Methods for manufacturing spar caps for wind turbine rotor blades using thermoplastic-based composite plates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10213994-B2
Application number	US-201514862216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Sep 23, 2015
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

In one aspect, a method for manufacturing a spar cap for a wind turbine rotor blade may generally include stacking a plurality of plates together to form a plate assembly, wherein each of the plates is formed from a fiber-reinforced composite including a plurality of fibers surrounded by a thermoplastic resin material. The method may also include positioning the plate assembly relative to a mold defining a mold surface, wherein the mold surface is shaped so as to correspond to at least one blade parameter of the wind turbine rotor blade. In addition, the method may include applying pressure to the plate assembly via the mold such that at least a portion of the plate assembly conforms to the shape of the mold surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a spar cap for a wind turbine rotor blade, the method comprising:
stacking a plurality of plates one on top of the other to form a plate assembly, each of the plurality of plates being formed from a continuous fiber-reinforced composite including a plurality of fibers surrounded by a thermoplastic resin material;
positioning the plate assembly relative to a mold defining a mold surface, the mold surface being shaped so as to correspond to at least one blade parameter of the wind turbine rotor blade;
clamping the plurality of plates together using one or more clamping devices;
applying pressure to the plate assembly via the mold such that at least a portion of the plate assembly begins to conform to the shape of the mold surface; and
releasing the plurality of plates from the one or more clamping devices as the mold begins to apply pressure to the plate assembly but before the mold is fully closed to allow the plurality of plates to move relative to one another.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mold corresponds to a heated mold, wherein heat is transferred from the heated mold to the thermoplastic resin material contained within each of the plurality of plates as pressure is being applied to the plate assembly.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising pre-heating the plate assembly prior to positioning the plate assembly relative to the mold, the plurality of plates being clamped together while the plate assembly is being pre-heated.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the thermoplastic resin material corresponds to an amorphous thermoplastic resin material, wherein pre-heating the plate assembly comprises heating the thermoplastic resin material contained within the plurality of plates to a temperature at or above a glass transition temperature of the amorphous thermoplastic resin material.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the thermoplastic resin material corresponds to a semi-crystalline thermoplastic resin material, wherein pre-heating the plate assembly comprises heating the thermoplastic resin material contained within the plurality of plates to a temperature at or above a melting temperature of the semi-crystalline thermoplastic resin material.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mold comprises an upper mold portion and a lower mold portion, wherein positioning the plate assembly relative to the mold comprises positioning the plate assembly between the upper and lower mold portions.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising welding the plurality of plates together prior to positioning the plate assembly relative to the mold, the plurality of plates being clamped together while the plurality of plates are being welded together.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one blade parameter corresponds to a blade parameter that varies along a span of the wind turbine rotor blade.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one blade parameter corresponds to at least one of a chordwise curvature, a spanwise curvature or a twist angle of the wind turbine rotor blade.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Tobin James Robert
• Caruso Christopher Daniel
• Yarbrough Aaron A
• Hynum Daniel Alan

Classifications

• F05B2280/6003

  Composites; e.g. fibre-reinforced · CPC title

• B29L2009/00

  Layered products · CPC title

• B32B5/26

  another layer {next to it} also being fibrous or filamentary {(relative arrangement of fibres or filaments of different layers B32B5/12)} · CPC title

• B32B2262/106

  Carbon fibres, e.g. graphite fibres · CPC title

• F05B2280/6013

  Fibres · CPC title