Support structure for a wind turbine and procedure to erect the support structure

Abstract

The invention comprises a series of spans of column shaft (1) with a frustoconical shape, each span integrating two or more parts (2) and (3) with a polygonal or circular section formed with pieces prestressed in a bed in the factory, with centered or slightly deviated prestressing (4) and non-prestressed reinforcement (5) in the perimeter of the section or fibers, attached by means of wet or dry longitudinal joints (6), rotated in plan view or not, and transverse joints (7) which can be at different levels and provide continuity or not to the general prestressing, for a joining by means of steel bars (12), and in the case of the attachment to the foundation with direct positioning of the starter bars at the time said foundation is built, or by means of jacket tubes which will subsequently receive the mentioned bars (16).

Description

[0001]The present invention relates to a vertical support structure or tower for wind turbines generating electric energy or other uses, made of prestressed concrete, providing a frustoconical or cylindrical column shaft of prestressed concrete with variable height built by means of annular sectors, each of which comprises several wall pieces with a semicircular or polygonal section or semicircular or polygonal sectors, longitudinally attached to each other, and in the case of several superimposed in height, longitudinally attached with a system allowing the structural continuity of the tower. Either the wind turbine directly or another metal column shaft on which the turbine will finally be fixed will be located at its upper end.[0002]This invention also has its application in the field of construction in general and especially in the industry for building and installing support structures for wind turbines generating electric energy.[0003]A second aspect of the invention relates t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0032]The development of the tower and the systems of attachment by means of the use of the pieces prestressed directly in the factory provide the following advantages:

[0070]Based on the foregoing, in addition to fully solving the technical needs generated in the wind sector for new generation wind turbines, this invention allows improving the cost expectations for the towers, offering additional advantages, such as little maintenance or the possibility of disassembling and moving the tower in the case of dry attachments, greater durability or greater fatigue strength.

Problems solved by technology

An extrapolation of towers today (up to 70 m in height) built by means of curved and electrowelded plates, transversely attached by means of flanges, does not allow dealing with, in a cost-effective manner, the new features required of said elements, especially due to the enormous flexibility of this type of structures made of steel and to the incompatibility of this characteristic with the requirements extracted from the dynamic calculation of these new towers.

In addition to being expensive, these solutions have the problem of the long periods required for performing them, which works directly against the cost-effectiveness of the project.

In this solution, the presence of a large number of attachments between pieces, of post-tensioning operations in situ, etc., greatly complicates and makes the assembly of these towers extremely expensive and compromises the actual operation of the assembly.

This constructive solution has the drawback of being limited to developments of little height of the wall pieces, such as voussoir structures, since otherwise the on site assembly of the wall pieces, which must have the strands inserted therein for the post-tensioning of the entire wall piece and the attachment between superimposed wall pieces, would involve a very difficult and complicated operation.

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