Table of Contents
What is the function of a spar or web structure in a wind turbine blade?
Figure 4 shows an airfoil section of a wind turbine blade with typical design details of the main spar and the outer shell. … mentioned, the primary function of the main spar is to transfer the bladewise bending load, and thus it has to perform as a beam.
What is a wind turbine blade made from?
What materials are used? Most blades are made with fibreglass-reinforced polyester or epoxy. Carbon fibre or aramid (Kevlar) is also used as reinforcement material. Nowadays, the possible use of wood compounds, such as wood-epoxy or wood-fibre-epoxy, is being investigated.
What is feather of wind turbine blades?
Feathering the blades stops the rotor during emergency shutdowns, or whenever the wind speed exceeds the maximum rated speed. During construction and maintenance of wind turbines, the blades are usually feathered to reduce unwanted rotational torque in the event of wind gusts.
What are spar caps?
The spar cap, the part of the shell that is bonded to the shear webs, is usually made of thick GFRM (glass fiber-reinforced materials) or CFRM (carbon fiber-reinforced materials) for additional structural solidity.
Why are wind turbine blades serrated?
Serrated trailing edge technology is relatively simple – it’s a sawtooth pattern that helps improve airflow over the wind turbine blade, resulting in less turbulence, better aerodynamics and reduced noise as the blade cuts through the air.
What is the main shaft in a wind turbine?
The main shaft: it is a piece of metal in the form of a tube which constitutes the most important spinning constituent since it conveys the energy from the wind turbine blades to the other parts of the wind turbine.
Are wind turbine blades plastic?
About 85 percent of turbine component materials—such as steel, copper wire, electronics, and gearing—can be recycled or reused. But the blades are different as they are made up of fiberglass (a composite material) to be lightweight for efficiency yet still durable enough to withstand storms.
What are the blades called on a wind turbine?
rotor
Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. The energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades around a rotor.
What is furling in a wind turbine?
Furling is the process of forcing, either manually or automatically, the blades of a wind turbine out of the direction of the wind in order to stop the blades from turning. Furling works by decreasing the angle of attack, which reduces the induced drag from the lift of the rotor, as well as the cross-section.
What is a shear web?
Shear webs essentially turn a pair of spars into an I-beam. There is a reason why this shape is used for construction of buildings. It is light and strong. The webs add tremendous strength to the wing construction and help prevent a spar from compressing to the point of failure.
What is a spar web?
The spar web is responsible for carrying the vertical shear loads (lift) which arises from the aerodynamic loading of the wing. The spar webs and caps are collectively referred to as the wing spar.
How do the blades on a wind turbine work?
Turbines catch the wind’s energy with their propeller-like blades, which act much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air forms on one side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift.