VAWT Blade-to-Strut Textile Fastening for Fatigue-Resistant Joining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) face challenges in the blade-to-strut connection, particularly with the 'H-type' design, where high centrifugal forces and fatigue loading require a significant number of heavy and expensive metallic fasteners, limiting aerodynamic efficiency and ease of installation.
Innovation Solution
A pliable fastening member, potentially made of textile materials, is used to connect the blade to the strut, distributing loads across a larger area and reducing fatigue, facilitating easier assembly and disassembly, and providing improved mechanical properties compared to conventional bolted connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If metallic fasteners (bolts and nuts) are used to connect blade and strut, then the connection can withstand high centrifugal forces and fatigue loading, but the connection becomes heavy and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid metal to flexible textile, fundamentally altering the mechanical properties of the fastening member. This allows the connection to maintain reliability under fatigue loading while significantly reducing weight, as textile materials have lower density and can flex to absorb cyclic stresses
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite construction by combining textile fastening members with metallic struts and blade roots. The textile provides flexible fatigue-resistant fastening while the metal components provide structural strength, creating a hybrid system that optimizes both weight and reliability
2Strength
If a significant number of metallic fasteners are used to solve the mechanical problem, then the connection can handle high fatigue loading, but the solution becomes both heavy and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fastening mechanism from rigid mechanical threads to flexible textile tensioning, allowing a single fastening member to distribute loads across multiple attachment points along the blade root, thereby maintaining strength while reducing the number of discrete fasteners needed
Solution Approach 2:
The textile fastening member is segmented into multiple attachment points distributed along the blade root, allowing the single flexible member to engage with multiple struts simultaneously. This segmentation distributes the loading and maintains connection strength without requiring multiple complete fastener sets
3Reliability
If the blade-to-strut connection is made with conventional fasteners, then the connection is structurally sound, but assembly and disassembly become time-consuming and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fastening mechanism from threaded metallic fasteners requiring precise alignment and multiple steps to textile members that can be quickly tensioned and secured, dramatically reducing assembly time while maintaining structural integrity through the textile's inherent flexibility and load distribution
4Force
If metallic fasteners are used to connect blade and strut, then the connection can withstand high centrifugal forces, but the cost of the VAWT increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material from expensive metallic fasteners to cost-effective textile materials that can withstand equivalent centrifugal forces through their flexibility and ability to distribute loads, thereby reducing material costs while maintaining force resistance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite fastening system where inexpensive textile materials provide the fastening function while metallic components provide structural support, optimizing the cost-performance ratio by assigning functions to materials based on their inherent properties
Data Source
AI summary
A vertical axis wind turbine, comprising: a wind turbine body; a blade; and a strut having a first end coupled to the wind turbine body and a second end coupled to the blade using a fastening arrangement, wherein the fastening arrangement comprises a pliable fastening member pulling the blade towards the second end of the strut.