Wind turbine rotor blade, kit, pressure piece and method for connecting two rotor blade segments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12209569-B2
Application number	US-202118254843-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2021
Priority date	Nov 27, 2020
Publication date	Jan 28, 2025
Grant date	Jan 28, 2025

Abstract

A segmented wind turbine rotor blade includes sleeve-shaped pressure pieces arranged between rotor blade segments, each of which is mounted on a connecting bolt. Each pressure piece includes one or more cylindrical sections and a tool engaging section for an assembly tool). Each pressure piece is connected to a corresponding connecting bolt in a form fit manner, so that a screwing force can be applied to the corresponding connecting bolt via the assembly tool via the pressure piece. A diameter of the cylindrical section(s) is less than a diameter of the tool engaging section. Each two adjacent pressure pieces are arranged rotated by 180° relative to one another.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wind turbine rotor blade comprising:
at least two rotor blade segments screwed together at respective connection ends via a plurality of connecting bolts;
a plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces arranged between said at least two rotor blade segments, each of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces being mounted on a corresponding one of said plurality of connecting bolts;
each of said plurality of said sleeve-shaped pressure pieces including at least one cylindrical section and a tool-engaging section for an assembly tool;
each of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces being connected to the corresponding one of said plurality of connecting bolts in a form-fit manner so that a screwing force can be applied to the corresponding one of said plurality of connecting bolts by the assembly tool via the corresponding one of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces;
said at least one cylindrical section having a cylindrical section diameter less than a diameter of said tool-engaging section; and,
each two adjacent ones of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces being arranged rotated by 180° relative to one another so that— in a direction of a first of said at least two rotor blade segments toward a second of said at least two rotor blade segments— a first axial region is formed, in which said cylindrical sections of the two adjacent ones of said plurality of pressure pieces are opposite one another, a second axial region is formed, in which said tool-engaging section of a first of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces is opposed to said cylindrical section of a second of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces, and a third axial region is formed, in which said tool-engaging section of said second of said plurality of pressure pieces is opposed to said cylindrical section of said first of said plurality of pressure piece.

2. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein an axial length of said first axial region corresponds to at least a width of the assembly tool.

3. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein an axial length of at least one of said second and said third axial region corresponds to at least a width of the assembly tool.

4. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a width of the assembly tool is 20 millimeters to 40 millimeters.

5. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces are each formed by said cylindrical section having an axial length of at least twice the width of the assembly tool and said tool-engaging section having an axial length at least equal to the width of the assembly tool.

6. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 5 , wherein said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces each include a further cylindrical portion having a further axial length at least the width of the assembly tool, with said tool-engaging section being located between said cylindrical portion and said further cylindrical portion.

7. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of each of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces in the first axial region is such that the assembly tool is freely rotatable coaxially around said pressure piece in said first axial region.

8. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 7 , wherein said diameter of each of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces in the first axial region is 64 mm, 74 mm, or 79 mm.

9. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 7 , wherein said diameter of each of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces in the first axial region is at least 64 mm.

10. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 7 , wherein said diameter of each of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces in the first axial region is at most 79 mm.

11. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein each two adjacent ones of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces define a first clearance between each other in said first region and a second clearance between each other in at least one of said second axial region and said third axial region; and, said second clearance is smaller than said first clearance.

12. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 11 , wherein said second clearance is 10 millimeters or less.

13. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 11 , wherein said first clearance is a maximum clearance between said two adjacent ones of said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces.

14. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces each include equally formed cylindrical sections at opposite ends.

15. The wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of sleeve-shaped pressure pieces are identically formed.

16. A method of joining two rotor blade segments of the wind turbine rotor blade of claim 1 , the method comprising the steps:
partially screwing the connecting bolts into a first connection end of a first of the two rotor blade segments such that the connecting bolts project from the first connection end;
providing the sleeve-shaped pressure pieces, each having the at least one cylindrical section with the cylindrical section diameter and the tool-engaging section for the assembly tool, wherein the cylindrical section diameter is less than the tool-engaging section diameter of the tool-engaging section;
form-fit mounting of the sleeve-shaped pressure pieces to the connecting bolts in such a way that two adjacent pressure pieces are arranged in each case rotated by 180° relative to one another;
bringing a second connection end of the second rotor blade segment close to the first connection end of the first rotor blade segment;
partially screwing the connecting bolts into the second connection end;
attaching the assembly tool to a first of the sleeve-shaped pressure pieces in the first axial region relative to an adjacent second of the sleeve-shaped pressure pieces;
at least one of aligning and axially moving the assembly tool along the first of the sleeve-shaped pressure pieces such that the assembly tool engages the first of the pressure pieces in the tool-engaging portion; and,
screwing a corresponding one of the connecting bolts with the assembly tool.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
after said screwing step, the assembly tool is axially displaced back into the first axial region; and,
the assembly tool is then removed and attached to the second pressure piece or the assembly tool is realigned by freely rotating it around the first pressure piece in the first axial region.

18. A kit for connecting two rotor blade segments of a wind turbine rotor blade, the kit comprising:
at least two connecting bolts for screwing the two rotor blade segments together;
at least two sleeve-shaped pressure pieces each configured to be applied to one of said at least two connecting bolts;
said at least two sleeve-shaped pressure pieces being arranged between the two rotor blade segments in a connected state of the two rotor blade segments;
each of said at least two pressure pieces including at least one cylindrical section and a tool-engaging section for an assembly tool, wherein said at least one cylindrical section has a cylindrical section diameter and said tool-engaging section has a tool-engaging diameter, and said cylindrical section diameter is smaller than said tool-engaging diameter;
each of said at least two pressure pieces being configured to be connected to a corresponding one of said at least two connecting bolts in a form-fit manner so that a screwing forc

Assignees

• Nordex Energy Se & Co Kg

Inventors

• Festner Gerald
• Wackrow Torsten

Classifications

• F05B2240/302

  Segmented or sectional blades · CPC title

• F05B2230/60

  Assembly methods · CPC title

• F03D13/104

  Rotor installation, e.g. installation of blades · CPC title

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title

• F03D1/0677 Primary

  Longitudinally segmented blades; Connectors therefor · CPC title