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CN-122029032-A - Wind turbine blade with ballast unit and method of manufacturing the same

CN122029032ACN 122029032 ACN122029032 ACN 122029032ACN-122029032-A

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a wind turbine blade (7) comprising a root end and a tip end, a leading edge (17) and a trailing edge (18), and a shell structure comprising a leeward side shell (14) and a windward side shell (15), the shell structure comprising an inner skin (29 a,29 b) and an outer skin (30 a,30 b), wherein the outer skin defines an outer surface of the wind turbine blade and the inner skin faces an inner volume of the blade. The wind turbine blade comprises a ballast unit (32) defining an internal ballast volume (33) for receiving ballast material, wherein the ballast unit is integrated in the shell structure and sandwiched between the inner skin and the outer skin. The present disclosure also relates to a method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade, and a rotor comprising three wind turbine blades.

Inventors

  • A Wei U. s.labor
  • L. Spandley

Assignees

  • 维斯塔斯风力系统有限公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20240821
Priority Date
20230824

Claims (15)

  1. 1. A method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade, the method comprising the steps of: providing a shell mold; Disposing a first skin ply onto the shell mold; positioning a ballast unit onto the first skin ply, the ballast unit defining an internal ballast volume for receiving ballast material; Disposing a second skin ply onto the ballast unit, wherein the first skin ply, the ballast unit, and the second skin ply provide a hull ply; Providing resin to the shell layup to impregnate the first and second skin layups, wherein during the step of providing the resin, the ballast volume is sealed from the resin to retain the internal ballast volume for receiving the ballast material; Curing the resin to provide a shell structure of the wind turbine blade, the shell structure comprising a leeward shell and a windward shell, the shell structure comprising an inner skin, an outer skin and the ballast unit, wherein the ballast unit is sandwiched between the inner skin and the outer skin, wherein the outer skin is formed by the first skin ply and defines an outer surface of the blade, wherein the inner skin is formed by the second skin ply and faces an inner volume of the blade, and The wind turbine blade is formed by the shell structure such that the wind turbine blade extends in a spanwise direction between a root end and a tip end of the blade, in a chordwise direction between a leading edge and a trailing edge of the blade, and in a thickness direction between the leeward shell and the windward shell.
  2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises the step of adding the ballast material to the ballast unit to at least partially fill the ballast volume with the ballast material, wherein the step of adding the ballast material is performed after the step of forming the wind turbine blade.
  3. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method includes the step of penetrating the outer skin to provide a fill aperture that fluidly communicates the ballast volume with an external environment to allow for the addition of ballast material to the ballast unit to at least partially fill the ballast volume, wherein the step of penetrating the outer skin is performed prior to the step of adding ballast material to the ballast unit.
  4. 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the inner skin remains sealed during the step of adding the ballast material.
  5. 5. A wind turbine blade, the wind turbine blade comprising: a root end and a tip end, the blade extending in a spanwise direction between the root end and the tip end; a leading edge and a trailing edge, the blade extending in a chordwise direction between the leading edge and the trailing edge, and A housing structure comprising a leeward side housing and a windward side housing, the blades extending in a thickness direction between the leeward side housing and the windward side housing, the housing structure comprising an inner skin and an outer skin, wherein the outer skin defines an outer surface of the wind turbine blade and the inner skin faces an inner volume of the blade, Wherein the wind turbine blade comprises a ballast unit defining an internal ballast volume for receiving ballast material, wherein the ballast unit is integrated in the shell structure and sandwiched between the inner skin and the outer skin.
  6. 6. The wind turbine blade of claim 5, wherein the ballast volume is at least partially filled with the ballast material.
  7. 7. A wind turbine blade according to any of claims 5-6, wherein the ballast volume is at least partly filled with a gas, such as air.
  8. 8. A wind turbine blade according to any of claims 5-7, wherein the wind turbine blade has an outer section closer to the tip end than to the root end, the outer section being defined as the outermost 30% of the blade with respect to the spanwise direction, wherein the ballast unit is arranged within the outer section.
  9. 9. A wind turbine blade according to any of claims 5-8, wherein the ballast unit comprises a rigid internal frame.
  10. 10. The wind turbine blade of claim 9, wherein the rigid internal frame comprises a plurality of straight force bearing members connected by nodes.
  11. 11. A wind turbine blade according to any of claims 9-10, wherein the rigid inner frame comprises a porous structure or a rib structure, such as a perforated porous structure or a perforated rib structure, such as a perforated honeycomb structure.
  12. 12. A wind turbine blade according to any of claims 5-11, wherein the ballast unit comprises a fluid impermeable outer cover for sealing the ballast volume during moulding of the wind turbine blade.
  13. 13. Wind turbine blade according to any of claims 5-12, wherein the ballast unit is a first ballast unit, Wherein the wind turbine blade comprises a second ballast unit defining a ballast volume for receiving ballast material, wherein the second ballast unit is integrated in the shell structure and arranged between the inner skin and the outer skin.
  14. 14. A wind turbine blade according to any of claims 5-13, wherein the wind turbine blade comprises external markers visible on the outer skin, the external markers indicating the placement of the ballast units, e.g. with respect to the spanwise and/or chordwise direction.
  15. 15. A rotor for a wind turbine, the rotor comprising three independent wind turbine blades, each wind turbine blade being a wind turbine blade according to any one of claims 5 to 14 comprising a ballast unit, wherein the ballast volume of the ballast unit of one of the three wind turbine blades is filled with more ballast material than the ballast volume of the ballast unit of another of the three wind turbine blades.

Description

Wind turbine blade with ballast unit and method of manufacturing the same Technical Field The present invention relates to the manufacture of wind turbine blades, in particular for horizontal axis wind turbines. The invention also relates to a wind turbine blade and a rotor for a wind turbine blade. Background Modern manufacturing processes for wind turbine blades typically do not produce blades that are identical in terms of mass and mass distribution. If the wind turbine rotor is assembled from blades having different masses and/or different mass distributions, the natural centre of rotation of the rotor will deviate from the actual axis of rotation during operation of the wind turbine. As a result, unbalance of the wind turbine rotor may occur. To address this problem, wind turbine blades may be equipped with ballast tanks. After manufacturing the blades, the mass or mass distribution of the blades is determined and the ballast tanks of the individual blades may be filled to different levels, providing a rotor with a natural centre of rotation as close as possible to the actual axis of rotation. However, adding ballast tanks to the blades may cause various problems. Attaching the ballast tanks within the interior volume of the blade requires a separate manufacturing step during blade production. The ballast tanks may fall out during operation of the blade. The ballast tanks may be difficult to access and there is a risk of incorrect positioning of the ballast mass. Furthermore, holes drilled through the entire thickness of the blade shell to access the ballast tanks may introduce structural weaknesses in the blade. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved ballast tank that addresses the problems described above in connection with conventional ballast tanks. Disclosure of Invention In view of the above, it is an object of preferred embodiments of the present invention to manufacture a wind turbine blade with a reduced risk of shedding of the ballast unit. It is a further object of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to manufacture a wind turbine blade that simplifies the integration of the ballast unit. A first aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a wind turbine blade, the method comprising the steps of: providing a shell mold; Disposing a first skin lay-up onto the shell mold; Positioning a ballast unit onto the first skin ply, the ballast unit defining an internal ballast volume for receiving ballast material; disposing a second skin ply onto the ballast unit, wherein the first skin ply, the ballast unit, and the second skin ply provide a shell ply; Providing resin to the shell layup to impregnate the first skin layup and the second skin layup, wherein, during the step of providing resin, the ballast volume is sealed from the resin to preserve an internal ballast volume for receiving ballast material; Curing the resin to provide a shell structure of the wind turbine blade, the shell structure comprising a leeward shell and a windward shell, the shell structure comprising an inner skin, an outer skin and a ballast unit, wherein the ballast unit is sandwiched between the inner skin and the outer skin, wherein the outer skin is formed by a first skin ply and defines an outer surface of the blade, wherein the inner skin is formed by a second skin ply and faces an inner volume of the blade, and The wind turbine blade is formed from the shell structure such that the wind turbine blade extends in a spanwise direction between a root end and a tip end of the blade, in a chordwise direction between a leading edge and a trailing edge of the blade, and in a thickness direction between the leeward shell and the windward shell. The shell may be formed in a shell mold using vacuum assisted resin infusion (VARTM) methods known in the art. Conventional wind turbine blades comprise a core material sandwiched between an inner skin and an outer skin in a shell. The present disclosure introduces the concept of replacing a portion of the core material with one or more ballast units. In the resulting blade, such ballast units may be sandwiched between the inner skin and the outer skin in a manner similar to the manner in which the remaining core material is sandwiched between the skins. Providing a ballast unit sandwiched between the inner skin and the outer skin can ensure that the risk of ballast tanks falling off is reduced compared to ballast tanks attached to structures within the interior of the blade (e.g., ballast tanks attached to the inner skin and facing the interior of the blade). Furthermore, by positioning the ballast unit onto the first skin ply during manufacturing, the integration of the ballast unit into the wind turbine blade may be simplified. No separate manufacturing step of attaching the ballast tanks is required. Instead, the ballast units may be added in parallel with providing and positioning the core material onto the first skin ply. This will also in