Abstract:
A gearbox for a wind turbine. The gearbox includes at least one first epicyclical gear stage, at least one second gear stage, and a torque transferring shaft including a shaft part and a connection part, wherein the torque transferring shaft is adapted for connecting a first gear of the first epicyclical gear stage with a second gear of the second gear stage and wherein the torque transferring shaft is connected to the second gear stage via the connection part to form a torque-transferring connection area between the connection part and the second gear stage and wherein the outer diameter of the shaft part of the torque transferring shaft is smaller than an inner diameter of the connection area between said torque transferring shaft and said second gear stage.
Abstract:
A pre-form and a method of preparing pre-forms are provided, The pre-forms comprise a resin and at least two layers of oriented fibre tows. The pre-forms comprise fibre tows instead of the traditional prepregs to enhance rearranging of resin and/or fibres during subsequent processing as well as provide greater freedom, a price reduction and/or a reduction of waste. The pre-forms may be formed three-dimensionally to enhance coupling to further pre-forms or other structures and/or to enhance shaping of the pre-form to a final three-dimensional shape. The method of preparation of pre-forms involves providing an adhesive between layers of fibres and providing a resin in contact with at least one of the layers of fibres. The resin Is preferably provided in a non-continuous layer to allow for removal of gas at least partially in a direction orthogonal to the layers of resin. The pre-forms are suitable for preparation of composite structures like for example spars for wind turbine blades.
Abstract:
A method for preparing a wind turbine blade shell member (2) comprising a plurality of elements (8) of cured fibre-reinforced sheet material is provided.. A plurality of elements of cured fibre-reinforced sheet material is provided in a mould, a resin is introduced between the elements of cured fibre-reinforced sheet material and the elements are bonded to adjacent elements by curing the resin. The method is particularly suitable for preparing wind turbine blade shell members due to the complex three-dimensional shape of the airfoils, which may be resembled by the relatively flexible cured fibre-reinforced sheet material.
Abstract:
A hub (1) for a wind turbine and a method for fabricating the hub (1) are disclosed. The hub (1) comprises a continuous shell forming a hollow body with a main shaft flange (4) adapted to connect the hub (1) to a main shaft,and one or more blade flanges (5), each blade flange (5) being adapted to connect the hub (1) to a wind turbine blade. The hub (1) further comprises at least two hub parts (2, 3, 7), each hub part (2, 3, 7) being casted separately from a castable material, and each hub part (2, 3, 7) being subsequently connected to at least one other hub part (2, 3, 7) via one or more connecting portions (6), so that at least one blade flange (5) and/or the main shaft flange (4) comprises a section forming part of or being attached to one of the hub parts (2, 3, 7) and a section forming part of or being attached to another hub part (2, 3, 7), thereby ensuring that the casted parts have a size and a weight which are manageable during the manufacture, in particular during the casting. The hub (1) may comprise one or more reinforcement elements arranged at or near the blade flange(s) (5), e.g. comprising an inner wall (8) arranged at a distance to the continuous shell, thereby forming a cavity (9) between the inner wall (8) and the continuous shell. This allows the regions between the blade flanges (5) to be small or narrow, thereby reducing the size and weight of the hub (1), while maintaining a sufficient strength and stiffness of these regions.
Abstract:
A connecting joint for attaching a wind turbine blade to a rotor hub includes an insert configured to be coupled to the wind turbine blade. The insert includes a main body having an outer surface configured to interface with the blade, a first tubular extension extending from the main body and having inner and outer surfaces configured to interface with the blade, and a second tubular extension extending away from the main body and having inner and outer surfaces configured to interface with the blade. A wind turbine blade having such a connecting joint is also disclosed. Additionally, a method of making a wind turbine blade including the connecting joint is disclosed.
Abstract:
A method of making a wind turbine blade is described. The blade comprises an outer shell having a laminate structure. The method comprises providing a blade mould (82) defining a shape of at least part of the outer shell of the blade. The mould extends in a spanwise direction between a root end (94) and a tip end (96), and extends in a chordwise direction between a leading edge (90) and a trailing edge (92). The method further includes providing a plurality of dry plies (66) comprising dry structural fibrous material and a plurality of prepreg (68) plies comprising structural fibrous material impregnated with resin. The plurality of dry plies and the plurality of prepreg plies are arranged in the mould to form a plurality of layers of the laminate structure of the outer shell of the blade. The plies are arranged in the mould such that the dry plies are interleaved with the prepreg plies to form a hybrid shell structure in which the plies are arranged in a staggered relationship such that corresponding edges of the dry plies are offset from one another in the spanwise and/or chordwise direction of the mould and/or corresponding edges of the prepreg plies are offset from one another in the span-wise and/or chordwise direction of the mould.
Abstract:
A wind turbine blade comprising at least two wind turbine blade sections connected in a blade connection joint, where each blade section at their connection end comprises a number of corresponding dentations arranged to interconnect across the blade connection joint. One of the blade sections comprises a spar cap structure and a connecting part with a first end joined to the spar cap structure and an opposite second end positioned at the blade section connection end and comprising a number of the dentations. The connecting part further comprises a number of sheets which are interleaved with the fibre-reinforced layers of the spar cap structure in an overlapping zone thereby joining the spar cap structure and the connecting part. The invention further relates to a method for preparing a wind turbine blade section as mentioned above. The invention also relates to a method of preparing a sheet for a connecting part with a number of dentations at one end, which method involves cutting and rolling a number of unidirectional prepreg sheets to form fingers, placing in an open mould the fingers next to each other and partially apart such as to form the dentations, closing the mould, and fully or partially curing the sheet.
Abstract:
A wind turbine blade comprising a lightning protection system is provided. The lightning protection system comprises a lightning conductor located along a longitudinal portion of the wind turbine blade and is coupled to an electrical ground. A lightning receptor module is arranged on an external surface of the wind turbine blade and electrically coupled to the lightning conductor. An elongate receptor band is installed on the external surface of the wind turbine blade, over the lightning receptor module, and the receptor band is arranged to receive a stroke of lightning and transfer electrical current from the lightning stroke to the lightning conductor through the lightning receptor module.