Wind turbine blade with a trailing edge spacing section

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11028824-B2
Application number	US-201615577020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 25, 2016
Priority date	May 28, 2015
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A wind turbine blade is provided with two shell parts each at least partly made of a sandwich structure including an inner skin (76), an outer skin (74), and an intermediate core material (75, 77), wherein the shell parts are bonded together at least along their respective leading edges (18). The blade also comprises a longitudinally extending spacing section in which the respective trailing edges (58a, 58b) of the pressure side shell part and the suction side shell part are spaced apart, wherein a trailing edge shear web (45) is arranged between and connected to the sandwich structure of the suction side shell part (84, 86, 87) and the sandwich structure of the pressure side shell part (74, 76, 77).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A blade ( 10 ) for a rotor of a wind turbine ( 2 ) having a horizontal rotor shaft, said rotor comprising a hub ( 8 ), from which the blade ( 10 ) extends in a radial direction when mounted to the hub ( 8 ), the blade having a longitudinal direction (r) with a tip end ( 16 ) and a root end ( 14 ) and a vertical direction, the blade further comprising:
a profiled contour including a pressure side and a suction side, as well as a leading edge ( 18 ) and a trailing edge ( 20 ) with a chord having a chord length (c) extending therebetween, the profiled contour, when being impacted by an incident airflow, generating a lift;
a pressure side shell part at least partly made of a sandwich structure including an inner skin ( 76 ), an outer skin ( 74 ), and an intermediate core material ( 75 , 77 );
a suction side shell part at least partly made of a sandwich structure including an inner skin ( 86 ), an outer skin ( 84 ), and an intermediate core material ( 85 , 87 ), wherein the suction side shell part is bonded to the pressure side shell part at least along the respective leading edges ( 18 ) of the shell parts; and
a longitudinally extending spacing section ( 65 ) in which the respective trailing edges ( 58 a , 58 b ) of the pressure side shell part and the suction side shell part are spaced apart,
wherein a trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is arranged at the trailing edge ( 20 ) of the blade ( 10 ) between and connected directly to the sandwich structure of the suction side shell part ( 84 , 86 , 87 ) at a position including the inner skin ( 86 ), the outer skin ( 84 ), and the intermediate core material ( 85 , 87 ) of the sandwich structure of the suction side shell part, and the sandwich structure of the pressure side shell part ( 74 , 76 , 77 ) at a position including the inner skin ( 76 ), the outer skin ( 74 ), and the intermediate core material ( 75 , 77 ) of the sandwich structure of the pressure side shell part.

2. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is arranged within a distance of 0.1 to 2 metres from the trailing edge of the suction side shell part in the chordwise direction.

3. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the distance between the respective trailing edges of the pressure side shell part and the suction side shell part in the vertical direction is between 0.2-2.5 metres in at least one point within the spacing section.

4. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is I-shaped or C-shaped.

5. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the blade comprises a sealing element ( 164 , 264 , 364 ) for sealing a space between the respective trailing edges ( 58 a , 58 b ) of the pressure side shell part and the suction side shell part in the spacing section.

6. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 345 ) forms a blunt trailing edge or flatback section of the blade.

7. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) comprises a main body with a sandwich construction ( 46 ) comprising at least two skin layers ( 47 ) enclosing a core ( 46 ), wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) further comprises two load-bearing flanges ( 48 ) extending therefrom at opposed ends of the main body.

8. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein each shell part comprises one or more spar caps ( 72 , 82 ) integrated in the respective shell part, wherein the spar caps ( 72 , 82 ) comprise a plurality of fibre layers.

9. The blade according to claim 8 , wherein each spar cap ( 72 , 82 ) is encapsulated between the inner and outer skin of a shell part ( 74 , 76 , 84 , 86 ), wherein a transition zone is provided between the spar cap and the adjacent intermediate core material of the respective shell part.

10. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the spacing section is located between the root end and a longitudinal distance of 10 metres from the root end of the blade.

11. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the position of the maximum chord length is located within the spacing section.

12. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is fastened to the sandwich structures of the respective shell parts by one or more adhesive joints.

13. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the intermediate core ( 85 , 87 ) includes one or more of balsa, wood and foamed polymer.

14. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the inner and outer skins of each of the sandwich structures of the pressure side shell part and of the suction side shell part ( 74 , 76 , 84 , 86 ), respectively, includes one or more of glass fibre, carbon fibre, fibre reinforced polymer and resin.

15. The blade according to claim 1 , wherein each of the sandwich structures of the pressure side shell part and of the suction side shell part, respectively, further comprises one or more additional layers.

16. The blade according to claim 13 , wherein the foamed polymer comprises polyurethane foam.

17. A blade ( 10 ) for a rotor of a wind turbine ( 2 ) having a horizontal rotor shaft, said rotor comprising a hub ( 8 ), from which the blade ( 10 ) extends in a radial direction when mounted to the hub ( 8 ), the blade having a longitudinal direction (r) with a tip end ( 16 ) and a root end ( 14 ) and a vertical direction, the blade further comprising:
a profiled contour including a pressure side and a suction side, as well as a leading edge ( 18 ) and a trailing edge ( 20 ) with a chord having a chord length (c) extending therebetween, the profiled contour, when being impacted by an incident airflow, generating a lift;
a pressure side shell part at least partly made of a sandwich structure including an inner skin ( 76 ), an outer skin ( 74 ), and an intermediate core material ( 75 , 77 );
a suction side shell part at least partly made of a sandwich structure including an inner skin ( 86 ), an outer skin ( 84 ), and an intermediate core material ( 85 , 87 ), wherein the suction side shell part is bonded to the pressure side shell part at least along the respective leading edges ( 18 ) of the shell parts; and
a longitudinally extending spacing section ( 65 ) in which the respective trailing edges ( 58 a , 58 b ) of the pressure side shell part and the suction side shell part are spaced apart,
wherein a trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is arranged at the trailing edge ( 20 ) of the blade ( 10 ) between and connected directly to the sandwich structure of the suction side shell part ( 84 , 86 , 87 ) at a position including the inner skin ( 86 ), the outer skin ( 84 ), and the intermediate core material ( 85 , 87 ) of the sandwich structure of the suction side shell part, and the sandwich structure of the pressure side shell part ( 74 , 76 , 77 ) at a position including the inner skin ( 76 ), the outer skin ( 74 ), and the intermediate core material ( 75 , 77 ) of the sandwich structure of the pressure side shell part, and
wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is spaced apart from the trailing edge of the suction side shell part in the chordwise direction.

18. The blade according to claim 17 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is arranged within a distance of 0.1 to 2 metres from the trailing edge of the suction side shell part in the chordwise direction.

19. The blade according to claim 18 , wherein the trailing edge shear web ( 45 ) is arranged within a distance of 0.15 to 0.75 metres from the trailing edge of the suction side sh

Assignees

• Lm Wp Patent Holding As

Inventors

• Garm Jesper Hasselbalch

Classifications

• F03D1/0675 Primary

  of the blades · CPC title

• Y02P70/50

  Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F03D1/0641 Primary

  of the section profile of the blades, i.e. aerofoil profile · CPC title

• F03D1/0633

  of the blades · CPC title