Pultruded Rotor Blade Components With Interlocking Edges
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wind turbine rotor blades face challenges in stiffness, buckling resistance, and strength due to bending moments and loads, particularly as blades become longer, and existing composite materials like glass and carbon fiber laminates are difficult to control and prone to defects.
Innovation Solution
The use of pultruded composite rotor blade components with interlocking edges, manufactured through a continuous process where fibers are impregnated with resin and cured in a heated die, allowing for pre-cured, pre-fabricated spar caps that can be easily aligned and joined to form stiff and strong rotor blade structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If glass fiber or carbon fiber laminate composites are used to construct spar caps, then the rotor blade can achieve required structural properties, but the manufacturing process becomes difficult to control and highly labor intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The spar cap components are pre-fabricated as pultruded sections with cured resin systems before assembly. This preliminary manufacturing of standardized sections with controlled fiber orientation and resin saturation eliminates the need for labor-intensive on-site laminate fabrication, while maintaining required structural properties through optimized pre-manufacturing processes
Solution Approach 2:
The spar cap is divided into multiple standardized pultruded sections that can be manufactured independently and then assembled. This segmentation allows each section to be optimized and controlled during manufacturing, reducing overall complexity while achieving required structural properties through systematic assembly of standardized components
2Power
If longer rotor blades are used to produce more power, then the energy output increases, but the blades require increased stiffness and weight to withstand bending moments
Solution Approach 1:
The spar cap utilizes composite construction with fibers embedded in resin, providing high strength-to-weight ratio. This allows longer blades to achieve required stiffness and load-bearing capacity without proportionally increasing weight, enabling increased energy production while managing blade mass through optimized composite material properties
3Manufacturing precision
If pultruded composites are used to construct spar caps, then manufacturing defects are reduced and material properties are better controlled, but the components require precise alignment and joining mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
Alignment features such as guide rails, positioning pins, and interlocking geometries are built into the pultruded sections during manufacturing. This preliminary incorporation of alignment mechanisms ensures precise positioning during assembly while maintaining the manufacturing precision advantages of pultrusion, without adding significant complexity to the joining process
Solution Approach 2:
Joining mechanisms such as adhesive bonds, mechanical fasteners, or interlocking features serve as intermediaries between pultruded sections. These intermediaries facilitate precise alignment and secure connection while accommodating manufacturing tolerances, maintaining material property control without requiring excessive complexity in the assembly process
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 approach reduces defects, improves material property control, and shortens manufacturing cycles by allowing for precise thickness tolerance and reduced wrinkling and dis-bonding, resulting in more reliable and efficient rotor blade components.
Implementation Method 1
the resin cures or undergoes polymerization through added heat or other curing methods
Implementation Method 2
cured in a heated die
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
Rotor blade components for wind turbines 10 having interlocking edges 50 and methods of manufacturing same are disclosed. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the rotor blade component includes a plurality of pultruded members 40 arranged in one or more layers 38. Each of the pultruded members 40 are constructed of a plurality of fibers 42 joined together via a cured resin material 44. Further, each of the plurality of pultruded members 40 includes one or more interlocking edges 50. Thus, adjacent pultruded members 40 may be aligned via corresponding interlocking edges 50. The pultruded members 40 are further secured together to create a single structural member.