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S

Inventor： Joe Cuoghi ,  Karl Gregory ,  Robert Townsend

IPC: F03D11/00 ,  F03D1/06 ,  F03D7/04 ,  F03D80/40 ,  F03D17/00

CPC classification number: F03D17/00 ,  F03D1/0675 ,  F03D7/042 ,  F03D80/40 ,  F05B2260/20 ,  Y02E10/721

Abstract: A method of de-icing a wind turbine blade (5) comprises the steps of: generating heated air using heating means (10) provided in the root portion of the blade; and continuously circulating the heated air around the interior of the blade through at least a portion of two more longitudinal blade cavities (24, 26, 28) defined within the blade. The circulating step includes: channeling the heated air from an outlet (32a) of the heating means at least part way through a first longitudinal blade cavity (26), towards the tip end (18) of the blade; at a position along the length of the blade, diverting the heated air from the first longitudinal blade cavity (26) into a second longitudinal blade cavity (24); and channeling the diverted air at least part way through the second longitudinal blade cavity (24) back to an inlet (34) of the heating means (10). The heated air is circulated through at least a central cavity (24) and a leading edge cavity (26) defined between longitudinal webs (22) within the blade.