Patents by Inventor Jon SOWMAN

Jon SOWMAN has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11959460
    Abstract: Control of a wind turbine in a stop process where a stop controller is used to pitch the blades at a number of pre-set pitch rates including a first pitch rate and a second pitch rate. The stop controller is arranged to access desired pitch angles of the stopping process and add an envelope band to the desired pitch angles. In the stop process, pitching at a selected pitch rate among the number of pre-set pitch rates is performed, and the pitch rate is changed according to criteria to keep the pitch value within the envelope band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Keld Hammerum, Christian Jeppesen, Jon Sowman
  • Patent number: 11841005
    Abstract: Embodiments herein describe in-plane vibration damping techniques for MR turbines. The MR turbines can include arms that extend from a common tower and support multiple rotors. Because the rotors are disposed laterally away from the tower, side-to-side motion of the tower causes the rotors to have an angled trajectory that includes both lateral and vertical displacement. In addition, a rotor disposed on one side of the tower in MR turbine can have a very different trajectory than a rotor disposed on the opposite side of the tower. To account for the vertical displacement and the different trajectories, in one embodiment, a controller can use different phase offsets for each rotor when calculating pitch offsets for performing in-plane vibration damping. In another embodiment, the controller can use both the lateral and vertical accelerations of the rotors to identify the pitch offsets for the rotors to perform in-plane vibration damping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Julio Xavier Vianna Neto, Søren Dalsgaard, Ian Couchman, Jon Sowman
  • Publication number: 20230035973
    Abstract: Embodiments herein describe in-plane vibration damping techniques for MR turbines. The MR turbines can include arms that extend from a common tower and support multiple rotors. Because the rotors are disposed laterally away from the tower, side-to-side motion of the tower causes the rotors to have an angled trajectory that includes both lateral and vertical displacement. In addition, a rotor disposed on one side of the tower in MR turbine can have a very different trajectory than a rotor disposed on the opposite side of the tower. To account for the vertical displacement and the different trajectories, in one embodiment, a controller can use different phase offsets for each rotor when calculating pitch offsets for performing in-plane vibration damping. In another embodiment, the controller can use both the lateral and vertical accelerations of the rotors to identify the pitch offsets for the rotors to perform in-plane vibration damping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Publication date: February 2, 2023
    Inventors: Julio Xavier Vianna NETO, Søren DALSGAARD, Ian COUCHMAN, Jon SOWMAN
  • Publication number: 20230003193
    Abstract: Control of a multi-rotor wind turbine system. A local controller is arranged for each wind turbine module and implementing a local model predictive control (MPC) routine. A central controller is arranged to determine a set of operational constraints of the wind turbine modules. Based on a current operational state of the wind turbine module and the set of operational constraints, one or more predicted operational trajectories are calculated and used for controlling the wind turbine module.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2022
    Publication date: January 5, 2023
    Inventors: Julio Xavier Vianna NETO, Jon SOWMAN
  • Publication number: 20220403822
    Abstract: The present invention relates to control of a wind turbine in a stop process where a stop controller is used to pitch the blades at a number of pre-set pitch rates including a first pitch rate and a second pitch rate. The stop controller is arranged to access desired pitch angles of the stopping process and add an envelope band to the desired pitch angles. In the stop process, pitching at a selected pitch rate among the number of pre-set pitch rates is performed, and the pitch rate is changed according to criteria to keep the pitch value within the envelope band.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2021
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventors: Keld HAMMERUM, Christian JEPPESEN, Jon SOWMAN