Experimental and Simulation Study on a New Lightning Protection System for Wind Turbine Blades

In order to solve the problem of high failure rate of blade flasher in large wind turbine, a new lightning protection system (NLPS) is proposed in this paper. First, a high-voltage discharge test is carried out for NLPS to study the effect of lightning protection. 10 discharge tests were carried out on the blades of wind turbine with or without NLPS, the protection effect of NLPS is judged from the lightning stroke probability of the blade. The test results show that at the test conditions, the 10 discharge tests hits the new protection system 10 times, and the lightning protection efficiency of NLPS is greatly improved. And then the electrostatic field of blades with or without NLPS is calculated. The calculation results show that NLPS can shield the electric field around the lower lead of the blade, effectively reduce the electric field intensity of the lower lead, and thus improve the protection efficiency of the NLPS. Secondly, on the basis of defining the protective effect of NLPS, the aerodynamic and noise calculation of the airfoil section with or without NLPS is carried out. The calculation results show that, in the range of attack angle (0°∼19°), the NLPS has minimal influence on the aerodynamic performance of airfoil, it has little effect on the noise of airfoil. It also further verified the feasibility of the NLPS. © 2019, Science Press. All right reserved.