Segmented Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Joint Thickness Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing one-piece rotor blades for wind turbines face challenges in transport due to increasing dimensions, and segmented rotor blades face issues with assembly ease and increased blade mass at the joint, leading to additional system loads.
Innovation Solution
A rotor blade design that is divided longitudinally into components near and far from the hub, with a relative thickness ratio of 0.4 to 0.5 at the separation point, optimizing aerodynamic and structural advantages by maintaining a high relative thickness at the joint and other areas to minimize mass and system loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If rotor blades are divided into segmented components for easier transport, then transportability is improved, but assembly complexity and blade mass at the joint increase
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor blade is divided into two or more segments that can be transported separately and assembled on-site. This segmentation enables transport of blade components through standard infrastructure while maintaining the ability to form a complete functional blade at the installation location.
Solution Approach 2:
The blade segments are pre-assembled into sub-components at the manufacturing location before final transport. This preliminary assembly reduces the number of individual pieces that need to be handled during transport and on-site assembly, thereby reducing assembly complexity while preserving transportability benefits.
2Weight of moving object
If the joint is placed closer to the rotor hub to reduce blade mass, then system loads are reduced, but transport advantages are negated
Solution Approach 1:
The blade design implements different relative thickness values at different locations along the blade span. The joint region maintains a relative thickness of 0.4 to 0.5 to accommodate the connection structure, while other regions have optimized thickness values that minimize overall blade mass. This local differentiation allows the joint to be positioned optimally for both mass reduction and transport considerations.
3Strength
If high relative thickness is used at the joint for structural advantages, then blade strength is improved, but aerodynamic performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The airfoil profile is designed with locally differentiated properties where the joint region has increased relative thickness (0.4 to 0.5) to provide structural strength for the connection, while the surrounding blade sections maintain optimized aerodynamic profiles with lower relative thickness values. This local quality variation ensures that the structural requirements at the joint do not compromise the overall aerodynamic performance of the blade.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates in particular to a two-part or multi-part rotor blade and an associated method. The rotor blade is divided longitudinally at a separation point into at least one rotor blade component near the hub and one rotor blade component farther from the hub, wherein the rotor blade components near the hub and far from the hub can be joined at the separation point for operation of the wind turbine. A design parameter is defined as a definite integral of the relative thickness over a range of the relative blade length, wherein a lower limit of the integral is set at a position of 20% of the blade length and the design parameter can be evaluated for any value of the upper limit, wherein the design parameter for an upper limit of 45% of the blade length is at least 0.1 and/or the design parameter for an upper limit of 80% of the blade length is at least 0.2.The invention relates to a balancing of the structurally necessary higher relative thickness at the joint and the aerodynamically desired lower relative thickness at the joint by means of the defined design dimension.