Rotor Blade Spacer Assembly for Dense Wind Blade Stacking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The transportation and storage of long wind turbine blades pose challenges due to their significant length, leading to issues such as vertical flexion, stress, contact between adjacent blades, and potential damage, while existing fixtures are often lost or discarded, resulting in monetary loss and inefficiency.
Innovation Solution
A wind turbine rotor blade spacer system comprising guiding means to minimize vertical flexion and contact between blades, using spacers with a height less than 25% of the blade frames to optimize space and reduce stress, and a transportation and storage system that joins blades via spacers and frames to prevent damage and maximize packing density.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If blades are stacked in edge-horizontal orientation to increase packing density, then the number of blades per shipload increases, but vertical flexion occurs causing stress and blade damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces blade assemblies as intermediary structures that stack vertically, with each assembly containing one or more blades secured in a frame. This intermediary structure prevents direct contact between stacked blades, eliminating the harmful flexion and stress while maintaining high packing density.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the blade storage system into discrete blade assemblies, where each assembly is a self-contained unit with blades secured in frames. This segmentation allows controlled stacking without direct blade-to-blade contact, resolving the contradiction between quantity and reliability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If fixtures are used to secure blades during transport, then blade stability improves, but fixtures are often lost or discarded causing monetary loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the securing function into the blade assembly structure itself, where frames and end plates are integrated with the blades. This eliminates separate fixtures that could be lost, while maintaining stability through the unified assembly design.
Solution Approach 2:
The blade assemblies serve multiple functions: they secure blades during transport, provide structural support, enable stable stacking, and eliminate the need for separate fixtures. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by making the securing system inherent to the structure.
3Power
If blade length increases to generate more electrical power, then power generation capacity improves, but transportation and storage challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments long blades into blade assemblies with standardized frames and end plates. This segmentation simplifies transportation and storage by creating modular units that can be systematically stacked and secured, reducing the complexity despite increasing blade length for higher power generation.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
The present invention relates to a wind turbine rotor blade spacer, a transportation and storage system for wind turbine rotor blades and a related method that prevent the vertical flexion of each one of the blades assemblies, minimizing the stresses and avoiding the contact between vertically and/or horizontally adjacent blades, and in consequence, blade damage. Also, the overall occupied surface by the system once assembled is minimised.