Wind turbine blade and a method for manufacturing a wind turbine blade

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12429025-B2
Application number	US-202218724389-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2022
Priority date	Dec 29, 2021
Publication date	Sep 30, 2025
Grant date	Sep 30, 2025

Abstract

A wind turbine blade with shear distortion resistance includes a root end and a tip end, a leading edge and a trailing edge, and a suction side shell and a pressure side shell between which there are first and second shear webs. The first and second shear webs are arranged in a V-configuration in a chordwise cross section of the blade, whereby at least one of the first and second shear webs is non-orthogonal to the chord line, and the first and second shear webs are non-parallel. A method of manufacturing the wind turbine blade includes providing respective upper and lower mould halves for the blade and interconnecting the first and second shear webs by an elastic structure biasing the shear webs towards one another before closing the mould.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wind turbine blade comprising:
a root end and a tip end;
a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein the leading edge and the trailing edge extend in a lengthwise direction of the blade from the root end of the blade towards the tip end;
a suction side shell and a pressure side shell;
at least one airfoil defined by the suction side shell and the pressure side shell, the airfoil having a chord line interconnecting the leading edge and the trailing edge in a chordwise direction of the blade;
at least a first and a second shear web, each of which interconnects the suction side shell and the pressure side shell;
wherein, in a chordwise cross section of the blade:
the first and second shear webs are arranged at a mutual distance in the chordwise direction of the blade;
at least one of the first and second shear webs is non-orthogonal to the chord line in said chordwise cross section;
the first and second shear webs are non-parallel; and

wherein the first and second shear webs are arranged in a V-configuration when seen in the chordwise cross section of the blade at one or more lengthwise positions between 5% and 50% of the length of the blade when measured from the root towards the tip.

2. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , further comprising spar structures at the suction side and pressure side shells; wherein
the first and second shear webs attach to the suction side and pressure side shells at the spar structures at respective attachment points; and
a first chordwise distance between attachment points of the first and second shear webs at the suction side shell is different from a second chordwise distance between attachments points of the first and second shear webs at the pressure side shell.

3. The wind turbine blade according to claim 2 , wherein:
a chordwise length of the spar structure at the suction side shell is greater than a chordwise length of the spar structure at the pressure side shell; or
a chordwise length of the spar structure at the pressure side shell is greater than a chordwise length of the spar structure at the suction side shell.

4. The wind turbine blade according to claim 2 , wherein:
said spar structures comprise two separated first spar caps at the suction side shell and two second separated spar caps at the pressure side shell; and
the first and second shear webs attach to respective ones of the first spar caps at the suction side shell and to respective ones of the second spar caps at the pressure side shell.

5. The wind turbine blade according to claim 2 , wherein:
said spar structures comprise two separated first spar caps at one of the suction side and pressure side shells and a single second spar cap at the other one of the suction and pressure side shells; and
the first and second shear webs attach to respective ones of the first spar caps at one of the shells and to the single second spar cap at the other shell.

6. The wind turbine according to claim 2 , wherein said spar structures comprise:
two separated first caps at one of the suction side and pressure side shells;
two separated second caps at the other one of the suction side and pressure side shells;
wherein at least one of the two separated first and second spar caps has a chordwise length equal to half a chordwise length of at least another one of the two separated first and second spar caps.

7. The wind turbine blade according to claim 5 , wherein a combined chordwise length of the two separated first spar caps is equal to a chordwise length of the single second spar cap.

8. The wind turbine blade according to claim 5 , wherein said single spar cap is at the pressure side shell.

9. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second shear webs are at a first mutual distance in the vicinity of the suction side shell and at a second mutual distance in the vicinity of the pressure side shell, wherein the first mutual distance is larger than the second mutual distance.

10. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , further comprising a third shear web which:
when seen in the chordwise cross section of the blade is arranged at a chordwise position closer to the trailing edge than the first and second shear webs; and which
extends orthogonally to the chord line.

11. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein any one of the shear webs is orthogonal to the chord line at lengthwise positions above 50% of the length of the blade when measured from the root towards the tip.

12. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second shear webs are arranged in a V-configuration at lengthwise positions within the blade, at which the thickness-to-chord ratio of the airfoil is at least 30%.

13. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein the trailing edge is truncated in said chordwise cross section of the blade.

14. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one of the first and second shear webs which is non-orthogonal to the chord line defines an angle of between 50° and 80° with respect to the chord line.

15. A method for manufacturing a wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , comprising:
providing the suction side shell and the pressure side shell in respective mould halves;
bonding the first and second shear webs to one of the suction and pressure side shells, whereby respective ends of the shear webs opposite to ends bonded to said one of the shells remain unattached to the other one of the suction and pressure side shells;
applying an adhesive to said opposite ends of the shear webs and/or to attachment regions for the shear webs at an inner surface of said other one of the shells; and subsequently:
closing the mould to engage the inner surface of said other one of the shells with said opposite ends of the first and second shear webs.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising, prior to the step of closing the mould:
interconnecting the first and second shear webs by an elastic structure biasing the shear webs towards one another, and
optionally interconnecting the first and second shear webs by a rigid distance piece,
wherein the elastic structure and the optional rigid distance piece remain attached to the first and second shear webs during the step of closing the mould.

17. The wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , further comprising at least two separated first spar structures at one of the suction and pressure side shells and at least three separated second spar structures at the other one of the suction and pressure side shells; wherein:
a first pair of shear webs is configured to attach to a single separated first spar structure on one of the suction and pressure side shells and attach to two separated second spar structures on the other one of the suction and pressure side shells;
a second pair of shear webs is configured to attach to a single separated first spar structure on one of the suction and pressure side shells and attach to two separated second spar structures on the other one of the suction and pressure side shells, wherein one of the two separated second spar structures used to attach the second pair of shear webs is common to one of the two separated second spar structures used to attach the first pair of shear webs; and
the first pair of shear webs and the second pair of shear webs are arranged in a W-configuration when seen in the chordwise cross section of the blade.

18. A wind turbine blade comprising:
a root end and a tip end;
a leading edge and

Assignees

• Vestas Wind Sys As

Inventors

• Hahn Frank Hoelgaard

Classifications

• F05B2240/301

  Cross-section characteristics · CPC title

• F05B2230/60

  Assembly methods · CPC title

• F05B2230/20

  essentially without removing material · CPC title

• F03D1/0641

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

• Y02E10/72

  Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction · CPC title