Methods for manufacturing wind turbine rotor blades and components thereof
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJames Robert Tobin, Stephen Bertram Johnson, Jamie T. Livingston, Alan M. Walker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to methods for manufacturing wind turbine rotor blades and components thereof. In one embodiment, the method includes forming an outer surface of a rotor blade panel from one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins. The method also includes printing and depositing at least one reinforcement structure onto an inner surface of the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins to form the rotor blade panel, wherein the reinforcement structure bonds to the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins as the reinforcement structure is being deposited.
Claims21
1-20. (canceled)
A method for manufacturing a rotor blade panel of a wind turbine, the method comprising:
- providing one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins constructed of a thermoplastic material or a thermoset material in a mold of the rotor blade panel;
- forcing the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins into a desired shape corresponding to a contour of an outer surface of the rotor blade panel;
- additively printing and depositing, via an extruder of a three-dimensional (3-D) printer, liquid thermoplastic material or liquid thermoset material layer-by-layer onto an inner surface of the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins to form at least one 3-D reinforcement structure thereon, thereby forming the rotor blade panel,
- wherein the liquid thermoplastic material or the liquid thermoset material of the reinforcement structure solidifies and bonds to the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins as the reinforcement structure is being printed and deposited so as to maintain the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins in the desired shape such that when the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins with the reinforcement structure printed thereto is released, the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins retain the desired shape in at least areas where the reinforcement structure is printed.
A rotor blade panel for a rotor blade of a wind turbine formed by a method comprising the steps of:
- forcing one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins into a desired shape corresponding to a contour of an outer surface of the rotor blade panel;
- additively printing and depositing, via an extruder of a three-dimensional (3-D) printer, liquid thermoplastic material or liquid thermoset material layer-by-layer onto an inner surface of the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins to form at least one 3-D reinforcement structure thereon,
- wherein the liquid thermoplastic material or the liquid thermoset material of the at least one 3-D reinforcement structure solidifies and bonds to the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins as the at least one 3-D reinforcement structure is being printed and deposited so as to maintain the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins in the desired shape such that when the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins with the at least one 3-D reinforcement structure printed thereto is released, the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins retain the desired shape in at least areas where the at least one 3-D reinforcement structure is printed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.