Protective cover system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11274653-B2
Application number	US-201716338602-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2017
Priority date	Sep 27, 2016
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a protective cover system including a first protective cover and a second protective cover, both include a polymer and being pre-formed into a curved shape so as to accommodate at least a part of a wind turbine blade to be protected, each of the first and second protective covers has a tip end and a root end, wherein the first protective cover includes a first overlap portion at the root end, and the second protective cover includes a second overlap portion at the tip end, wherein the shape of the first overlap portion is substantially complementary to the shape of the second overlap portion such that when overlapping the first and second overlap portions, the resulting cross section of the overlapped overlap portions substantially corresponds to the cross sections of the first or second protective covers outside the overlap portions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A protective cover system for protecting a leading edge of a wind turbine rotor blade from erosion, the system comprising:
a first protective cover and a second protective cover, both comprising a polymer and being pre-formed into a curved shape so as to accommodate at least a part of the wind turbine rotor blade to be protected, wherein each of the first protective cover and the second protective cover has a tip end and a root end;
wherein the first protective cover comprises a first overlap portion at the root end, and the second protective cover comprises a second overlap portion at the tip end;
wherein a shape of the first overlap portion is substantially complementary to a shape of the second overlap portion such that when overlapping the first overlap portion and the second overlap portion, a resulting cross section of the overlapped overlap portions substantially corresponds to cross sections of at least one of the first protective cover and the second protective cover outside the overlap portions;
wherein one of the first protective cover and the second protective cover comprises a protruding element in the respective first overlap portion or the second overlap portion and the other one of the first protective cover and the second protective cover comprises a recess in the other respective first overlap portion or the second overlap portion, the recess configured to accommodate the protruding element for guiding the first protective cover and the second protective cover when being mounted to the wind turbine rotor blade;
wherein the recess is a through hole extending through the first overlap portion or the second overlap portion, and the protruding element is shaped to be insertable within the through hole.

2. The protective cover system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the protective covers comprise an elastomer comprising polyurethane or polyethylene.

3. The protective cover system according to claim 1 , wherein a length of at least one of the first and second protective cover amounts to 2000 mm at maximum.

4. A wind turbine blade comprising the protective cover system according to claim 1 , wherein the protective cover system is connected to the wind turbine blade along a leading edge of the blade.

5. A method for mounting the protective cover system according to claim 1 to a leading edge of a wind turbine blade, the method comprising:
providing a wind turbine blade, the protective cover system according to claim 1 , and an adhesive;
applying the adhesive on the wind turbine blade and/or on an inner surface of the first and the second protective covers;
placing the first and the second protective covers onto the wind turbine blade, wherein the first and the second overlap portions of the protective covers are arranged such that the first and the second overlap portions overlap;
applying further adhesive between the first and the second overlap portions; and
allowing the adhesive to connect the first and the second protective covers to the wind turbine blade.

6. The protective cover system according to claim 1 further comprising
a first set of protective covers, each of the protective covers of the first set of protective covers correspond to a true copy of said first protective cover,
a second set of protective covers, each of the protective covers of the second set of protective covers corresponds to a true copy of said second protective cover,
a protective tip cover, and
a protective root cover.

7. The protective cover system according to claim 6 , wherein the protective tip cover has a swept end to cover and fit the blade tip.

8. The protective cover system according to claim 6 , wherein the protective root cover features a smooth transition towards the leading edge on the root side.

9. The protective cover system according to claim 1 , wherein a leading edge radius of the first protective cover is different from a leading edge radius of the second protective cover.

Assignees

• Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy As

Inventors

• Kratmann Kasper Koops
• Stege Jason

Classifications

• F03D1/0675 Primary

  of the blades · CPC title

• F05B2230/80

  Repairing, retrofitting or upgrading methods · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F03D80/50

  Maintenance or repair · CPC title

• F05B2260/95

  Preventing corrosion · CPC title