Tapered Flange Design for Wind Turbine Rotor Blades
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern wind energy rotor blades face challenges in achieving sufficient buckling resistance while minimizing material usage and production costs, as traditional flange designs require wide flanges at the root and thinner flanges at the tip, leading to inefficiencies in material usage and increased risk of bulging.
Innovation Solution
The rotor blade design features flanges with a width that decreases longitudinally, achieved by using positioning strips of varying widths and lengths, with outside strips ending first and inside strips extending further, allowing the flange to taper towards the tip, reducing material requirements and maintaining buckling resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If flanges are constructed to be wide to achieve high effectiveness and buckling resistance, then the buckling resistance is improved, but the flanges cannot be placed into the outermost rotor blade tip and much material is needed for production
Solution Approach 1:
The flange width is varied locally along the longitudinal direction, with wider sections at the rotor blade root and narrower sections toward the tip. This local variation in width allows the flange to provide sufficient buckling resistance where needed (at the root) while reducing material usage in less critical areas (toward the tip), directly resolving the contradiction between strength and material quantity.
Solution Approach 2:
The width parameter of the flange is changed progressively along the longitudinal direction, transitioning from a constant width design to a variable width design. This parameter change allows the flange to adapt its dimensions to the varying structural requirements along the blade, maintaining buckling resistance at the root while reducing material consumption toward the tip.
2Strength
If flanges are constructed to be wide to achieve high effectiveness, then the buckling resistance is improved, but the flanges cannot be placed into the outermost rotor blade tip
Solution Approach 1:
The flange width is varied locally along the longitudinal direction, with wider sections at the rotor blade root and narrower sections toward the tip. This local variation in width allows the flange to provide sufficient buckling resistance where needed (at the root) while reducing material usage in less critical areas (toward the tip), directly resolving the contradiction between strength and material quantity.
Solution Approach 2:
The flange is divided into multiple sections along the longitudinal direction, with each section having a different width. This segmentation allows the flange to be optimized in different zones - wider at the root for buckling resistance and narrower toward the tip for extended placement, resolving the contradiction between strength and length.
3Ease of manufacture
If positioning strips with constant width are used to produce flanges, then the production process is simplified, but high flange thicknesses are required at the rotor blade root resulting in high material usage
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning strips are varied in width according to the local requirements of the flange structure. Narrower strips are used at the rotor blade root where less material is needed, and wider strips are used toward the tip where more material is required for structural integrity. This local variation in strip width reduces overall material usage while maintaining structural requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The width parameter of the positioning strips is changed along the longitudinal direction to match the varying structural requirements of the flange. This parameter change allows for optimized material usage - using narrower strips where less support is needed and wider strips where more support is required, thereby reducing total material consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a rotor blade for wind energy installation, comprising at least one flange running in a longitudinal direction from a rotor blade root to a rotor blade tip, whereby a width of the flange decreases along the longitudinal direction. The invention also relates to a method for producing a rotor blade in that at least one flange with a width decreasing in the longitudinal direction is applied to a rotor blade inner wall, and to a laying assistance device for positioning strips of the flange.