Modular Wind Turbine Blade Assembly With a Mobile Joining Factory
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large wind turbine blades pose challenges in handling and transportation due to their significant size, and existing assembly methods lack the precision and strength required for modular blades, especially in ensuring uniform strength across sectional joints in a wind turbine rotor.
Innovation Solution
A method and system involving a mobile factory with a transportable workshop that positions and aligns blade sections on a leveled platform, using support cradles and actuators to ensure exact alignment and secure joining of blade sections, which can be located near or at the wind turbine site to reduce transportation costs and enhance joint strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If wind turbine blades are made larger to increase energy generation, then power output is improved, but handling and transportation become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The wind turbine blade is divided into multiple sections that can be manufactured separately and transported independently. The sections are then assembled on-site using the mobile factory, enabling the creation of larger blades while maintaining ease of transportation and handling of individual segments.
2Ease of manufacture
If existing assembly methods are used for modular blades, then assembly is simplified, but joint strength and precision are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
A mobile factory serves as an intermediary assembly platform that brings precise manufacturing equipment to the blade sections. This mobile factory includes positioning systems, support cradles, and joining equipment that ensure high-precision alignment and strong joints, bridging the gap between simple modular assembly and high-strength precision requirements.
3Manufacturing precision
If blade sections are assembled at a fixed assembly plant, then alignment precision is improved, but transportation costs and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The assembly plant is transformed from a fixed infrastructure into a mobile factory that can be transported to different locations. This dynamic approach allows the precision assembly equipment to move with the blade sections, maintaining high alignment precision while reducing transportation complexity by assembling blades near the installation site rather than transporting completed sections from a remote factory.
4Ease of manufacture
If blade sections are joined with simple adhesive connection, then assembly process is simplified, but joint strength and durability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The joining process parameters are optimized through the mobile factory's controlled environment and precision positioning systems. By controlling variables such as alignment accuracy, adhesive application parameters, and curing conditions, the system achieves both simplified assembly processes and high joint durability, transforming the adhesive connection from a simple process into a precisely controlled operation.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for establishing a sectional or modular wind turbine blade. The method comprises the steps of transporting at least two blade sections of said wind turbine blade and a mobile factory for joining blade sections to a location at or in proximity of a wind turbine site, positioning said blade sections with two blade section ends facing each other and supported on a platform in said mobile factory, moving said platform in relation to the ground at the location for levelling said platform, aligning said blade section ends in relation to each other, and establishing said sectional or modular wind turbine blade by joining blade sections in an area of connection at said blade section ends.The invention also relates to a system for establishing a sectional or modular wind turbine blade and a mobile factory for joining sections of a wind turbine blade.