Automating Wind Turbine Manufacturing Processes

Making wind turbine blades by stacking reinforcing strips and integrating them with an infusible strap that maintains alignment during molding and infusion. The method involves stacking multiple fiber-reinforced strips, strapping them tightly with an infusible strap, infusing resin into the stack, and curing to form a blade spar with the strap integrated. The strap allows handling long, heavy strips and prevents misalignment.

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3D printing wind turbine blades to reduce cost and improve manufacturing efficiency. The method involves starting with a flat rotor blade structure and using 3D printing to add the leading and trailing edges. The 3D-printed edges are made from fiber-reinforced thermoplastics or thermosets. Outer skins are then added to complete the blade. The 3D-printed blade components are bonded to the structure during printing. This allows customization and automation, reducing labor and tooling costs versus traditional molding methods.

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A method of manufacturing wind turbine blades with varying root diameters using temporary inserts in the blade molds. The inserts are placed in the blade root section molds to reduce the diameter. This allows multiple blades to be made with different root diameters using the same mold. The inserts can be removed after molding to restore the original mold shape for subsequent blades.

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Method for efficient production of wind turbine blades that involves analyzing deviations from the target blade shape, evaluating corrective measures, and prioritizing them based on cost versus impact. The method uses a system that captures blade shape deviations, assesses their aerodynamic/mechanical impact, determines potential fixes, and links the evaluation of deviation severity to the cost of fixes. This allows prioritizing corrective actions that provide the most benefit for cost to optimize blade shape within acceptable deviations.

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Reliable, economical, and efficient manufacturing of wind turbine blades using coordinated gantry systems to automate the fiber layup process. The manufacturing arrangement consists of two gantries that move along tracks on either side of the blade mold. One gantry distributes fiber into the mold using a tool attachment. The other gantry supplies fiber from reels to load onto the attachment. The gantries are coordinated to lay up the fibers in the mold.

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Adapter device for horizontal preassembly of wind turbine rotors atop tower cranes. It has a connection piece on the bottom to attach to the crane tower and a rotor flange on the top to connect the rotor hub.

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A blade mold for manufacturing wind turbine blades allows for better control over fiber layup and reduces defects in larger blade molds. The blade mold has a deformable section at the root end that can be adjusted to accommodate an insert. This allows the root section to be deformed to a larger size for easy insertion of a root insert component before returning to its original shape. This permits the root insert, which is not deformable, to be installed without wrinkling the fibers. This improves blade quality by reducing defects like wrinkles.

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Transport tool for wind turbine low-speed shafts and bearings. It provides a stable platform for transporting wind turbine components to reduce complexity and costs. The tool has support elements that match the bearing support arms to hold the low-speed shaft and bearings securely during transport.

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A cost-effective method of manufacturing wind turbine blades with shear webs of varying dimensions without requiring bespoke molds for each design variation. The method involves using a detachable shim inside the mold that supports the shear web flanges during curing. The shim can be easily swapped out between blade production runs to change the shear web dimensions.

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Device and method for accurately locating shear webs inside wind turbine blades during manufacture. The device is a small fixture that attaches to the blade interior and has guides and alignment features to position the shear web mounts. This ensures the web is bonded at the correct location. The device can be attached and aligned with projected reference marks before bonding the web in place. This improves accuracy compared to using guide blocks without alignment. The device can also be left inside the bonded blade.

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Transport frames for wind turbine blades that enable efficient lifting of stacked frames containing blades. The frames have corner posts with locking mechanisms that engage locating fingers on the frame shoulders. A lifting yoke aligns with and engages the fingers to securely lift the frame. This allows lifting stacks of frames by just connecting to the top frame. The yoke provides a lifting connection that is secure enough for all frames in a stack.

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A turning stand for rotating wind turbine rotor hubs for controlled turning of a rotor hub from a transport position to a position oriented in preparation for attachment to a rotor shaft of a wind turbine so that it can be lifted into place. The stand has a base frame with an attachment for the rotor hub shaft, a curved frame section, and a straight frame section. There is also an attachment point for a lifting device. The curved section allows the rotor hub to roll off its vertical orientation to the desired angled orientation.

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A method of making wind turbine blades with integrated load-bearing reinforcing strips that addresses challenges of handling long, heavy pultruded strips. The method involves using a specialized feed apparatus to dispense the coiled pultruded strips into the blade mold. The feed apparatus confines the coil to prevent uncoiling. This allows feeding the strip into the mold while it uncoils in place. By fixing the coil and feeding from the free end, the potential energy is released safely.

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Manufacturing longer wind turbine blades in a more efficient manner. It involves curing the shell halves of the blades separately in blade molds, then performing post-molding operations like grinding or coating on the cured shells in a nearby post-molding station. After the post-molding, the cured blade shells are bonded together to form the complete blade. The separate molding and post-molding steps allow using smaller molds and facilitates blade customization.

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Automated inspection of surfaces like wind turbine blades using unmanned aircraft. The inspection involves using a camera-equipped drone that autonomously flies near the surface, like a rotor blade, while recording images. Continuous position sensing allows stitching the images into an overall surface view. This is then automatically inspected for defects. The drone can stay a fixed distance from the surface by measuring its position, so that stitched images create a full view.

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