Wind Turbine Blade Shear Web Assembly Without Gantry Fixtures
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for manufacturing large-scale composite structures like wind turbine blades face challenges with shear web installation, including sub-optimal positioning due to movement during mold closure and the need for complex gantry fixtures, which increase costs and design complexity.
Innovation Solution
The system employs support elements, specifically bulkheads attached to the shear web, which serve as installation guides and ensure stability without requiring a gantry, allowing for precise positioning and simultaneous bonding to both mold skins during mold closure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a gantry fixture is used to support the shear web during installation, then the shear web can be positioned and installed, but the device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the external gantry fixture from the system by integrating the support function directly into the shear web structure through attached bulkheads. This extraction eliminates the complex overhead equipment while maintaining the shear web's position during installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The shear web structure serves itself by incorporating bulkheads that act as both structural supports and installation guides. The bulkheads are attached to the shear web and provide the positioning and support functions that would otherwise require external gantry equipment.
2Ease of manufacture
If the shear web is installed without support elements, then the installation process is simpler, but the shear web moves during mold closure resulting in sub-optimal positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The bulkheads act as intermediary elements between the shear web and the molding process. They provide a stable reference structure that maintains the shear web's position during mold closure, ensuring precise positioning without requiring complex external support systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The bulkheads are attached to the shear web before installation into the mold. This preliminary action establishes the correct positioning and structural support in advance, preventing movement during the subsequent mold closure process.
3Manufacturing precision
If bulkheads are attached to the shear web, then positioning accuracy and stability improve, but the weight of the shear web structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bulkheads are strategically positioned at specific locations on the shear web where support is most needed during installation. This localized approach provides maximum positioning accuracy with minimum additional weight, rather than uniformly reinforcing the entire shear web structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A wind turbine blade assembly includes a first blade half and a second blade half fixed to the first blade half, defining a blade interior therebetween. The wind turbine blade assembly includes a shear web includes at least one aperture formed therein. The wind turbine blade assembly includes at least one bulkhead attached to the shear web, wherein the shear web and the at least one bulkhead are disposed in the blade interior. In some embodiments the at least one bulkhead includes a frame and a removable lid in order to expose the blade interior and the lid is returnably fixable to the at least one bulkhead. In some embodiments the first and second bulkheads include fluid conduits disposed therethrough and are spaced from one another to define first and second air circulation zones.