Direct Mold for Wind Turbine Rotor Blades
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing process for producing rotor blades for wind turbines is time- and cost-intensive, with limited flexibility for design changes, requiring the creation of new master models and molds for revisions, and involves costly storage of master models.
Innovation Solution
A direct mold for rotor blades comprising a plank frame with a mold surface body, where the plank frame is made of planar panels with recesses that reproduce the rotor blade contour, and a layer structure including a support layer of rails and a multi-layer laminate structure, allowing for quicker production and easier design revisions without the need for a master model.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a master model is produced and used to create molds for rotor blades, then the initial mold production can be achieved, but the process is time- and cost-intensive and does not allow much leeway for later design changes
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into multiple planar panels that can be independently adjusted and reconfigured. Each panel can be modified separately to accommodate design changes, eliminating the need to recreate the entire mold when design revisions are needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold structure incorporates adjustable and replaceable panels that can be dynamically reconfigured. This dynamic design allows the mold to adapt to different rotor blade designs without requiring complete reconstruction, thereby improving both production flexibility and speed.
2Adaptability or versatility
If design revisions are needed for rotor blades, then the rotor blade design can be improved, but this requires creation of a new master model or reworking of the existing one, which is time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is segmented into multiple independent panels that can be individually replaced or adjusted. When design revisions are needed, only the affected panels need to be modified rather than recreating the entire mold, significantly reducing the time required for design changes.
Solution Approach 2:
Individual panels that need design changes can be discarded and replaced with new panels containing the revised design. The remaining panels are retained and reused, reducing the overall time and resources needed for design revisions.
3Manufacturing precision
If a master model is produced and stored for future use, then accurate mold reproduction is achieved, but this incurs cost- and space-intensive storage requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into multiple panels that can be stored separately and assembled as needed. This segmentation reduces the storage space required compared to storing a complete master model, while still maintaining manufacturing precision when panels are reassembled for production.
Solution Approach 2:
The panel-based mold system can be reconfigured for different rotor blade designs, making it a universal tool that eliminates the need to store multiple separate master models for different designs. Each panel can serve multiple functions across different production runs.
Data Source
AI summary
A direct mold includes a plank frame and a mold surface body held in shape by the plank frame. The plank frame is made of a plurality of planar panels that are aligned transversely to the longitudinal extension of the rotor blade and are arranged spaced with respect to each other in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the rotor blade. The panels of the plank frame have recesses, into which the mold surface body is inserted and which reproduces in its sequence in the plank frame mainly a progression of a contour of a part of a rotor blade profile. The mold surface body has a layer structure that includes a support layer and a sandwich layer. The support layer is made of rails that are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the rotor blade in a manner bridging the distances between the panels.