Recycled Wind Turbine Blade Blocks for Geotechnical Applications
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current geotechnical solutions, such as concrete and steel blocks, are heavy and costly, making them difficult to use in weak subsoil for retaining structures and road bases, and there is a lack of recycling of wind turbine composite blades which end up in landfills due to expensive and energy-intensive grinding processes.
Innovation Solution
Recycled wind turbine blades are repurposed into composite blocks with a section of the blade's leading edge, trailing edge, and surfaces, filled with non-cohesive coarse-grained material, allowing for flexible cutting planes and lower weight, enabling their use in geotechnical applications like retaining walls and road bases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If recycled wind turbine blades are ground for recycling, then they can be reused as fuel additive, but the process is expensive and requires high energy input
Solution Approach 1:
The patent recovers and reuses discarded wind turbine blades by cutting them into blocks for geotechnical applications. Instead of grinding the blades into powder for fuel additive, the invention directly repurposes the blade structure into construction blocks, thereby recovering the material value while avoiding energy-intensive processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the discarded wind turbine blades into disposable-like geotechnical blocks that can be used in retaining walls, road bases, and railway track beds. These blocks serve their function in construction applications and can be replaced or moved as needed, providing a low-cost solution compared to traditional concrete or steel structures.
2Strength
If traditional concrete and steel blocks are used for geotechnical applications, then high strength is achieved, but the weight is high making them difficult to use in weak subsoil
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite material blocks made from wind turbine blade sections filled with granular material. The blade sections provide structural strength while the hollow interior filled with lightweight granular material reduces overall weight. This composite construction achieves the required strength for geotechnical applications while being significantly lighter than traditional concrete or steel blocks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different materials to different parts of the block: the wind turbine blade sections provide localized strength where needed for structural integrity, while the interior cavity is filled with lightweight granular material to reduce overall weight. This local differentiation of material properties allows the block to achieve both strength and lightness simultaneously.
3Ease of manufacture
If wind turbine blades are landfilled, then disposal is simple, but decomposition time is several hundred years causing environmental harm
Solution Approach 1:
The patent prevents wind turbine blades from being landfilled by recovering and reusing them as geotechnical blocks. This eliminates the environmental harm of long-term decomposition in landfills while maintaining simple disposal-like processing through direct cutting and filling operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A block for geotechnical applications is disclosed, the block having a composite body which is a section of a used wind turbine blade including a part of its leading edge, trailing edge and the windward surface and leeward surface of the used blade. The body is open from above and below. Fragments of the windward surface, leeward surface, leading edge and trailing edge of the used blade are the block's side walls. The inside of the body is filled with a filling material. A method of making a block for geotechnical applications is also disclosed. Under the method, a section is marked on a used wind turbine blade between its tip and root for mounting in a hub. Then, within this section, the block body is cut out, in two cutting planes parallel to each other, in the form of a fragment with a closed cross section, including a part of a leading edge, trailing edge, windward shell and leeward shell of this blade, then this body is filled with a filling material, making its filling.