System for cooling the nacelle and the heat-generating components of an offshore wind turbine

摘要

A system to cool the air inside a nacelle and the heat generating components housed in the nacelle of an offshore wind turbine is presented. An upper cooling circuit (12) is disposed in the nacelle. A reservoir (16) is disposed below the upper cooling circuit (12) and has a lid that freely rotates about a vertical axis of the reservoir as the nacelle yaws. A lower cooling circuit (14) is disposed below the reservoir. Coolant is circulated through the upper cooling circuit using a cooling pump (36) disposed between the nacelle and the upper cooling circuit. The upper cooling circuit carries heat from the heat generating components and from the air inside the nacelle to the reservoir. The lower cooling circuit carries heat from the reservoir to the bottom of the tower and dissipates the heat to the sea water through a heat exchanger (38).