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

Claim 0:
1. A method of heating a wind turbine blade comprising a plurality of heating zones, the method comprising:
monitoring one or more environmental conditions or operating conditions;
determining an icing factor representing a severity of an icing event based on the one or more environmental conditions or operating conditions, 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;
determining one or more heating zones to activate based on the determined icing factor, wherein each heating zone comprises one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements;
activating the one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements corresponding to the determined heating zones to generate heat, and
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,
wherein in response to determining that the icing factor changed from the first icing factor to the second icing factor, additional ones of the one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements are activated to increase a surface area of the wind turbine blade in which heat is generated, and
wherein in response to determining that the icing factor changed from the second icing factor to the third icing factor, additional ones of the one or more Electro-Thermal Heating Elements are activated to increase the surface area of the wind turbine blade in which heat is generated.