Wind turbine rotor blade and aerodynamic add-on element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12044202-B2
Application number	US-202218047165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2022
Priority date	Oct 21, 2021
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a wind turbine rotor blade, including an aerodynamic add-on element comprising a baseplate, the baseplate having an upper side and a bottom side, wherein the aerodynamic add-on element is mounted with the bottom side of the baseplate to an outer surface of the wind turbine rotor blade, at least a section of the bottom side is inclined relative to the outer surface of the wind turbine rotor blade along a downstream direction of an operational wind flow, such that a gap is formed between the at least one section and the outer surface in which a distance between the outer surface and the bottom side increases along the downstream direction, and adhesive is provided in the gap to bond the aerodynamic add-on element to the outer surface of the wind turbine rotor blade. The disclosure also relates to an aerodynamic add-on element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wind turbine rotor blade comprising:
a rotor blade body having an outer surface;
an aerodynamic add-on element having a predetermined length in a downstream direction of an operational wind flow and including a planar baseplate having an upper side and a bottom side;
said aerodynamic add-on element being mounted with said bottom side of said baseplate facing said outer surface of said rotor blade body;
said planar baseplate being tilted on said outer surface of the rotor blade body so as to cause said bottom side to be inclined to said outer surface along said downstream direction of the operational wind flow, such that a gap is formed between said bottom side and said outer surface in which a distance between said outer surface and said bottom side increases along the downstream direction to impart a triangular shape to said gap; and,
an adhesive filling said gap of triangular shape to bond said aerodynamic add-on element to said outer surface of said rotor blade body along all of said predetermined length of said aerodynamic add-on element.

2. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a height of said gap increases from 0.1 millimeter to 1 millimeter.

3. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein said outer surface and said aerodynamic add-on element define a gradual transition between said outer surface and said aerodynamic add-on element at an up-wind side.

4. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a distance between said upper side of said aerodynamic add-on element and said rotor blade body at an up-wind side is smaller than at a downwind side of said aerodynamic add-on element.

5. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a structural relevant thickness of said adhesive of 0.5 millimeter in said gap to bond said add-on element to said rotor blade body is reached at a certain distance from an up-wind side of said adhesive in said gap with regard to the downstream direction.

6. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a height of said gap increases from 0.2 millimeter to 0.7 millimeter.

7. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a height of said gap increases from 0.2 millimeter to 0.5 millimeter.

8. A wind turbine rotor blade comprising:
a rotor blade body having an outer surface;
an aerodynamic add-on element including a baseplate having an upper side and a bottom side;
said aerodynamic add-on element being mounted with said bottom side of said baseplate to said outer surface of said rotor blade body;
said bottom side having at least one section inclined relative to said outer surface of the rotor blade body along a downstream direction of an operational wind flow, such that a gap is formed between said at least one section and said outer surface in which a distance between said outer surface and said bottom side increases along the downstream direction;
an adhesive provided in said gap to bond said aerodynamic add-on element to said outer surface of said rotor blade body; and,
wherein said at least one section of said bottom side includes a web running transverse to an operational wind flow; said web is in direct contact with said outer surface of said rotor blade body; and, said web separates said gap into a first gap section and a second gap section such that said adhesive is divided into said first gap section and said second gap section.

9. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 8 , wherein said baseplate is tilted relative to said outer surface.

10. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 8 , wherein a height of said gap increases along the downstream direction.

11. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 8 , wherein said at least one section of said bottom side includes one or more spacers, said one or more spacers being in direct contact with said outer surface of the rotor blade body.

12. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 11 , wherein said one or more spacers are formed as line shaped spacers, cylindrical spacers or point spacers.

13. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 8 , wherein a further section of said bottom side of said add-on element is directly arranged on said outer surface of said rotor blade body.

14. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 13 , wherein said further section of said bottom side is arranged upstream of said at least one section of said bottom side.

15. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 14 , wherein said further section is a front section of said bottom side.

16. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 13 , wherein said further section includes spacers or is formed as a spacer section.

17. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 13 , wherein said further section includes spacers formed as ribs.

Assignees

• Nordex Energy Se & Co Kg

Inventors

• Rautmann Christof
• Warzok Felix
• Lipka Thomas

Classifications

• F05B2240/305

  Flaps, slats or spoilers · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F05B2240/122

  Vortex generators, turbulators, or the like, for mixing · CPC title

• F05B2240/3062

  Vortex generators · CPC title

• F03D1/0641

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