China makes breakthroughs in wind turbine de-icing tech
On April 5th, China's first intelligent infrared wind turbine defrosting equipment was successfully tested at the Datang Jiangxi Wugongshan Wind Farm, marking a new technological breakthrough in the field of intelligent defrosting of large capacity wind turbines in China.
This device simulates the principle of solar radiation and uses infrared radiation to quickly heat and "thaw" the leaves. Within 20 seconds, a single device can melt the 3-centimeter thick ice on the surface of the leaves, and within 1 minute, the ice covering in the irradiated area begins to fall off. The irradiation energy is 5 to 8 times that of summer sunlight. In addition, it also has two intelligent modes of "anti freezing" and "de icing", which act as a "weather forecaster" to monitor the environment in real time and prevent icing in advance; When encountering severe icing, the precise de icing of the entire wind turbine can be completed within 1 hour, allowing the giant blades equivalent to a 30 story building to resume operation.
According to the R&D personnel, the problem of de icing wind turbine blades after icing has always been a challenge for the new energy industry. Taking a wind farm with an installed capacity of 100000 kilowatts as an example, the annual electricity loss caused by wind turbine icing is about 10 million kilowatt hours, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of about 5000 households. This technology adopts a non-contact design and has been successfully validated on a 5-megawatt large capacity wind turbine, with an expected increase of 50% in power generation utilization hours during icing periods. Compared with traditional electric heating, which has high energy consumption, low efficiency of gas heating method, and short service life of anti icing coating, non-contact de icing has been achieved without the need to modify the blade structure. It has significant advantages such as protecting equipment safety, energy conservation and high efficiency, and is particularly suitable for the complex environment of high-altitude mountain wind farms, injecting innovative power into the construction of a new energy system in China.
