AN IMPROVED WIND TURBINE DOPPLER ANEMOMETER

摘要

The invention relates to a wind turbine doppler anemometer, and in particular a LIDAR apparatus 10 for Feed Forward Control of a wind turbine. The apparatus 10 is mounted on a wind turbine nacelle 3 by a rotatable mount or bearing 12, such that its line of sight 14 can be steered into the wind independently of the direction in which the nacelle 3 is orientated. The rotatable mount can include a wind vane 40 with fins 46 or vanes that receive a force from the incident wind. Alternatively, the rotatable mount can be controlled based on the signal from separate wind sensors 18 that provide a wind direction output to a control system. In a simpler construction, the LIDAR apparatus is fixed to the nacelle, and the line of sight of the LIDAR apparatus is directed towards a rotatable mirror. For Feed Forward Control, this ensures that the measurement of wind velocity produced by the doppler anemometer is reliable and accurate, and allows accurate wind speed information to be available during extreme weather events, as well as during maintenance or failure of the yaw drive.