Repair Strategies for Wind Turbines

Automated wind turbine blade repair system that uses laser scanning, CAD design, and robotics to improve blade repair efficiency and quality. The process involves scanning the blade surface to identify damage, creating a 3D model, analyzing the model to determine repair plan, then using robots to automatically repair the blade according to the plan. After repair, scanning is done again to verify the repair quality. This automated system replaces manual repairs and provides consistent, efficient blade repairs.

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Repair method for wind turbine blade tips that allows effective repair of blade damage, particularly when the web is damaged at the tip. The method involves cutting off the damaged blade tip section, creating new prefabricated parts to fit the cut surfaces, and bonding them back together. This allows internal repairs instead of just cosmetic fixes. The prefabricated parts are made by layering fiberglass cloth and resin on molds. The web preform is bonded to the cut web, then the leeward side preform is bonded to the leeward cut, followed by the windward preform. Leading edge corner preforms are used to join the windward and leeward parts. The outer surface is trimmed to complete the repair. This internal repair improves quality, uses the full blade, reduces waste, and avoids common issues of effectively repairing web damage at wind turbine blade tips.

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Repairing composite parts like turbine blades without removing the damaged section and without using pre-impregnated patches. Instead, the method involves: 1) Removing the damaged composite material to create a hollowed-out section. 2) Producing a 3D woven fiber filling preform to fit in the hollowed-out section. 3) Placing the filling preform in the hollowed-out section, sealing it, and applying pressure to bond the preform to the existing composite. 4) Curing the preform resin to complete the repair. The method allows custom-shaped repairs without requiring full part replacement or pre-impregnated patches. It uses 3D woven fibers to match the original composite weave.

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Automated method for repairing wind turbine blades that significantly reduces labor consumption by transferring as many steps as possible to automated intelligent systems and equipment. The method involves using cleaning devices to automatically clean the blades, automated inspection tools to assess damage severity, and robotics for repair tasks like applying adhesives and shaping composites. This allows automated systems to handle tasks like blade cleaning, scar identification, and surface smoothness assessment, while leaving more complex repairs like crack filling and composite shaping to robotic systems.

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Reinforcing repair method for the trailing edge of wind turbine blades to address cracking and damage caused by fatigue loads. The repair method involves identifying the trailing edge form (thick blunt, transitional wedge, or pointed) based on the blade's manufacturing process, and then repairing bonding cracking damage using specific parameters for overlap width, thickness, length, and slope. The repair involves injecting structural adhesive into the crack, followed by mold closing and curing.

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A wind turbine nacelle design that optimizes load-carrying capability while facilitating the serviceability of internal components. The nacelle features a skeleton made of interconnected, non-parallel elongated members that efficiently distribute loads. For servicing, these non-parallel members can be disconnected one by one to create a removal path for components. This design allows for a high degree of nacelle structure optimization without compromising the ability to service internal components.

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Repairing single crystal turbine blades using a laser swing composite power modulation method to improve repair efficiency and reduce risk. The method involves using a laser with reciprocating swing motion during repair to expand the repair area and reduce the number of repairs. Power modulation is used to adjust laser power in the target repair area to increase temperature gradient and flatten the molten pool for stable single crystal epitaxial growth.

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Blade repair method for wind turbine blades that allows efficient and effective repair of damaged blades without compromising performance. The repair involves identifying the damaged area, setting a cutting range and repair mode based on the damage, then cutting and repairing the blade. The repair can involve inserting rivets, screws, or filler into the cutout, depending on the damage type. This allows restoration of conductivity, erosion resistance, or structural integrity. The repair is tailored to the specific damage to optimize repair quality.

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Method for repairing defects in main beam and trailing edge of wind turbine blades that enables faster, easier and higher quality repairs compared to conventional methods. The repair process involves tearing off the damaged glass fiber layer, grinding residual defects and interfaces, and then layering on new glass fiber and resin to replace the repaired section. This allows larger area and layer-by-layer grinding instead of manual polishing, reducing skill requirements and time compared to layer-by-layer repair.

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Repairing wind turbine blade cementitious structures to improve shear strength and prevent failure. The repair involves applying a reinforcement layer to cover the original bond area between the blade members after removing the failed cement. This reinforcement layer is cured before rebonding the members. The reinforcement layer strengthens the repaired cementitious structure and prevents shear failure compared to direct rebonding.

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Repairing wind turbine blade leading edges to mitigate erosion using an aerial repair system that lifts and positions a repair device against the blade. The system has a propulsion system to generate a lateral force pressing the repair device into blade engagement. This allows precise control of the repair position. The repair device can move along the blade edge while repairing, and the lifting mechanism allows rotation of the device relative to the blade. The lateral force emulates self-weight contact to prevent rotor torque. The aerial repair reduces outage time compared to ground repairs.

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Repairing composite turbine blade tips without machining by using foils to fill the damaged area and then curing the refill material. The blade is positioned in a tool and foils are attached to the damaged tip region on the inner and outer surfaces. The foils extend beyond the damaged area. The foils are filled with a paste or fluid refill material like uncured resin. Excess material is trimmed. The blade is then cured. The foils are removed after curing. This avoids the need for machining after curing since the foil dimensions define the repair area.

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Method for repairing damaged leading or trailing edges of metal turbine blades to prevent failure and improve turbine life. The repair involves removing the damaged area to create a cutout, inserting a form-fitting replacement part into the cutout, and connecting the replacement part to the blade. The key innovation is to avoid undercuts when creating the cutout. Instead, recesses are formed on the blade walls that are offset from each other. This allows the replacement part to be inserted without requiring undercuts that would make removal difficult. Once inserted, the replacement part is bonded to the blade to complete the repair.

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A method to repair subsurface defects in wind turbine blade shells without disrupting aerodynamics and reducing repair time compared to conventional methods. The repair involves detecting the location and boundary of the subsurface defect from the outside using non-destructive inspection techniques. Then, a fill hole is drilled into the defect from the outer surface close to the boundary. This allows filling the defect with adhesive without contamination or extended surface preparation. The fill hole is subsequently sealed and the blade restored to service. This targeted subsurface repair avoids extensive abrasive grinding and reapplying laminate layers.

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A method for repairing erosion protection on wind turbine blades and aircraft wings that allows quick and efficient repair without removing the entire protective layer. The repair involves removing damaged portions of the protection, then covering the repaired area with a patch that overlaps the surrounding edge of the original protection. This patch can be a tape or coating with similar properties to the original protection. The overlapping edge is bonded to the original protection using a thermal or solvent welding process. This allows targeted repairs of eroded areas without replacing the entire protection layer.

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Compensatory repair technique for wind turbine blade main beams that allows extending the life of damaged blades beyond the original warranty period. The repair involves adding layers to the damaged area instead of replacing the entire beam. The repair involves a repair mother board, a main beam original layer, a main beam reinforcement layer, an outer skin layer, and staggered stubble lengths. The repair layers are made of reinforcing cloth with densities and widths designed to compensate for the original beam damage and crack width. The repair layers have staggered stubble lengths to prevent delamination. The repair layers are added in specific lengths to gradually decrease as they extend from the original beam to the outer skin. This compensatory repair technique allows extending the life of damaged wind turbine blade main beams beyond the original warranty period.

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Wind turbine blade design with improved erosion resistance. The blade has a leading edge protector with a softer main body layer covered by a harder coating layer. If the protector gets damaged, repair involves inserting a long, compressible material into the damaged area, deforming it to match the shape, and removing excess. This repairs the protector without requiring full replacement.

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Repairing wind turbine blade damage caused by lightning strikes using a simple and cost-effective method to reduce repair time and cost for small damage. The method involves defining a damage determination range for the blade tip area. If the damage is within this range, it is repaired using a pre-made repairing member. If the damage is outside the range, full repairing is done. This allows treating small damage with a simple method instead of full repair. The repairing member is made of glass fiber layers with larger diameter fiber on the outer side that covers the damage. This provides better coverage and repair effectiveness.

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Repairing turbine blades using additive manufacturing to overcome the limitations of traditional machining methods for repairing complex shaped components like turbine blades made of difficult to process materials like superalloys and titanium. The method involves digitizing the damaged portion, calculating momentum loss, modeling a replacement part with same momentum, removing the damaged part, and 3D printing the replacement part. This allows repairing blades without compromising performance by maintaining original mass and momentum. It also enables forming secondary structures on single crystal blades without thermal shock by first adding removable heat sinks to dissipate heat during printing.

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Repairing damaged turbine blades using additive manufacturing to maintain the blade's momentum and avoid issues like changing blade dynamics or mass. The method involves digitizing the damaged area, calculating momentum loss, modeling a replacement part with same momentum, removing the damage, and 3D printing the new part in place. This allows repairing hard-to-machine components like squealers without compromising properties or blade dynamics.

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