Jointed Wind Turbine Blade Using Angled Beam for Tower Clearance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Long wind turbine blades deflect towards the tower during operation, leading to potential collision and damage, and existing solutions for maintaining tower clearance are inadequate, especially for very long blades.
Innovation Solution
A jointed wind turbine blade design with a pre-bend is achieved using an angled beam structure that connects tip and root segments, allowing the blade to extend outwardly and maintain a safe distance from the tower, avoiding the need for pre-bending the blade shell and simplifying the manufacturing process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If the length of wind turbine blades is increased to improve energy generation, then power output is improved, but the risk of blade-to-tower collision increases
Solution Approach 1:
The blade is divided into multiple segments (root segment, intermediate segments, tip segment) that can be assembled in a pre-bent configuration. This segmentation allows the blade to achieve the necessary pre-bend for tower clearance without requiring the entire blade to be manufactured as a single complex piece, thereby enabling longer blade lengths while maintaining safety clearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The blade segments are manufactured with pre-defined bend angles and assembled to create a pre-bent blade configuration before installation. This preliminary action of pre-bending the blade ensures that the blade maintains adequate clearance from the tower during operation, preventing collisions while allowing for longer blade lengths.
2Reliability
If the wind turbine blade is manufactured with a pre-bend to improve tower clearance, then tower clearance is improved, but manufacturing complexity and transport challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
The blade is segmented into multiple sections that can be manufactured separately with simpler tooling and then assembled in a pre-bent configuration. This segmentation reduces the complexity of manufacturing each individual segment while achieving the desired pre-bend through assembly, thereby improving tower clearance without proportionally increasing manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The blade segments are designed to nest within each other during transport, with smaller segments fitting inside larger ones. This nesting approach reduces transport volume and complexity while maintaining the pre-bent configuration, making it feasible to manufacture and transport blades with optimized pre-bends for tower clearance.
3Ease of manufacture
If a jointed blade design is used to simplify manufacturing and transport, then ease of manufacture is improved, but stress concentration at joints increases
Solution Approach 1:
The joint regions are designed with localized reinforcement and optimized connection structures that provide enhanced strength and stress distribution at the joint locations. This local quality enhancement ensures that the joints can withstand operational loads without excessive stress concentration, maintaining blade integrity while benefiting from the manufacturing simplicity of a jointed design.
Data Source
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AI summary
A wind turbine blade and a method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade is disclosed. The wind turbine blade includes a tip blade segment and a root blade segment extending in opposite directions from a chord-wise joint, where each of the tip blade segment and the root blade segment includes a pressure side shell member and a suction side shell member. Further, wind turbine blade includes a beam structure. The beam structure includes a first section, where the first section is received at a receiving section of the root blade segment and a second section disposed in the tip blade segment and extending at an angle with respect to the first section, such that at least a portion of the tip blade segment is disposed outwardly with respect to a blade axis.