Structural design and manufacturing process of a low scale bio-inspired wind turbine blades

The materials and structural characteristics of several kinds of wind turbine blades are introduced and analyzed as well as the advantages and disadvantages of blades composites in this paper. Then the manufacturing technologies between traditional and high-quality composite wind turbine blades are studied and compared in this paper.

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Sustainable Vacuum-Infused Thermoplastic Composites for MW-Size Wind Turbine Blades—Preliminary Design and Manufacturing Issues

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.2037107 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 127 (4) ◽

pp. 570-580 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

K. van Rijswijk ◽

S. Joncas ◽

H. E. N. Bersee ◽

O. K. Bergsma ◽

A. Beukers

Keyword(s):

Wind Turbine ◽

Natural Frequencies ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Polyamide 6 ◽

Rotor Blades ◽

Thermoplastic Composites ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Design And Manufacturing ◽

Deflection Criteria ◽

Epoxy Systems

This paper addresses the feasibility of using innovative vacuum infused anionic polyamide-6 (PA-6) thermoplastic composites for MW-size wind turbine blades structures. To compare the performance of this fully recyclable material against commonly used less sustainable thermoset blade materials in a baseline structural MW-size blade configuration (box-spar/skins), four different blade composite material options were investigated: Glass/epoxy, carbon/epoxy, glass/PA-6, and carbon/PA-6. Blade characteristics such as weight, costs, and natural frequencies were compared for rotor blades ranging between 32.5 and 75m in length, designed according to both stress and tip deflection criteria. Results showed that the PA-6 blades have similar weights and natural frequencies when compared to their epoxy counterpart. For glass fiber blades, a 10% reduction in material cost can be expected when using PA-6 rather than epoxy while carbon fiber blades costs were found to be similar. Considering manufacturing, processing temperatures of PA-6 are significantly higher than for epoxy systems; however, the associated cost increase is expected to be compensated for by a reduction in infusion and curing time.

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Design and Manufacturing of Wind Turbine Blades of Low Capacity Using CAD/CAM Techniques and Composite Materials

Energy Procedia ◽

10.1016/j.egypro.2014.10.223 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 57 ◽

pp. 682-690 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

U. Erick Y. Gómez ◽

Z. Jorge A. López ◽

R. Alan Jimenez ◽

G. Victor López ◽

L. J. Jesus Villalon

Keyword(s):

Composite Materials ◽

Wind Turbine ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Design And Manufacturing ◽

Cad Cam

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Manufacturing of Advanced Composite Wind Turbine Blades for Counter Rotating Vertical Wind Turbine

Materiale Plastice ◽

10.37358/mp.20.2.5350 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 45-56

Author(s):

Mihaela Raluca Condruz ◽

Ion Malael ◽

Ionut Sebastian Vintila ◽

Mihail Puscas Cernat

Keyword(s):

Wind Turbine ◽

Manufacturing Process ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Manufacturing Technology ◽

Vertical Wind ◽

Iterative Approach ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Advanced Composite ◽

Advanced Technologies

The paper presents the manufacturing process of advanced composite wind turbine blades designed for an experimental counter rotating vertical wind turbine (CR-VAWT). An iterative approach was used to present the manufacturing process of turbine blades starting from presentation of the turbine structure and material description as well as all manufacturing process stages. Two types of turbine blades were successfully manufactured using metallic molds and a cost-effective manufacturing technology. Based on the turbine blades obtained it can be said that the selected manufacturing process showed good results, very similar with results expected in case of using advanced technologies (i.e. autoclave technology.

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Computerized method for preliminary structural design of composite wind turbine blades

10.2514/6.2001-22 ◽

2001 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gunjit Bir ◽

Paul Migliore

Keyword(s):

Wind Turbine ◽

Structural Design ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Computerized Method

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Simulating the Manufacturing Process and Subsequent Structural Stiffness of Composite Wind Turbine Blades with and without Defects

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.504-506.249 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 504-506 ◽

pp. 249-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Konstantine A. Fetfatsidis ◽

Cynthia Mitchell ◽

James A. Sherwood ◽

Eric Harvey ◽

Peter Avitabile

Keyword(s):

Wind Turbine ◽

Manufacturing Process ◽

Turbine Blades ◽

Hybrid Approach ◽

Structural Stiffness ◽

Wind Turbine Blades ◽

Forming Process ◽

Shell Elements ◽

Reinforced Composite ◽

Out Of Plane

Traditional ply-based and zone-based models are limited in their ability to account for the fiber directions resulting from the forming of fabric-reinforced composite wind turbine blades. Compounding the problem is the presence of defects such as resin-rich pockets of the polymer matrix due to out-of-plane and in-plane waves resulting from the manufacturing process. As a result, blades are typically overdesigned, unnecessarily increasing weight and material costs. In the current research, a methodology is presented for simulating the manufacturing process for fabric-reinforced composite wind turbine blades using ABAQUS/Explicit. The methodology captures the evolution of the yarn directions during the forming process thereby allowing for a map of the fiber orientations throughout the blade. A hybrid approach using conventional beam and shell elements is used to model the various fabric layers. Using experimental shear, tensile, bending, and friction data to characterize the mechanical behavior of the fabric layers, the model captures in-plane yarn waviness and changes in the in-plane yarn orientations as they conform to the shape of the mold, as well as out-of-plane wave defects as a result of the manufacturing process. Subsequently, after the fabric layers have been laid into the mold and the final yarn orientations are known, the structural stiffness of the blade resulting from the resin-infused fabrics can be calculated. The methodology can thereby link the resulting bending and torsional stiffnesses of the blade back to the manufacturing process. This paper discusses the methodology for determining the material properties of the beam and shell elements in their final orientations in the cured composite to predict the structural stiffness of a wind turbine blade.

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