Curved Vortex Generator Base for Wind Turbine Blade Fastening
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for fastening vortex generators to wind turbine rotor blades are resource-intensive, prone to errors, and unreliable due to the curvature of the blades, which makes it difficult to achieve a secure and durable attachment using adhesives or adhesive tapes.
Innovation Solution
A vortex generator design with fins angled relative to the longitudinal direction and a base that is shorter than the fins, allowing for a reduced gap size that can be compensated by elastic adhesive tapes, ensuring a simple and reliable fastening process, even on curved surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If adhesive bonding is used to fasten vortex generators to rotor blades, then the fastening process is simple, but the reliability of attachment deteriorates due to blade curvature and gap formation
Solution Approach 1:
The base plate is designed with a curved fastening face that matches the curvature of the rotor blade surface. This curvature adaptation eliminates gaps between the base plate and blade surface, ensuring reliable adhesive bonding while maintaining a simple fastening process. The curved geometry allows the vortex generator to conform to the aerodynamic surface without requiring complex matching for each position.
Solution Approach 2:
The fastening face of the base plate is specifically designed with local curvature properties that match the blade surface at the fastening location. This localized geometric adaptation ensures optimal contact and adhesive bonding only where needed, without requiring the entire vortex generator structure to be complex or position-specific.
2Ease of manufacture
If flat fastening faces are used on vortex generators, then manufacturing is simplified, but gaps form on curved surfaces requiring additional adhesive and fixing time
Solution Approach 1:
The base plate incorporates a curved fastening face that matches the rotor blade surface curvature. This allows the vortex generator to be manufactured with a standardized curved geometry that automatically adapts to the blade surface, eliminating the need for position-specific matching and reducing mounting time by preventing gap formation that would require additional adhesive application and waiting time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If adhesive tapes are used to compensate for gap dimensions, then fastening becomes more flexible, but the fastening process becomes resource-intensive and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The curved fastening face of the base plate provides inherent geometric adaptation to the blade surface, eliminating the need for additional adhesive tapes or compensatory materials. This single-geometry solution achieves both adaptability to curved surfaces and process simplicity, avoiding the resource-intensive and error-prone application of multiple adhesive tapes with varying gap compensation capabilities.
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 design enables a secure and efficient fastening of vortex generators to wind turbine rotor blades, reducing the need for precise matching and extensive preliminary work, while maintaining aerodynamic advantages and stability.
Implementation Method 1
a adhesive layer (34) arranged between the base (18) and a surface (14) of a wind turbine rotor blade (100)
Implementation Method 2
The unavoidable gaps have to be filled with adhesive. This requires a relatively fluid adhesive that has a low initial adhesion, such that each vortex generator must be fixed in place until the adhesive provides sufficient adhesion.
Data Source
AI summary
A vortex generator defines a longitudinal direction and has two fins, which are each arranged at an angle in relation to the longitudinal direction and extend over a first length in the longitudinal direction, and a base, which connects the two fins to each other, the base having a width and extending over a second length in the longitudinal direction, wherein the second length is less than the first length over the entire width of the base.