Rotor blade element for a wind turbine, rotor blade, and a production process therefor and wind turbine with rotor blade

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10344738-B2
Application number	US-201414913668-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2014
Priority date	Aug 28, 2013
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

A rotor blade element, in particular produced by a process according to claim 10, in particular a rotor blade edge for a wind turbine, with a base comprising a fiber material saturated with curable resin and with a surface foil, with, arranged between base and surface foil, a bonding layer. The invention proposes that the surface foil comprises polyethylene with ultra-high molecular weight and that the bonding layer comprises a first rubber layer and a second rubber layer, where the first rubber layer is allocated to the surface foil and the second rubber layer is allocated to the base.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for producing a rotor blade or rotor blade element, the process comprising:
bonding a first unvulcanized rubber layer on a first side of a surface foil to form a composite, the surface foil including polyethylene with ultra-high molecular weight;
vulcanizing the first unvulcanized rubber layer to provide a first vulcanized rubber layer;
forming a base by saturating a fiber material with a curable resin;
curing the curable resin;
bonding a second unvulcanized rubber layer on at least one of the base and the composite;
bonding the composite to the base in such a way that the location of the second unvulcanized rubber layer is between the base and the composite; and p 1 vulcanizing the second unvulcanized rubber layer to give a second vulcanized rubber layer, wherein vulcanizing the first unvulcanized rubber layer takes place at higher temperatures, higher pressures or both than vulcanizing the second unvulcanized rubber layer.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein curing the resin and vulcanizing the second unvulcanized rubber layer occur in a single step.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein bonding the first unvulcanized rubber layer on the first side of the surface foil takes place by way of mechanical adhesion, and wherein bonding the second unvulcanized rubber layer to the at least one of the base and the composite takes place by way of crosslinking.

4. A rotor blade element made according to the process of claim 1 , the rotor blade element comprising:
a base including a fiber material saturated with curable resin;
a surface foil including ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene over the base; and
a bonding layer arranged between the base and the surface foil, the bonding layer including a first vulcanized rubber layer and a second vulcanized rubber layer, wherein the first vulcanized rubber layer is bonded to the surface foil and the second vulcanized rubber layer is bonded to the base,
wherein a degree of vulcanization of the first vulcanized rubber layer is higher than a degree of vulcanization of the second vulcanized rubber layer.

5. A rotor blade comprising a rotor blade element according to claim 4 .

6. A wind turbine comprising the rotor blade according to claim 5 .

7. A process for producing a rotor blade or rotor blade element, the process comprising:
bonding a first unvulcanized rubber layer on a first side of a surface foil to form a composite, the surface foil including polyethylene with ultra-high molecular weight, wherein bonding the first unvulcanized rubber layer on the first side of the surface foil takes place by way of mechanical adhesion;
vulcanizing the first unvulcanized rubber layer to provide a first vulcanized rubber layer;
forming a base by saturating a fiber material with a curable resin;
curing the curable resin;
bonding a second unvulcanized rubber layer on at least one of the base and the composite, wherein bonding the second unvulcanized rubber layer to the at least one of the base and the composite takes place by way of crosslinking;
bonding the composite to the base in such a way that the location of the second unvulcanized rubber layer is between the base and the composite; and
vulcanizing the second unvulcanized rubber layer to give a second vulcanized rubber layer.

8. The process according to claim 7 , wherein curing the resin and vulcanizing the second unvulcanized rubber layer occur in a single step.

9. The process according to claim 7 , wherein vulcanizing the first unvulcanized rubber layer takes place at higher temperatures and higher pressures than vulcanizing the second unvulcanized rubber layer.

10. A rotor blade element made according to the process of claim 7 , the rotor blade element comprising:
a base including a fiber material saturated with curable resin;
a surface foil including ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene over the base; and
a bonding layer arranged between the base and the surface foil, the bonding layer including a first vulcanized rubber layer and a second vulcanized rubber layer, wherein the first vulcanized rubber layer is bonded to the surface foil and the second vulcanized rubber layer is bonded to the base,
wherein a degree of vulcanization of the first vulcanized rubber layer is higher than a degree of vulcanization of the second vulcanized rubber layer.

11. The rotor blade element according to claim 10 , wherein the first vulcanized rubber layer is bonded directly to the surface foil and the second vulcanized rubber layer is bonded directly to the base.

12. The rotor blade element according to claim 10 , wherein at least one of the first and second vulcanized rubber layers include ethylene-propylene-diene rubber.

13. The rotor blade element according to claim 10 , wherein the curable resin is a reactive resin.

14. The rotor blade element according to claim 13 , wherein the reactive resin is an epoxy resin.

15. The rotor blade element according to claim 10 , wherein the rotor blade element is selected from a group consisting of:
a fillet,
an external rotor blade shell,
a half-shell for a pressure side or for a suction side,
a rear rotor blade edge,
a rotor blade tip, and
a leading rotor blade edge.

16. A rotor blade comprising a rotor blade element according to claim 10 .

17. A wind turbine comprising a rotor blade including a rotor blade element according to claim 10 .

18. The rotor blade element according to claim 10 , wherein the rotor blade element is a rotor blade edge of a rotor blade for a wind turbine.

Assignees

• Wobben Properties Gmbh

Inventors

• Theile Benjamin
• Hoffmann Alexander

Classifications

• B32B2250/24

  All layers being polymeric · CPC title

• F03D1/0675 Primary

  of the blades · CPC title

• B32B2603/00

  Vanes, blades, propellers, rotors with blades · CPC title

• B32B25/08

  of synthetic resin · CPC title

• B32B2260/021

  Fibrous or filamentary layer · CPC title