Wind turbine blade root end machining equipment and machining method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to wind turbine blade root end machining equipment and a machining method thereof.The wind turbine blade root end machining equipment comprises an equipment mounting base and further comprises a tower base, and the tower base is mounted at the top of the equipment mounting base through a sliding block and a first linear guide rail and can do linear motion in the horizontal direction X along the first linear guide rail under the action of a gear rack; the rotary machining center is installed at the front end of the tower base through a sliding block and a second linear guide rail and can do linear motion in the vertical direction Y along the tower base under the action of a gear and a rack; wherein the first servo motor serves as a power unit of a gear and a rack, a double-servo structure is adopted, the precision and stability of the machining center running in the vertical direction are guaranteed, the large blade root with the diameter larger than 6 m can be processed, and the large blade root machining center has the extensible potential to adapt to the larger size in the future; the geometric shape of the blade can be automatically detected so as to simplify the alignment process, and multiple blade types can be rapidly switched without tedious transformation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of wind turbine blade root end processing, and specifically to a wind turbine blade root end processing device and its processing method. Background Art

[0002] Currently used drilling and milling equipment often relies on a rotating arm with a fixed radius and has insufficient adaptability to variable flange diameters (BCD). When changing blades of different models, mechanical modification of the machine or the use of complex tooling fixtures is often required.

[0003] Therefore, we propose a wind turbine blade root end processing device and its processing method, which can process the roots of large blades with a diameter of more than 6 meters, have expandable potential to adapt to future larger sizes, can automatically detect the blade geometry to simplify the alignment process, and can quickly switch between multiple blade types without cumbersome modification. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and meet the actual needs, and provide a wind turbine blade root end processing device and its processing method to solve the technical problems that currently used drilling and milling equipment often relies on a rotating arm with a fixed radius and has insufficient adaptability to variable flange diameters (BCD). When changing blades of different models, mechanical modification of the machine or the use of complex tooling fixtures is often required. In addition, traditional equipment usually requires the center of the blade root to be strictly aligned with the center of the machine tool, which increases the height and cost of blade support to a certain extent.

[0005] To achieve the purpose of the present invention, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is: designing a wind turbine blade root end processing device, including an equipment installation base, and further including a tower base, which is installed on the top of the equipment installation base through a slider and a first linear guide rail, and can perform a linear motion in the horizontal direction X along the first linear guide rail under the action of a gear rack;

[0006] A rotary machining center is installed at the front end of the tower base through a slider and a second linear guide rail, and can perform a linear motion in the vertical direction Y along the tower base under the action of a gear rack; among them, a first servo motor is used as the power unit of the gear rack, adopting a double servo structure to ensure the accuracy and stability of the machining center during up and down movement;

[0007] A counterweight is installed on the top of the equipment installation base, and a third linear guide rail is installed at its front end to ensure the overall stability of the equipment and the firmness in the front and back directions.

[0008] Preferably, the rotary machining center includes a rotating mechanism and a machining structure, wherein:

[0009] The rotating mechanism includes a connecting plate, a slewing bearing, and a disc. It adopts a dual-servo structure and can rotate along a fixed axis under the action of the second servo motor.

[0010] The processing structure is connected to the disc of the rotating mechanism by bolts and can rotate with the rotating mechanism.

[0011] Preferably, the processing structure includes an axial unit, a radial unit, and a cutting and grinding unit, all of which are mechanisms that use a lead screw-nut pair to drive a processing tool to perform a linear motion. The difference lies in the different directions of motion:

[0012] The motion direction of the axial unit is parallel to the line connecting the pitch circle center of the wind turbine blade and the axis of the rotating mechanism, and is used for processing in the axial direction.

[0013] The motion direction of the radial unit is always perpendicular to the line connecting the pitch circle center of the wind turbine blade and the axis of the rotating mechanism, and is used to ensure the accuracy of the position of the radially machined holes.

[0014] The motion of the cutting and grinding unit is a circular motion centered on the pitch circle center of the wind turbine blade and with the radius of the wind turbine blade.

[0015] The cutting and grinding unit includes a cutting component and a grinding component. The cutting component is a cutting disc, and the grinding component is a milling head.

[0016] Preferably, the first servo motor and the second servo motor equipped on the tower base and the rotary machining center adopt absolute value encoders to provide accurate position feedback, and the slewing bearing and the disc of the rotating mechanism adopt an external incremental magnetic grating tape to achieve a higher-resolution rotational angle feedback.

[0017] Preferably, the equipment installation base is an expandable machine tool bed for processing the root of a wind turbine blade with a maximum flange diameter of 6 meters, and can be extended to a flange diameter of 8 meters or larger by adding additional rack and gear bed sections.

[0018] Preferably, a radial laser scanning unit is also installed on the surface of the rotary machining center, which is used for precise measurement and positioning of the root of the wind turbine blade to improve the machining accuracy.

[0019] Preferably, the processing structures are all cooled and have chips removed by compressed air, and are equipped with an integrated dust removal system to remove the dust generated during drilling, milling, and cutting.

[0020] Preferably, there are also multiple emergency stop buttons and safety interlock devices, which comply with the CE safety standard, so that the machine will immediately stop running if the protective device is opened during operation.

[0021] A method for machining the root end of a wind turbine blade, using the wind turbine blade root end machining equipment described above, includes the following steps:

[0022] S1. Horizontally place the blade root on the support structure;

[0023] S2. Optionally, use the radial laser scanning unit to measure the outer diameter of the blade root and calculate its center offset relative to the horizontal axis of the tower;

[0024] S3. Perform a cutting operation to remove excess material by horizontally moving the tower and the vertical movement of the boom, and rotating the disk when necessary;

[0025] S4. Optionally, perform milling at a speed of about 1200 revolutions per minute to obtain an end face that meets the design requirements;

[0026] S5. Complete radial and axial drilling at a speed of about 1000 revolutions per minute, relying on the servo motor and encoder for precise control;

[0027] S6. Use a dust removal system to clean up machining debris or dust during drilling, cutting, and milling. The dust removal system has a dust suction function, can perform dust suction treatment, and can automatically open and close the corresponding dust suction ports according to the processing units required;

[0028] S7. Select or switch to a pre-stored program for other blade types through a human-machine interface (HMI) or barcode / RFID, etc., without mechanical adjustment of the equipment;

[0029] S8. Simultaneously drive the axial unit and the radial unit by the control system to synchronously drill two holes, and calculate the spatial positions of the two processing units based on the real-time feedback of the absolute encoder and the incremental magnetic grating tape;

[0030] S9. When two rotary processing mechanisms are installed on the main tower at the same time, calculate the safety distance between the two rotary processing mechanisms. When the distance between the two rotary processing mechanisms is less than the preset safety threshold, pause the processing of one of the rotary processing mechanisms, and resume synchronous operation after the other rotary processing mechanism completes the processing of the current hole position and moves to the next position;

[0031] S10. Dynamically adjust the horizontal displacement of the tower base along the first linear guide rail, the vertical displacement of the rotary processing center along the second linear guide rail, and the rotation angle of the rotary mechanism according to the preset hole position coordinates or the pitch circle diameter measured by the radial laser scanning unit, so that the axial unit and the radial unit are accurately aligned with the hole positions of different pitch circle diameters;

[0032] S11. Automatically switch the pitch circle diameter during processing, call multiple pre-stored pitch circle parameters through the human-machine interface (HMI), and update the motion trajectory of the servo motor to achieve seamless switching from one pitch circle to another.

[0033] Preferably, the dynamic adjustment in step S10 includes: according to the non-uniform distribution of the hole positions, the numerical control system converts the hole position coordinates obtained by the laser scanning unit into the linkage motion instructions of the tower base, the rotary machining center and the rotary mechanism, so that the machining path automatically adapts to any pitch circle diameter and hole position distribution.

[0034] Preferably, it further includes adding a tower, that is, two towers, with a rotary mechanism installed on each tower; or installing two rotary mechanisms on the same tower. By monitoring the relative position between the two arms in real time to prevent collisions, and automatically pausing the operation of one of the arms when a potential collision risk is detected, the simultaneous operation of the two arms can be realized, thus improving the machining efficiency.

[0035] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0036] 1. The present invention can be applicable to a flange diameter (BCD) of up to 6 meters, and can be easily extended to 8 meters or more by expanding the machine tool bed, meeting the processing requirements for large wind turbine blades. By adding a rack and pinion bed section and a tower guide section, it can adapt to larger-sized blades that may appear in the future without the need to replace the equipment as a whole, reducing the subsequent investment cost.

[0037] 2. The integrated radial laser scanning unit of the present invention can automatically measure the circumference of the blade root and calculate its central position, thereby automatically updating the machine tool coordinate system, simplifying the blade alignment process, and reducing the operation complexity.

[0038] 3. The present invention supports installing a second boom on the same tower or another slewing bearing to realize the simultaneous operation of the two booms, improving the machining efficiency. By monitoring the distance between the two arms in real time, once the distance is detected to be too close, one of the arms will be automatically paused, avoiding collisions and ensuring the safety and stability of the machining process.

[0039] 4. The present invention realizes high-precision multi-axis control by adopting a servo-driven rack and pinion drive, combined with an absolute encoder and an incremental magnetic grating tape feedback system. Through the continuous feedback of the encoder and the magnetic grating tape, the machining accuracy can be monitored in real time, and a dust removal system is used to clean the machining debris or dust during drilling and cutting, ensuring the machining quality.

[0040] 5. The operator of the present invention can quickly switch to the stored machining program through the human-machine interface (HMI) or the barcode / RFID system without mechanical adjustment or modification, and only need to replace the tool.

[0041] In summary, the present invention exhibits obvious advantages in terms of adaptability, simplification of the operation process, multi-arm collaborative operation, high-precision control and feedback, and rapid switching of various blade types, effectively solving the problems existing in current drilling and milling equipment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 2 is a front view structural schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 3 is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of the rotary machining center of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 4 is a side view structural schematic diagram of the rotary machining center of the present invention.

[0046] In the figure: 1, equipment installation base; 2, tower base; 3, rotary machining center; 4, first linear guide rail; 5, first servo motor; 6, counterweight; 7, third linear guide rail; 8, rotating mechanism; 9, machining structure; 10, second servo motor; 11, disc; 12, axial unit; 13, radial unit; 14, cutting and grinding unit; 15, second linear guide rail. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0047] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and embodiments:

[0048] Embodiment 1: A wind turbine blade root end machining equipment, see Figures 1 to 4 , including an equipment installation base 1, and further including a tower base 2, which is installed on the top of the equipment installation base 1 through a slider and the first linear guide rail 4, and can perform a linear motion in the horizontal direction X along the first linear guide rail 4 under the action of a gear rack;

[0049] A rotary machining center 3, which is installed at the front end of the tower base 2 through a slider and the second linear guide rail 15, and can perform a linear motion in the vertical direction Y along the tower base 2 under the action of a gear rack; wherein, the first servo motor 5 is used as the power unit of the gear rack, and a dual-servo structure is adopted to ensure the accuracy and stability of the machining center during the up and down movement;

[0050] A counterweight 6 is installed on the top of the equipment installation base 1, and a third linear guide rail 7 is installed at its front end to ensure the overall stability of the equipment and the firmness in the front and back directions.

[0051] Specifically, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 , the rotary machining center 3 includes a rotating mechanism 8 and a machining structure 9, wherein:

[0052] The rotating mechanism 8 includes a connecting plate, a slewing bearing, and a disc 11. It adopts a dual-servo structure and can rotate along a fixed axis under the action of the second servo motor 10.

[0053] The processing structure 9 is connected to the disc 11 of the rotating mechanism 8 by bolts and can rotate with the rotating mechanism 8.

[0054] Specifically, referring to Figure 2 and Figure 3 , the processing structure 9 includes an axial unit 12, a radial unit 13, and a cutting and grinding unit 14, all of which are mechanisms where a lead screw-nut pair drives a processing tool to perform a linear motion. The difference lies in the different directions of motion:

[0055] The motion direction of the axial unit 12 is parallel to the line connecting the pitch circle center of the wind turbine blade and the axis of the rotating mechanism 8, and is used for processing in the axial direction. Through the combined action of the above-mentioned horizontal direction X, vertical direction Y, and the rotating mechanism 8, the processing position of the axial unit 12 can be accurately positioned to ensure the accuracy of the position tolerance of the axial hole during processing.

[0056] The motion direction of the radial unit 13 is always perpendicular to the line connecting the pitch circle center of the wind turbine blade and the axis of the rotating mechanism 8, and is used to ensure the accuracy of the position tolerance of the radial hole during processing. Through the combined action of the horizontal direction X, vertical direction Y, and the rotating mechanism 8, the accuracy of the position tolerance of the radial hole during processing is ensured.

[0057] The motion of the cutting and grinding unit 14 is a circular motion centered on the pitch circle center of the wind turbine blade with the radius of the wind turbine blade. This circular motion is also achieved through the combined action of the horizontal direction X, vertical direction Y, and the rotating mechanism 8.

[0058] The cutting and grinding unit 14 includes a cutting assembly and a grinding assembly. The cutting assembly is a cutting disc, and the grinding assembly is a milling head.

[0059] Furthermore, referring to Figure 1 , the first servo motor 5 and the second servo motor 10 equipped on the tower base 2 and the rotary machining center 3 adopt absolute encoders to provide accurate position feedback, and the slewing bearing and the disc 11 of the rotating mechanism 8 adopt an external incremental magnetic grating tape to achieve a higher-resolution rotational angle feedback.

[0060] Still further, referring to Figure 1 and Figure 2 , the equipment installation base 1 is an expandable machine tool bed for processing the root of a wind turbine blade with a maximum flange diameter of 6 meters, and can be expanded to a flange diameter of 8 meters or larger by adding additional rack-and-pinion bed sections.

[0061] It should be noted that, referring to Figure 1 and Figure 2 , a radial laser scanning unit is also installed on the surface of the rotary machining center 3 for precise measurement and positioning of the root of the wind turbine blade, so as to improve the machining accuracy.

[0062] It should be noted that, referring to Figure 1 , the machining structures 9 are all cooled and chip-discharged by compressed air, and are equipped with an integrated dust removal system to remove the dust generated during drilling, milling and cutting.

[0063] It should be introduced that, referring to Figure 1 , there are also multiple emergency stop buttons and safety interlock devices, which comply with the CE safety standard, so that the machine will immediately stop running if the protective device is opened during operation.

[0064] A method for machining the root end of a wind turbine blade, using a wind turbine blade root end machining device, includes the following steps:

[0065] S1. Horizontally place the root of the blade on the support structure;

[0066] S2. Optionally, use the radial laser scanning unit to measure the outer diameter of the root of the blade and calculate its center offset relative to the horizontal axis of the tower;

[0067] S3. Through the horizontal movement of the tower and the vertical movement of the boom, and rotating the disc 11 when necessary, to perform cutting operations to remove excess material;

[0068] S4. Optionally, perform milling at a speed of about 1200 revolutions per minute to obtain an end face meeting the design requirements;

[0069] S5. Complete radial and axial drilling at a speed of about 1000 revolutions per minute, relying on the servo motor and encoder for precise control;

[0070] S6. Use the dust removal system to clean the machining debris or dust during drilling, cutting and milling. The dust removal system has a dust suction function, can perform dust suction treatment, and can automatically open and close the corresponding dust suction ports according to the machining required units;

[0071] S7. Select or switch to other pre-stored blade type programs through the human-machine interface (HMI) or barcode / RFID, etc., without mechanical adjustment of the equipment;

[0072] S8. Simultaneously drive the axial unit 12 and the radial unit 13 by the control system to drill two holes synchronously, and calculate the spatial positions of the two machining units based on the real-time feedback of the absolute encoder and the incremental magnetic grating tape;

[0073] S9. When two rotary processing mechanisms are installed on the main tower simultaneously, calculate the safety distance between the two rotary processing mechanisms. When the distance between the two rotary processing mechanisms is less than the preset safety threshold, pause the processing of one of the rotary processing mechanisms. Resume the synchronous operation after the other rotary processing mechanism completes the processing of the current hole position and moves to the next position.

[0074] S10. According to the preset hole position coordinates or the pitch circle diameter measured by the radial laser scanning unit, dynamically adjust the horizontal displacement of the tower base 2 along the first linear guide 4, the vertical displacement of the rotary processing center 3 along the second linear guide 15, and the rotation angle of the rotary mechanism 8, so that the axial unit 12 and the radial unit 13 are accurately aligned with the hole positions of different pitch circle diameters.

[0075] S11. Automatically switch the pitch circle diameter during the processing. Call multiple pre-stored pitch circle parameters through the human-machine interface (HMI), and update the motion trajectory of the servo motor to achieve seamless switching from one pitch circle to another.

[0076] It is noteworthy that the dynamic adjustment in step S10 includes: according to the non-uniform distribution of the hole positions, convert the hole position coordinates obtained by the laser scanning unit into the linkage motion instructions of the tower base, the rotary processing center, and the rotary mechanism through the numerical control system, so that the processing path automatically adapts to any pitch circle diameter and hole position distribution.

[0077] It should be emphasized that it also includes adding one more tower 2, that is, two towers 2, with one rotary mechanism 8 installed on each tower 2; or installing two rotary mechanisms 8 on the same tower 2. By real-time monitoring the relative positions between the two arms, prevent collisions, and automatically pause the operation of one of the arms when detecting potential collision risks, so as to achieve simultaneous operation of the two arms and improve the processing efficiency.

[0078] The control system of the present invention realizes multi-axis coordinated control based on Siemens PLC (PROFINET) or an equivalent CNC platform, and an industrial PC can also be optionally configured to enhance data management or interface functions.

[0079] In addition, the components designed in the present invention are all general standard components or components known to those skilled in the art. Their structures and principles can all be learned by those skilled in the art through technical manuals or through conventional experimental methods. Those skilled in the art can fully implement them without further elaboration. The content protected by the present invention also does not involve improvements to the internal structure and methods.

[0080] The embodiments disclosed in the present invention are preferred embodiments, but not limited thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art can easily understand the spirit of the present invention based on the above embodiments and make different extensions and changes. As long as they do not depart from the spirit of the present invention, they are all within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A wind turbine blade root processing device, comprising a device mounting base (1), characterized in that: It also includes a tower base (2) which is mounted on the top of the equipment mounting base (1) via a slider and a first linear guide rail (4); A rotary machining center (3) is mounted on the front end of the tower base (2) via a slider and a second linear guide rail (15); The first servo motor (5) adopts a dual servo structure; The counterweight block (6) is installed on the top of the equipment installation base (1), and a third linear guide rail (7) is installed at the front end thereof.

2. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rotary machining center (3) comprises a rotary mechanism (8) and a machining structure (9), wherein: The rotating mechanism (8) comprises a connecting plate, a slewing bearing, a disc (11) and a second servo motor (10), and the processing structure (9) is connected to the disc (11) of the rotating mechanism (8) by means of bolts.

3. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The processing structure (9) comprises an axial unit (12), a radial unit (13) and a cutting and grinding unit (14); the cutting and grinding unit (14) comprises a cutting component and a grinding component; the cutting component is a cutting blade, and the grinding component is a milling head.

4. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first servo motor (5) and the second servo motor (10) equipped on the tower base (2) and the rotary machining center (3) use absolute value encoders.

5. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The equipment installation base (1) is an expandable machine tool bed.

6. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: A radial laser scanning unit is also installed on the surface of the rotary machining center (3).

7. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The processing structure (9) is equipped with an integrated dust removal system.

8. The wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes multiple emergency stop buttons and safety interlocks.

9. A method for processing the root end of a wind turbine blade, characterized in that: Using the wind turbine blade root end processing equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 8 comprises the following steps: S1. Place the blade root horizontally on the support structure; S2. Optionally, using a radial laser scanning unit to measure the outer diameter of the blade root and calculate its center offset relative to the horizontal axis of the tower; S3, by moving the tower horizontally and the boom in the vertical direction, and rotating the disc (11) when necessary, to perform a cutting operation to remove excess material; S4, optionally, performing milling at a speed of about 1200 rpm to obtain an end face that meets the design requirements; S5, radial and axial drilling at a speed of about 1000 rpm, relying on servo motors and encoders for precise control; S6. Use a dust removal system to clean processing debris or dust during drilling, cutting and milling. The dust removal system has a dust collection function and can perform dust collection. It can automatically open and close the corresponding dust collection port according to the unit required for processing; S7, select or switch to other pre-stored blade type programs through human-machine interface (HMI) or barcode / RFID, etc., without mechanical adjustment of the equipment; S8, driving the axial unit (12) and the radial unit (13) simultaneously through the control system to drill the two holes synchronously, and calculating the spatial positions of the two processing units based on the real-time feedback of the absolute encoder and the incremental magnetic grating belt; S9. When two rotary processing mechanisms are installed on the main tower at the same time, the safety distance between the two rotary processing mechanisms is calculated. When the distance between the two rotary processing mechanisms is less than the preset safety threshold, the processing of one of the rotary processing mechanisms is suspended, and the synchronous operation is resumed after the other rotary processing mechanism completes the current hole processing and moves to the next position; S10, dynamically adjusting the horizontal displacement of the tower base (2) along the first linear guide rail (4), the vertical displacement of the rotary machining center (3) along the second linear guide rail (15), and the rotation angle of the rotary mechanism (8) according to the preset hole position coordinates or the pitch circle diameter measured by the radial laser scanning unit, so that the axial unit (12) and the radial unit (13) are accurately aligned with the hole positions of different pitch circle diameters; S11. Automatically switch the pitch circle diameter during the processing, call multiple pre-stored pitch circle parameters through the human-machine interface (HMI), update the motion trajectory of the servo motor, and realize seamless switching from one pitch circle to another.

10. The method for processing the root end of a wind turbine blade according to claim 9, characterized in that: It also includes adding a tower (2), that is, two towers (2), each tower (2) being equipped with a rotating mechanism (8); or two rotating mechanisms (8) being equipped on the same tower (2).

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