Patents by Inventor Yoshiyuki Hayashi

Yoshiyuki Hayashi 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: 8694268
    Abstract: An object is to suppress reduction of energy production as much as possible while ensuring an expected lifetime. There is provided a device of adjusting a curtailment strategy for a wind turbine, the device including: a fatigue equivalent load calculation unit that calculates a fatigue equivalent load for evaluating a fatigue damage of the wind turbine in a predetermined time period by using load data of the wind turbine; and a setting value update unit that compares the fatigue equivalent load with a reference load determined by an expected lifetime of the wind turbine, and, when a difference between the fatigue equivalent load and the reference load exceeds a predetermined threshold value, updates the condition setting value for the curtailment that is currently employed according to the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kai Karikomi, Shigeto Hirai, Yoshiyuki Hayashi
  • Patent number: 8546968
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. In a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter. The pitch angle of the windmill blades is controlled on the basis of the resulting blade-pitch-angle command after combining.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Kazunari Ide, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Publication number: 20130230396
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. In a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter. The pitch angle of the windmill blades is controlled on the basis of the resulting blade-pitch-angle command after combining.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2013
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi WAKASA, Kazunari IDE, Yoshiyuki HAYASHI, Masaaki SHIBATA
  • Patent number: 8471301
    Abstract: A device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion regions, an interlayer insulating film arranged on the plurality of photoelectric conversion regions, a protective insulating film that is arranged in contact with the interlayer insulating film and has a refractive index different from that of the interlayer insulating film, recesses arranged in a light-receiving surface of each of the plurality of photoelectric conversion regions, and embedded regions embedded in the recesses. When a wavelength of incident light to each of the plurality of photoelectric conversion regions is denoted by ? and a refractive index of the embedded regions is denoted by n, a depth d of the recesses is represented by an expression d??/4n.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masanori Kudo, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Kazuhiro Saito, Taro Kato, Yoshihiko Fukumoto
  • Patent number: 8461707
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator is provided with: a nacelle mounting a wind turbine rotor; a yaw drive device generating drive force for causing yaw turning of the nacelle; a brake mechanism generating braking force for braking the turning of the nacelle; a control system controlling the yaw drive device and the brake mechanism; and a wind speed measurement device measuring wind speed. When detecting occurrence of a high wind speed state based on the wind speed while the nacelle is turned by the yaw drive device, the control device provides braking force for the nacelle by using the brake mechanism in response to the detection of the occurrence of the high wind speed state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuto Fujino, Seita Seki, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20130099494
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, which is a wind turbine generator that turns a nacelle in the yaw direction by using the force that acts on turbine blades, includes a yaw brake device that stops the turning of the nacelle in the yaw direction and a control device that controls the yaw brake device so that the turning speed of the nacelle falls within a predetermined range. Therefore, the wind turbine generator can make the turning speed of the nacelle constant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2012
    Publication date: April 25, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro NUMAJIRI, Yoshiyuki HAYASHI
  • Patent number: 8395273
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Kazunari Ide, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Publication number: 20130001947
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2012
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi WAKASA, Kazunari IDE, Yoshiyuki HAYASHI, Masaaki SHIBATA
  • Patent number: 8299643
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Kazunari Ide, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Patent number: 8277167
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for operating a wind turbine capable of preventing the occurrence of damage of the blades by evading excessive irregular loads from acting on the blades in the slanting direction in the event of power failure when strong wind blows, are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaaki Shibata, Toyoaki Furukawa, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Yuuji Yatomi, Kazuhisa Tsutsumi
  • Patent number: 8255173
    Abstract: A load is based calibrate on data collected under wide observation conditions and promptly calibrate loads of a plurality of wind turbine blades. A load measuring apparatus is applied to a wind turbine in which a pitch angle of a wind turbine blade is variable. The apparatus includes a sensor for obtaining a distortion of the wind turbine blade; a load calculating unit having a function expressing a relation between the distortion of the wind turbine blade and a load on the wind turbine blade, for obtaining the load on the wind turbine blade by applying to the function the distortion based on measurement data of the sensor; and a calibration unit for calibrating the function based on the measurement data of the sensor obtained in a pitch angle range and a rotational speed range of the wind turbine blade in which a variation between maximum and minimum aerodynamic torques is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideyasu Fujioka, Yoshiyuki Hayashi
  • Patent number: 8249754
    Abstract: It is an object to make it possible to completely or partially eliminate a yaw driving device and to reduce power consumption in a nacelle. A moment around a wind-turbine tower axis is calculated; an angle command value around the wind-turbine tower axis is calculated by adding a yaw-control command value to a reference command value for canceling out the moment; and a pitch angle command value of each wind turbine blade is set on the basis of the angle command value around the wind-turbine tower axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Patent number: 8217524
    Abstract: The present invention provides a wind turbine generator and a blade pitch angle control method thereof in which an aerodynamic imbalance of a wind turbine rotor at the time of shutdown is further reduced, the maximum load of a wind turbine is further reduced, and the wind turbine generator can be reduced in weight and cost. The wind turbine generator includes a collective pitch angle controller 11 that produces a collective pitch angle demand that is common to blade pitch angles of wind turbine blades, an individual pitch angle producing unit 13 that produces an individual pitch angle demand inherent in each wind turbine blade, multipliers 21 to 23 that multiply the individual pitch angle demand by the individual pitch angle gain; an individual pitch angle gain producing unit 14, and adder 24 to 26 that add collective pitch angle demands to the output of the multipliers 21 to 23 and supply the same to pitch actuators 31 to 33 inherent in the wind turbine blades.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takumi Nakashima, Mitsuya Baba, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Kazunari Ide
  • Publication number: 20120051892
    Abstract: There is provided a designing method of a wind turbine rotor which includes a rotor head, a bearing provided on the rotor head and a wind turbine blade attached to the bearing. The wind turbine rotor designing method includes: providing operation environment data indicative of an operation environment of a wind turbine generator including the wind turbine rotor and design data of the wind turbine blade; calculating a position of a center of mass of the wind turbine blade in each position in a lengthwise direction of the wind turbine blade in the operation environment from the operation environment data and the design data; and calculating an evaluation value which is a value depending on an integral value obtained by integrating a product of the calculated position of the center of mass of the blade and a mass per unit length at each position in a lengthwise direction of the wind turbine blade from a blade root portion of the wind turbine blade to a blade tip end of the same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyasu FUJIOKA, Akihiro NAKAMURA, Takao KUROIWA, Yoshiyuki HAYASHI, Yoshihiko HAYASHI
  • Patent number: 8115331
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Kazunari Ide, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Publication number: 20120035865
    Abstract: A load is based calibrate on data collected under wide observation conditions and promptly calibrate loads of a plurality of wind turbine blades. A load measuring apparatus is applied to a wind turbine in which a pitch angle of a wind turbine blade is variable. The apparatus includes a sensor for obtaining a distortion of the wind turbine blade; a load calculating unit having a function expressing a relation between the distortion of the wind turbine blade and a load on the wind turbine blade, for obtaining the load on the wind turbine blade by applying to the function the distortion based on measurement data of the sensor; and a calibration unit for calibrating the function based on the measurement data of the sensor obtained in a pitch angle range and a rotational speed range of the wind turbine blade in which a variation between maximum and minimum aerodynamic torques is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyasu Fujioka, Yoshiyuki Hayashi
  • Publication number: 20110309620
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator is provided with: a nacelle mounting a wind turbine rotor; a yaw drive device generating drive force for causing yaw turning of the nacelle; a brake mechanism generating braking force for braking the turning of the nacelle; a control system controlling the yaw drive device and the brake mechanism; and a wind speed measurement device measuring wind speed. When detecting occurrence of a high wind speed state based on the wind speed while the nacelle is turned by the yaw drive device, the control device provides braking force for the nacelle by using the brake mechanism in response to the detection of the occurrence of the high wind speed state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuto Fujino, Seita Seki, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110309622
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2011
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi WAKASA, Kazunari IDE, Yoshiyuki HAYASHI, Masaaki SHIBATA
  • Patent number: 8039980
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to reduce stop time of a wind turbine generator caused by icing on a wind turbine blade in the wind turbine generator. The invention provides the wind turbine generator including an ice detecting unit for detecting an amount of icing on a wind turbine blade, wherein an operation mode is switched to a no-load operation mode with no power being generated in a case where the icing amount detected by the ice detecting unit exceeds a first predetermined value, and an icing amount is detected by the ice detecting unit in a state where the apparatus is operated in the no-load operation mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Taketo Mizoue, Mitsuya Baba, Yoshiyuki Hayashi
  • Patent number: 8026623
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Kazunari Ide, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata