WIND TURBINE BLADE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

 

This page will have to be called "completed".  IKE took most of my "paper photos" and additional data of our involvement is no longer  available.

It is almost ironic on how technology is transferred in some instances. The very first production sailplanes were built by a German company: "GLASFLUEGEL".(loosely translated, this means glass wing), who built high tech cooling tower fan blades out of composites.  We were involved in the design, construction and repair of turbine blades during the early stages in the Seventies mostly due to our experience gained on composite aircraft wings, now being transferred back again to Wind Turbine blades!  The Industry has come along way since those days, but the construction principles and materials have not changed much.

Apart from the propeller like "twist" these blades are similar to aircraft wings. Here are some photos:

The finished product

enlarge the picture to see the

 

The generator and gear box cowling

 

cotton tufts, checking for laminar flow

 

before the new "Fin" and blade attachments

Time to produce the first three blades was of the essence. For TAX credit reasons, the blades had to be up on functioning machine before Jan. 01 next year. It was now November!!

We succeeded in building three blades out of a very simply constructed mold. The company, that ordered these units, failed the following year and no more blades were produced for them.

The Tail area was to small for this "upwind" machine

Foam for the mold surface

The "Jig"

set up time!

We built a larger one in "short order"

 

 

Setting up templates

 

measuring the "angle of the dangle"

In the mold, carbon spar installed

Closed up and ready to be "finished"

Some finishing work before delivery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ignore the "24" an artifact of the paper photo

A "crazy" concept  but they tried it anyhow

across the front then the back of the supports

Here is the "Rigid" FG version The rear mounted flap

here is our "rigid sail ", much more efficient

The "Sails" are aligned across the wind to run

The ones shown above are made from cloth

is stored on the main body in this picture. (only one I still have)

but the entire concept was not very good

 

 

the "Sail" was 40ft tall with a 9ft chord

enlarge the PIC you will see the "flow tufts"

 

     

We built a large number of these, these rather small wind turbines.  Blade diameter ~36ft

The wing tips rotated 90 deg. under centrifugal loads, when the design RPM was exceeded.

 After ordering a substantial amount of 3" Fiber Glass Roving to build the spars, The company went "Belly UP"

Luckily  we are now still using this material for the beams on the Catamaran.

 

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