Transferable Mold Element for Wind Turbine Blade Preform Production
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for manufacturing wind turbine blade preforms are cumbersome and inefficient due to complex and expensive molds that require extensive heating and cooling systems, leading to low productivity and long processing times, as well as the need for extensive reworking and cleaning.
Innovation Solution
A method using a transferable mold element with a mold carrier that allows for separate heating and cooling processes, where the mold element with the preform building material is moved between manufacturing stations, eliminating the need for heating and cooling equipment in the mold and enabling continuous production with interchangeable mold elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If heating and cooling systems are integrated into the mold, then the preform can be processed, but the mold becomes very expensive and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separate functional modules: the mold carrier remains stationary and simple, while the mold element with heating/cooling systems is movable and can be transferred to dedicated heating and cooling stations. This segmentation allows the complex thermal processing functions to be separated from the mold structure itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating and cooling systems are extracted from the mold carrier and placed in separate stationary heating means and cooling means. The mold element can be transferred to these external stations for thermal processing, removing the complexity of integrated thermal systems from the mold itself.
2Reliability
If the mold occupies the entire process, then heating and cooling can be performed, but productivity is extremely low due to long processing times
Solution Approach 1:
The mold element is pre-heated before the actual preform manufacturing process begins. This preliminary heating action allows the thermal processing to be already underway when the preform building elements are placed in the mold, eliminating waiting time and overlapping process steps.
Solution Approach 2:
While one mold element is undergoing heating or cooling, another mold element can be used for preform manufacturing. The system maintains continuous productive action by having multiple mold elements in different stages of the process cycle, ensuring that the mold carrier is never idle.
3Ease of manufacture
If the mold cannot be preheated, then heating must start from room temperature, but this extends the processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The mold element is pre-heated in a stationary heating means before the preform building elements are arranged and placed in it. This preliminary heating action ensures that when manufacturing begins, the mold is already at the required temperature, eliminating the need to heat from room temperature during the actual production cycle.
4Manufacturing precision
If extensive cleaning is performed after each use, then the mold surface is prepared for next use, but the mold cannot be used until cleaning is finished
Solution Approach 1:
The mold system is segmented into a reusable mold carrier and disposable/transferable mold elements. After use, only the mold element needs to be removed and replaced, while the mold carrier remains in place and ready for immediate reuse with a new mold element, dramatically reducing cleaning and preparation time.
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 simplifies the mold design, increases throughput, and allows for immediate reuse of mold elements, reducing production time and enhancing capacity by separating the heating and cooling processes, thus improving handling and reducing contamination risks.
Implementation Method 1
These elements are consolidated in the respective mold part by applying a vacuum, which mold part has a defined geometry corresponding to the requested blade geometry
Implementation Method 2
Afterwards heat is supplied to the building elements in order to melt the locally positioned binding agent for locally fixing the fiber mats and the core elements etc. by gluing them in the binder matrix provided by the molten binding agent
Implementation Method 3
After this heating operation the preform needs to be cooled to room temperature, whereafter it is sufficiently stable to be handled by a crane equipment or any other comparable handling or lifting means
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing preforms for a wind turbine blade is provided, with the steps: providing a mold p and arranging a preform building material p in a transferable mold element removably arranged on a mold carrier, fixating the preform building material in the mold element, removing the mold element with the fixed preform building material from the mold carrier and transferring it into a heating means, heating the preform building material for producing the preform, removing the mold element with the preform from the heating means and cooling the preform.