Patents by Inventor Stephen BUGGY

Stephen BUGGY 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).

  • Publication number: 20210151975
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of identifying an electrical contact fault in a wind turbine blade electrical heating system, comprising inserting a predetermined enforced off cycle between or within a switching duty cycle, wherein the switching duty cycle controls the switching of one or more electrical contacts in the electrical heating system, measuring a current consumption during the predetermined enforced off cycle, determining if the measured current consumption exceeds a predetermined threshold, and wherein if the measured current consumption exceeds the predetermined threshold shutting down at least part of the electrical heating system. The present invention also relates to a wind turbine with one or more wind turbine blades that can identify an electrical contact fault.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2018
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Arran WOOD, Stephen BUGGY, John BENGTSON
  • Publication number: 20210148338
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of controlling an electro-thermal heating system in a wind turbine blade, comprising measuring a supply voltage to the electro-thermal heating system, determining a duration of a variable time based enforced off period based on the measured supply voltage, and inserting the variable time based enforced off period between subsequent switching duty cycles that controls the electro-thermal heating system. The present invention also relates to a wind turbine that comprises one or more wind turbine blades wherein each wind turbine blade comprises an electro-thermal heating system and a processor adapted to perform the method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Arran WOOD, Stephen BUGGY, Paul BADGER
  • Publication number: 20200300226
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed to techniques for monitoring and controlling heating elements in wind turbine blades and the wind turbine blades. One example of the present disclosure is a method of monitoring and controlling a condition of a heating element in a wind turbine blade and the wind turbine blade. The method includes measuring a voltage applied to the heating element and measuring the current flowing through the heating element. The method further includes calculating a resistance of the heating element using the measured voltage and the measured current and storing the resistance in a database. The method further includes determining whether an event corresponding to a failure of the wind turbine blade or the heating element in the wind turbine blade has occurred. When the event occurs, control of the heating element is adjusted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Inventor: Stephen BUGGY
  • Publication number: 20190145384
    Abstract: Examples of the present disclosure generally relate to wind turbine blades configured to minimize or eliminate buildup of ice on the blades. In order to maintain an ice free surface on a wind turbine blade, one or more ETH panels are embedded in the wind turbine blade to heat the wind turbine blade. One or more busbars are electrically connected to each of the one or more ETH panels for conducting electrical power to the ETH panels. The busbars may be disposed in an overlapping configuration to provide uniform heating of the wind turbine blade.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Publication date: May 16, 2019
    Inventors: Luke SPANDLEY, Paul BADGER, Stephen BUGGY
  • Publication number: 20190113025
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed to techniques for controlling a temperature of a blade in a wind turbine system. One example of the present disclosure is a method of controlling a temperature of a blade in a wind turbine system. The method includes setting a target temperature, inputting physical conditions of the blade and ambient conditions about the blade into a processor, outputting a minimum amount of energy to a heating element of the blade required to reach the target temperature based on the physical conditions and ambient conditions, and adjusting the energy provided to the heating element to reach the target temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Publication date: April 18, 2019
    Inventors: Paul BADGER, Luke SPANDLEY, Stephen BUGGY, Karl GREGORY
  • Publication number: 20190003463
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and controller for heating a wind turbine blade that comprises a plurality of heating zones. An icing factor is determined based on environmental conditions and one or more heating zones are determined based on the determined icing factor, wherein each heating zone comprises one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements. The one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements corresponding to the determined heating zones are activated to generate heat.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Publication date: January 3, 2019
    Inventors: Stephen BUGGY, Luke SPANDLEY, Paul BADGER