Overlapping Shear Web Layout for Faster Wind Blade Assembly

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Solution Overview

Problem

The manufacturing and assembly of large wind turbine blades, particularly in segmented designs, face challenges related to the alignment and bonding of shear webs, leading to inefficiencies in stability, cost, and complexity.

Innovation Solution

A wind turbine blade design featuring a profiled contour with overlapping recesses in the shear webs, arranged successively along the spanwise direction, and a chordwise gap between adjacent webs, facilitating smooth load transfer and simplified assembly.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If shear webs are arranged in segmented blade design, then manufacturing and transportation becomes easier, but alignment and bonding of shear webs becomes more challenging and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemanufacturing and transportationVSAvoidassembly time

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The shear webs are pre-assembled with overlapping recesses during manufacturing, creating a ready-to-connect configuration before the blade segments are joined. This preliminary arrangement of the shear webs eliminates the need for complex alignment operations during final assembly, reducing assembly time while maintaining the segmented manufacturing approach

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of manufacture

If shear webs are arranged in segmented blade design, then manufacturing and transportation becomes easier, but structural stability and load transfer become more challenging

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemanufacturing and transportationVSAvoidstructural stability

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The shear webs are designed with overlapping recesses where one shear web's recess accommodates part of the adjacent shear web, creating a nested configuration. This nesting ensures continuous load transfer paths across the blade segment joints while maintaining structural stability, all within the context of segmented manufacturing

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

3Ease of operation

If traditional alignment methods are used for shear webs, then assembly can be completed, but the process becomes tedious and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveassembly processVSAvoidassembly time

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The overlapping recesses in the shear webs are designed to self-align during the blade segment joining process. The geometry of the recesses guides the shear webs into their correct relative positions automatically, eliminating the need for manual alignment operations and making the assembly process straightforward and rapid

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP3874148B1A wind turbine blade with a plurality of shear webs

Publication Date: 2026.02.18 BLADE DYNAMICS LTD

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AI summary

The present invention relates to a wind turbine blade (10) comprising a shell body with at least one pressure side shell member (36) and at least one suction side shell member (38), and a plurality of shear webs (70) arranged within the shell body. The plurality of shear webs (70) is successively arranged spanwise within the shell body such that adjacent shear webs overlap along part of their spanwise extent (L), wherein a gap (88) in the chordwise direction is provided between adjacent shear webs (70).