TURBINE SUPPORT TOWER

DESCRIPTION

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a storage structure for construction modules of a wind turbine support tower and a procedure for use of the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wind turbines are devices commonly employed in technology for generating electric energy from air currents .

Said wind turbines typically consist in a wind driven turbine supported on a slightly longitudinally elongated frusto-conical shaped vertical supporting structure called a tower.

For the wind turbine to be able to take advantage of the air currents, said support towers must raise it up to a substantial height, typically on the order of 80 to 120 meters. Moreover, the current tendency in the sector consists in increasing the height of said towers to increase performance. The large size of these devices poses numerous transport and storage problems. For this reason the support towers are normally modular and are constructed by joining together a plurality of construction modules. In the construction of concrete towers, these modules may have a roofing tile shape, in which case they are called segments.

As disclosed in, for example, Spanish patent application ES2326010, said segments are joined together to form slightly frusto-conical shaped closed sections which, when superimposed, form a support tower with essentially continuous walls.

The segments have lateral joining means that enable joining two segments of a single closed section. Said joining means, however, are not relevant for purposes of the invention.

Likewise, for joining together these closed frusto- conical sections, the segments may have some specific anchoring elements normally provided on both the top surface and the bottom surface, which enable joining segments to others.

In this way the bottom portion of the segments are normally fitted with anchoring elements in the shape of bars, which can be inserted in coinciding hole-shaped housings located on the top portion of the other segment. Naturally, many other differing configurations are possible, such as, for example, the inverted configuration (bottom anchor hole-shaped housing elements and top anchoring elements in the shape of anchor bars) . Currently, transporting segments by road using special vehicles is possible. Nevertheless, and as shall be shown below, the problem remains that storing said segments requires a very large strip of land, which in itself entails very high production costs.

In fact, even though the segment dimensions are quite smaller than a finished support tower, their size is by no means insignificant. Moreover, the segments normally measure on the order of 20 meters long by 5 meters wide, and can weigh 50 tons or more.

Currently, the segments are stored horizontally, stacked on each other and separated by blocks. To maintain stability it is advisable to stack a maximum of 3 or, in certain cases, 4 storeys.

Taking into consideration, for example, the construction segments described in Spanish patent application no. ES2326010 , each one of them is estimated to occupy an area of approximately 100 m2.

As such, storing all of the segments needed to assemble 10 complete 100 meter high towers would require a minimum space of approximately 3.5 hectares, including the spacing required between segment stacks. This area is quite large when compared to the dimensions of industrial installations in other technical sectors. In light of the above, it is clear that to build wind turbines there exists a need to reduce the space required for storing said construction modules. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One of the subjects of the invention is a storage structure for construction modules of wind turbine support towers, which may serve the purpose of addressing the problems of the prior art.

More specifically, the invention takes advantage of at least one of the top or bottom anchoring elements normally found on the segments, originally provided for joining segments of sections that differ from each other, in order to anchor segments to a storage structure.

Said storage structure comprises a pillar or vertical anchoring post provided with at least some fastening means for fastening at least one segment to said pillar; a support base extending perpendicularly from the pillar to which is fastened, and having in turn, a plurality of anchor assembly sets comprised by at least one anchoring element and arranged at predetermined distances from the pillar; the arrangement of said anchoring elements of the set coinciding with that of at least one portion of the bottom (alternatively top) anchoring elements of the segments to be stored, in such a way that it is possible to join a plurality of segments to the support base.

A further object of the invention is a procedure for storing the air turbine support tower construction modules that uses a storage structure of the type previously described, and which comprises the following steps: a) Have available a storage structure in the place designated for storing the segments; b) Transport a first segment to the storage structure and anchor it to one of the anchor assembly set elements arranged on the support base, using at least one portion of the anchoring elements provided on the segment for this purpose; c) Fasten the segment to the anchor pillar using the joining means provided on said pillar; b) Optionally, transport an additional segment to the storage structure and anchor it to another one of the anchor assembly set elements arranged on the support base, using at least one portion of the anchoring elements provided on said segment for this purpose; e) Fasten this last segment to the one already anchored to the storage structure using additional fastening means . f) Repeat steps d) and e) until having finished immobilising against the storage structure all of the segments needing to be stored. As is evident from reading the present description, the procedure according to the invention enables storing the construction segments in the vertical direction.

This is a very important fact because, when compared to the traditional (that is, horizontal) storage procedure, it is estimated that the procedure of the invention enables reducing to about one fifth the space required for storing a given number of construction segments. On the other hand, the device and the procedure of the invention make it possible to paint the inside and outside faces of the segments. Furthermore, the majority of the devices normally provided on said segments can be installed during said storage (electrical cable supports, ladders, fasteners for catwalks and braces, etc.) .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a perspective of a stack of segments resulting from a storage procedure of the prior art;

Figure 2 shows a schematic plan view of a segment storage installations resulting from a storage procedure of the prior art;

Figure 3a shows a lateral elevation view of a first embodiment of a storage structure in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3b shows a sectional view of the anchor pillar of the first embodiment of the storage structure in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3c shows a plan view of the storage structure in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3d shows a cross-sectional view of the support base of the first embodiment of the storage structure in accordance with the invention; Figure 4 shows a lateral elevation view of a stack of segments resulting from a storage procedure in accordance with the invention, which uses the storage structure according to Figure 3a;

Figure 5 shows a schematic plan view of a segment storage installations resulting from a storage procedure in accordance with the invention; Figure 6 shows a schematic plan view of a storage installation of segments resulting from a storage procedure in accordance with the invention that uses a second embodiment of the storage structure according to the invention .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 shows how, in accordance with the prior art, segments 100a, 100b, and 100c are stored one on top of one another, until reaching three storeys, so as to leave space for a horizontal stack, said segments being separated from each other by means of blocks 110a, 110b, 110c.

The segment storage installation that results from applying this storage procedure several times is shown in Figure 2.

As can be seen in the drawing, stacks 120a, 120b, 120c, 120d, 120e are arranged in order, to form rows and columns. To enable access by the segment transport equipment, it is necessary to leave transit space 130. Figure 3a shows an embodiment of the storage structure in accordance with the invention designed for storing reinforced concrete segments. The male anchoring elements on these types of segments are the same rebar rods used for reinforcing the concrete, which stick out slightly from the bottom end of the piece. On the other side, the female anchoring elements are some cavities located on the top end, arranged to coincide substantially with the positions of the rebar rods.

As shown in said Figure 3a, a first embodiment of the storage structure in accordance with the invention comprises vertical anchor pillar 10, provided with fastening means in the shape of lugs 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d, 30e, and 30f, which are designed for lodging a first end of some jacks 40a, 40b that are to be fastened to the surface of at lease one segment, in such a way that they enable said fastening of at least one segment to pillar 10. Said storage structure is likewise equipped with support base 20, on which the central portion of pillar 10 rests, and which extends perpendicularly from said central portion towards both sides according to with the horizontal direction .

Figure 3b shows a cross-sectional view of anchor pillar 10, which on its bottom portion comprises substantially rectangular pillar base 11 and is provided with through-holes 12a, 12b, as will be described in detail below.

Figure 3c shows support base 20, which, in this embodiment, comprises six horizontally elongated beams 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, with an inverted T shaped cross section. Beams 22, 25 are slightly larger than the rest, being arranged end to end, leaving an empty space between them. Pillar 10 is supported on the internal ends of said beams 22 and 25. Through-holes 12a, 12b of the pillar base coincide with the respective holes provided in said beams 22 and 25, said holes being designed to lodge joining bars that join pillar 10 to the support base. Beams 21 and 23 are arranged parallel to beam 22, one on each side of said beam, respectively. Likewise beams 24 and 26 are arranged parallel to beam 25, one on each side of said beam, respectively. As can be seen in Figures 3c and 3d, each one of beams

21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 is equipped with a plurality of bore shaped anchoring elements 50, located at different distances from the pillar. In each one of the beams, bores 50 are aligned with each other, their location, furthermore, coinciding with that of at least a portion of the rebar rods on the segments to be stored. This enables inserting said rebar bars into bores 50 and, consequently, anchoring at least one segment to support base 20. For a person skilled in the art it is obvious that the anchoring elements provided on the support base may, as an alternative, be protrusions, the arrangement of which coinciding with at least one portion of the female anchoring elements provided on the segments.

Figure 4 shows a stack of segments 100a ^' , 100b ^' , 100c ^' , 100d ^' , 100e ^' , 100f ^' that results from a storage process of construction modules for wind turbine supporting towers according to the invention, which uses the storage structure in accordance with Figure 3.

Said procedure comprises the following steps:

1) Have available a storage structure in the place designated for storing segments 100a ^' , 100b ^' , 100c ^' , 100d ^' , 100e ^' , lOOf; 2) b) Transport a first segment to the storage structure and anchor it to one of anchor assembly set elements 50 arranged on support base 20, using at least one portion of the rebar rods provided on the segment for this purpose;

3) Fasten the segment to anchor pillar 10, joining it to an end of jack 40a, which is joined at its other end to lug 30a on the pillar; 4) Optionally, transport additional segment 100b ^' to the storage structure and anchor it to another one of the anchor assembly set bores arranged on the support base, using at least one portion of the anchoring elements provided on said segment for this purpose;

5) Anchor second segment 100b ^' to first segment 100a ^' using additional fastening means 60a, 60b, 60c, 60d;

6) Repeat the previous steps until having finished immobilising against the storage structure all segments 100a ^' , 100b ^' , 100c ^' , 100d ^' , 100e ^' , lOOf needing to be stored. In this embodiment, additional fastening means 60a, 60b, 60c, 60d comprise a piece designed to be firmly fastened to the anchor bars or, as the case may be, to the lodging cavities provided in the contiguous segments to be joined.

Figure 5 shows the segment storage installation that results from the application of the storage procedure in accordance with the previously described invention.

As can be seen in the figure, stacks 120a ^' , 120b ^' , 120c are arranged parallel to each other, leaving transit spaces 103a ^' , 130b ^' after every two piles in order to enable transport of the segments.

Finally, Figure 6 shows a storage installation of segments that results from several applications of the storage procedure according to the invention, and using a second embodiment of the storage structure in accordance with the invention.

The second embodiment of the storage structure is identical to the previous one, except that on occasion the support base comprises a plurality of elongated beams 21 ^' , 22 ^' , 23 ^' , 24 ^' , 25 ^' , 26 ^' , 27 ^' and 28 ^' having an inverted T shape that are extended radially outwards with respect of the axis of support pillar 10 ^' , and which are provided with aligned cavity sets in such a way that one segment may be joined to a single beam or to several of them.

The embodiments described herein are presented exclusively by way of explanatory examples and are not limiting. For a person skilled in the art other embodiments that are within the scope of the invention will be obvious, such as those defined in the attached claims.

Thus, for example, the cross-section of the elongated beams of the support base do not necessarily have to have an inverted T shape, as it is possible to choose other shapes. Furthermore, said support base likewise does not necessarily have to be provided with elongated beams, as it is possible to adopt other configurations. On the other hand, the vertical pillar and/or its support base can be prefabricated, modular and/or removable, and can be made from a variety of different materials, such as, for example, reinforced concrete or steel and combinations of the same.