Patent ID: 11905933
Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
Field: Engines, pumps, turbines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  Y | IPC F

Claim 7:
8. A controller for controlling heating of a wind turbine blade comprising a plurality of heating zones, the controller being adapted to:
monitor one or more environmental conditions or operating conditions;
determine an icing factor representing a severity of an icing event based on the one or more environmental conditions or operating conditions of a wind turbine comprising the wind turbine blade, and wherein a greater value of the icing factor on an icing factor scale indicates a greater severity of the icing event compared to a lesser value of the icing factor;

determine heating zones to activate based on the icing factor, wherein each of the plurality of heating zones comprises one or more Electro-Thermal Heating elements;
activate the one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements corresponding to the determined heating zones to generate heat;
wherein the icing factor further comprises a first icing factor, a second icing factor, and a third icing factor, the second icing factor is less than the first icing factor and the third icing factor is less than the second icing factor, and
in response to determining that the icing factor changed from the first icing factor to the second icing factor, activate additional ones of the one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements to increase a surface area of the wind turbine blade in which heat is generated; and
in response to determining that the icing factor changed from the second icing factor to the third icing factor, activate additional ones of the one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements to increase the surface area of the wind turbine blade in which heat is generated.