Hybrid poltrusion plates for a conductive spar cap of a wind turbine blade

A lightning protection system (102) for a wind turbine blade, the lightning protection system comprising a lightning conductor (104) disposed at least partially in the interior of the blade, one or more electrically conductive lightning receptors (106, 107, 108) disposed on one or more of the surfaces of the blade, wherein the one or more electrically conductive lightning receptors are electrically connected to a spar cap,

• wherein the spar cap comprises a plurality of abraded pultrusion plates (64) which have been obtained by abrading each of a first plurality of pultrusion plates, wherein each pultrusion plate (64) of the first plurality of pultrusion plates comprises a top surface (81), an opposing bottom surface (82), a first lateral surface (83) and an opposing second lateral surface (84), wherein the pultrusion plate is formed of a plurality of tows of carbon fibre material (68), and wherein adjoining tows of carbon fibre material are provided along the entire lateral surfaces (83, 84) of the pultrusion plate, and wherein the abrading of each of the first plurality of pultrusion plates to obtain the plurality of abraded pultrusion plates includes removing at least a part of each of the edges at which the top surface (81) meets the lateral surfaces (83, 84) and the edges at which the bottom surface (82) meets the lateral surfaces (83, 84), and wherein the abraded pultrusion plates are arranged into adjacent stacks of abraded pultrusion plates, wherein each pair of adjacent layers of abraded pultrusion plates in each stack are separated by an electrically conductive interlayer.

A method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade shell component (38), the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of abraded pultrusion plates (64a-64f) obtained from a first plurality of pultrusion plates (64), wherein each pultrusion plate (64) in the first plurality of pultrusion plates comprises a top surface (81), an opposing bottom surface (82), a first lateral surface (83) and an opposing second lateral surface (84), wherein obtaining the plurality of abraded pultrusion plates includes abrading each of the first plurality of pultrusion plates by removing at least a part of each of the edges at which the top surface (81) meets the lateral surfaces (83, 84) and the edges at which the bottom surface (82) meets the lateral surfaces (83, 84),
• arranging a first layer of abraded pultrusion plates (164a, 164c) on a blade shell material (89) in a mould (77),
• arranging a first electrically conductive interlayer (131) on the first layer of abraded pultrusion plates,
• arranging a second layer of abraded pultrusion plates (164b, 164d) on the first interlayer (131),
• bonding the first and second layers of abraded pultrusion plates (164a-164d) with the blade shell material to form the blade shell component,
• wherein each pultrusion plate (64) in the first plurality of pultrusion plates is formed of a pultrusion fibre material comprising a plurality of tows of carbon fibre material (68), and
• wherein adjoining tows of carbon fibre material are provided along the lateral surfaces (83, 84) of the pultrusion plate.