Multiple material combinations for printed reinforcement structures of rotor blades

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11248582-B2
Application number	US-201715818842-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2017
Priority date	Nov 21, 2017
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

Rotor blade panels, along with methods of their formation, are provided. The rotor blade panel may include one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins having an inner surface; and, a plurality of reinforcement structures on the inner surface of the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins, where the reinforcement structure bonds to the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins as the reinforcement structure is being deposited. The reinforcement structure includes, at least, a first composition and a second composition, with the first composition being different than the second composition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a rotor blade shell, the method comprising:
forming one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins on a mold of the rotor blade shell via thermoforming; and,
melting first and second compositions of material;
before the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins have completely cooled from thermoforming, printing and depositing, via computer numeric control (CNC) device, the melted first and second compositions of material to form at least one three-dimensional (3-D) reinforcement grid structure onto an inner surface of the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins at least in part via additive manufacturing, the grid structure bonding to the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins as the grid structure is being printed and deposited,
wherein the first composition being different than the second composition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rib structures comprises, at least, a first rib structure having the first composition and the second rib structure having the second composition.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein forming the plurality of rib members further comprises:
positioning a prefabricated member over the inner surface, wherein the prefabricated member comprises the first composition;
extruding the melted second composition via the CNC device over the inner surface such that at least a portion of the second composition contacts the prefabricated member; and,
solidifying the second composition to define the first rib structure and the second rib structure, respectively.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
preheating the one or more fiber-reinforced outer skins to facilitate bonding of the grid structure thereon.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein both the first composition and the second composition comprises a matrix loaded with a constituent, with a variation of the loading concentration being a difference between the first composition and the second composition.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the constituent comprises at least one of fibers, microspheres, particles, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the plurality of rib members comprises:
additively manufacturing a first layer of thermoplastic material directly onto the inner surface of the outer skin, wherein the first layer defines an opening; and
positioning a prefabricated member into the opening of the first layer of thermoplastic material such that the prefabricated member is anchored within the opening.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Tobin James Robert
• Johnson Stephen Bertram
• Anderson Todd Alan
• Parthasarathy Thattai Krishnan Balaji

Classifications

• Y02P70/50

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

• B29D99/0014

  provided with ridges or ribs, e.g. joined ribs · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B29L2031/085

  Wind turbine blades · CPC title

• F05B2280/6003

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