Patent ID: 8234083
Filing Date: 2012-07-31
Classification: F03D,F05B,G01B,G01D,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A wind turbine rotor blade comprising a sensor system for detecting the flap-wise strain on the rotor blade, the sensor system comprising: a plurality of strain sensors spaced longitudinally along a flap-wise axis of the wind turbine rotor blade, wherein each strain sensor comprises one or more strain sensing devices collectively defining a sensor path that encloses a region of the rotor blade, wherein the one or more strain sensing devices are positioned on the rotor blade such that the sensor path is circular, in the shape of a regular polygon, or in the shape of a star, such that the sensor path has a rotational symmetry of order three or more, and such that any flap-wise strain applied to the strain sensor is reflected by measurements of the one or more strain sensing devices while any edge-wise strain applied to the strain sensor is canceled out by measurements of the one or more strain sensing devices, thereby rendering a measurement sensitive to only flap-wise strain; and one or more processors arranged to: