Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing with Pre-Cured Laminate Tooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing manufacturing processes for wind turbine blade components often result in resin-rich areas due to bridging under the infusion bag, which reduces the strength and quality of the finished parts, necessitating defects to be removed post-manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of pre-cured laminate materials as tooling or mold surfaces, where fiber materials are arranged in a mold, and pre-cured laminate plates are placed atop or within the fiber plies, allowing resin infusion and curing to form blade components, thereby reducing bridging and improving surface finish.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional VARTM process with dry fiber materials and infusion bag is used, then resin can be infused into the mold to form blade components, but bridging occurs under the infusion bag resulting in resin-rich areas that reduce part strength and quality
Solution Approach 1:
A release film is introduced as an intermediary layer between the infusion bag and the blade component surface. This release film prevents direct contact between the infusion bag and the mold, eliminating bridging and resin-rich areas while maintaining proper resin infusion. The release film acts as a mediator that transfers the infusion process benefits without the harmful side effects.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a traditional rigid mold, the invention uses a release film that creates a copy or replica of the desired surface finish on the blade component. The release film itself becomes the tooling surface, and its pattern is transferred to the final part through the resin infusion process, eliminating the need for complex mold surfaces.
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional molds are used for blade component manufacturing, then blade components can be formed, but tooling costs are high and bridging defects occur
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces expensive, durable traditional molds with inexpensive, disposable release films. These release films are single-use items that are discarded after one infusion cycle, eliminating the high tooling costs associated with manufacturing and maintaining traditional molds. The low cost of the release film makes this economically viable despite being disposable.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical state and properties of the tooling surface from a rigid, permanent mold to a flexible, disposable release film. This parameter change in the tooling material allows for better conformability to complex blade geometries while reducing tooling costs and eliminating bridging defects.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces resin and fiber bridging, enhances surface finish, and decreases tooling costs by using reusable pre-cured laminate plates, resulting in higher-quality blade components with improved structural integrity.
Implementation Method 1
The VARTM process is a technique that uses vacuum pressure to drive resin into a mold
Implementation Method 2
infusing the fiber material and the pre-cured laminate material together via a resin material
Implementation Method 3
allowing the blade component to cure such that the pre-cured laminate material forms at least a portion of an outer surface of the blade component
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed to a method for manufacturing a blade component for a rotor blade of a wind turbine. The method includes arranging a fiber material in a mold of the blade component. The method also includes placing at least one pre-cured laminate material atop the fiber material. Another step includes infusing the fiber material and the pre-cured laminate material together via a resin material so as to form the blade component. The method also includes allowing the blade component to cure, the pre-cured laminate material forming at least a portion of an outer surface of the blade component.