Wind Turbine Flange Alignment Using Rotational Guide Members
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional methods for aligning structural parts of wind turbines during assembly, such as tower sections or blades, rely on visual markers and manual adjustments, which are uncertain and pose safety risks, especially in challenging environments like offshore locations where personnel safety is a concern and precise rotational alignment is necessary for proper component fitting.
Innovation Solution
The use of U-shaped or L-shaped rotational guide members attached to the flanges of wind turbine structural parts, which are inserted into boreholes to ensure central and rotational alignment, allowing for precise positioning without manual intervention and reducing the need for personnel in hazardous areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional visual markers and manual adjustments are used for alignment, then personnel can perform the alignment task, but personnel safety is compromised and alignment precision is uncertain
Solution Approach 1:
The rotational guide members are designed to enable the structural parts to align themselves automatically through mechanical interaction. The guide members protrude from flanges and engage with corresponding recesses, causing the parts to self-align rotationally and centrally without requiring manual intervention or visual markers, thereby eliminating personnel safety risks while ensuring precise alignment.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual adjustment by rocking flanges is used, then alignment can be achieved, but the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The rotational guide members are pre-positioned on the flanges before assembly. Their fixed positions and orientations are designed in advance to guide the alignment process, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual adjustments during assembly. This preliminary positioning enables rapid and accurate alignment.
3Ease of operation
If visual markers on outside surfaces are used for alignment, then the process is simple, but alignment precision is insufficient for proper component fitting
Solution Approach 1:
The rotational guide members act as intermediary elements between the flanges. Instead of relying on external visual markers, the guide members physically mediate the alignment process by engaging with corresponding features on opposing flanges, providing both simplicity of operation and high precision through direct mechanical contact and geometric constraints.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to an assembly of two structural parts of a wind turbine wherein the structural parts are to be connected in a flange-to-flange connection by a number of bolts and such that a flange of the first structural part and a flange of the second are centrally and rotationally aligned whereby a first borehole in the flange of the first structural part is matched and aligned with a corresponding first borehole in the flange of the second structural part. The structural parts may for example be a tower section or a foundation section. The assembly further comprises a first and a second rotational guide member releasably attached to each of the flanges of the structural parts. Each of the rotational guide members comprises a U-shaped or L-shaped structure of a first leg portion and a second leg portion connected by a central portion, the first leg portion ending in a positioning portion shaped to be inserted into a borehole of the flange, and the second leg portion comprising a stop member, and for at least one of the rotational guide members the structure comprised in the rotational guide member is U-shaped. The stop member of the first rotational guide member is configured for abutment to the second leg portion of the second rotational guide member when the flanges of the first and second structural parts are centrally and rotationally aligned. The invention further relates to a method of positioning and connecting two structural parts of a wind turbine as described above. The method includes first centrally aligning the structural parts with the flanges face-to-face and then rotating the structural part relative to each other until the rotational guide members come into contact with each other.