Method of manufacturing a rotor blade for wind turbines
AssigneeFlowgen Development & Management AG
InventorDirk KÜSTER
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of manufacturing a rotor blade for a wind turbine including the steps of a) providing plies and stacking the plies in a first mold for a first half rotor blade shell and in a second mold for a second half rotor blade shell for use in a high-pressure resin transfer molding process; b) injecting a resin by high-pressure resin transfer molding process; c) providing a plurality of bushings each formed as a solid cylindrical sleeve having a wall protrusion extending radially outwards; d) manufacturing a spacer, the spacer including a rotor blade root including the plurality of bushings; and e) positioning and bonding the first half rotor blade shell, the second half rotor blade shell and the spacer; f) providing a plurality of washers to mount a washer at each end of the bushings.
Claims11
Method of manufacturing a rotor blade for a wind turbine comprising the steps of
- a) providing plies of fibrous material and stacking the plies in a first mold for a first half rotor blade shell and in a second mold for a second half rotor blade shell, the first mold and the second mold being designed for use in a high-pressure resin transfer molding process, the first half rotor blade shell and the second half rotor blade shell including each a plurality of circular passages arranged inboard and designed to mate with a plurality of bushings for fastening the rotor blade to a hub of the wind turbine;
- b) injecting a resin by high-pressure resin transfer molding process in the first mold and in the second mold to bond the plies and manufacture the first half rotor blade shell and the second half rotor blade shell;
- c) providing the plurality of bushings each formed as a solid cylindrical sleeve having a wall protrusion extending radially outwards from an outer surface of the sleeve;
- d) manufacturing a spacer, the spacer comprising a rotor blade root defining a reference plane and including the plurality of bushings arranged perpendicular to the reference plane, the spacer comprising further a leading edge closure and a rotor blade tip, the leading edge closure extending from the rotor blade root outboard into the rotor blade tip facing away from the rotor blade root, the rotor blade tip and the leading edge closure having a receiving region designed to receive on one side a leading edge of the first half rotor blade shell and on the opposed side a leading edge of the second half rotor blade shell to form a leading edge of the rotor blade;
- and
- e) positioning the first half rotor blade shell and the second half rotor blade shell in the receiving region with the plurality of circular passages mounted around the plurality of bushings and bonding the first half rotor blade shell, the second half rotor blade shell and the spacer to form the leading edge of the rotor blade, and the first half rotor blade shell and the second half rotor blade shell to form a trailing edge of the rotor blade;
- f) providing a plurality of washers having an internal diameter corresponding to the external diameter of the plurality of bushings to mount a washer at each end of the bushings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.