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EP-4739902-A1 - WIND TURBINE BLADE SHELL WITH HEATING ELEMENT

EP4739902A1EP 4739902 A1EP4739902 A1EP 4739902A1EP-4739902-A1

Abstract

A wind turbine blade shell comprising: an inner shell portion comprising a fibre reinforced composite material; an outer shell portion; an electro-thermal heating element embedded within the blade shell; and a metallic power line which is connected to the electro-thermal heating element at a terminal. The metallic power line is configured to carry electrical power to the electro-thermal heating element via the terminal. The metallic power line is sandwiched between the inner and outer shell portions.

Inventors

  • BUGGY, Stephen Jude
  • FINN, Edward Noel
  • Collard, Toby
  • ARIYUR, Mohamed Hashim
  • BRILLIANT, Nathan A
  • HØRUP, Jesper

Assignees

  • VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240701

Claims (16)

  1. 1. A wind turbine blade shell (3) comprising: an inner shell portion (10a) comprising a fibre-reinforced composite material; an outer shell portion (10e- g, 13-15); an electro-thermal heating element (8) embedded within the blade shell; and a metallic power line (17,18) which is connected to the electrothermal heating element at a terminal and configured to carry electrical power to the electro-thermal heating element via the terminal, wherein the metallic power line is sandwiched between the inner and outer shell portions.
  2. 2. A wind turbine blade shell according to claim 1 , wherein the metallic power line comprises a connection part (17) which overlaps the heating element at the terminal, and the connection part (17) is electrically connected to the heating element via a direct contact with the heating element (8).
  3. 3. A wind turbine blade shell according to claim 2, wherein the heating element (8) comprises a heating mat (12), and the connection part (17) of the metallic power line comprises a strip which extends across a major part of a width of the heating mat (12).
  4. 4. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the metallic power line comprises a porous structure which is sandwiched between the inner and outer shell portions.
  5. 5. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the metallic power line (17,18) comprises an expanded foil, a grid, a mesh, a woven fabric or a non-woven veil which is sandwiched between the inner and outer shell portions.
  6. 6. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the wind turbine blade shell further comprises one or more insulating layers (11) between the metallic power line and the electro-thermal heating element; the terminal comprises a connector (20-24) which connects the metallic power line to the electro-thermal heating element; and the connector passes through the one or more insulating layers.
  7. 7. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the wind turbine blade shell further comprises a surge protection device (30) configured to prevent surge currents from flowing into the heating element (8), wherein the surge protection device (30) is electrically coupled to the metallic power line via the connector, and the metallic power line is electrically coupled to the heating element and the surge protection device in parallel.
  8. 8. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the metallic power line (17,18) is impregnated by polymeric material.
  9. 9. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the metallic power line is sandwiched between a pair of plies (10a, 10b) of fibre- reinforced composite material.
  10. 10. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the inner shell portion (10a, 10b, 11) forms a major part of a thickness of the shell.
  11. 11. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer shell portion comprises a fibre-reinforced composite material (10e,10f).
  12. 12. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the inner or outer shell portion comprises a laminar stack, the laminar stack comprising two or more plies of fibre-reinforced composite material.
  13. 13. A wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim, wherein the inner shell portion comprises a core (11) sandwiched between plies (10a, 10b) of fibre-reinforced composite material.
  14. 14. A wind turbine blade (2) comprising a wind turbine blade shell according to any preceding claim.
  15. 15. A wind turbine (1) comprising a wind turbine blade (2) according to claim 14, and an electrical power supply (32) coupled to the metallic power line.
  16. 16. A method for manufacturing a wind turbine blade shell comprising: forming an outer shell portion (13-15), forming an inner shell portion comprising one or more layers of glass-fibre plies (10a), arranging a metallic power line (17, 18) so that the metallic power line is sandwiched between the inner and outer shell portions, - embedding an electro-thermal heating element (12) within the blade shell so that a portion of the electro-thermal heating element is arranged adjacent to a portion of the metallic power line, and providing an electrical connection between the metallic power line and the electro-thermal heating element (12).

Description

WIND TURBINE BLADE SHELL WITH HEATING ELEMENT FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a wind turbine blade shell comprising; an electrothermal heating element; and a power line which is connected to the electro-thermal heating element. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION US6145787 discloses heatable wind energy turbine blades and a method of heating and deicing the turbine blades using conductive fabrics to displace and/or cease the buildup of ice on the turbine blades by electrothermal fabric heater disposed or integrated on the turbines for effectively deicing the blades. The fabric heater element is connected by wire and/or conductive ribbon to a suitable electric source, which provides the electrical power to heat the surface of the turbine blade. A de-icing arrangement of a wind turbine rotor blade is described in US2014/0199170. The de-icing arrangement includes an electrically conductive mat, an electrically conductive band for distributing an electric current along a first edge of the mat, and a current supply connector for connecting the band to a current supply, wherein at least the electrically conductive mat is sandwiched in the body of the rotor blade. Current supply leads are arranged in the interior of the blade. These can be flat bands of a conductive material, for example a woven copper strip. US2020/0149513 discloses an Electro-Thermal Heating (ETH) element for a wind turbine blade. The ETH elements is sandwiched within the blade structure between laminate layers of the blade structure. The ETH element is formed from a lightweight layer of conductive material, with busbars positioned at opposite sides or ends of the ETH element, to provide the connection for the supply of electrical power. If the laminate layers of the blade are damaged and require a repair then the standard repair procedure is to grind away the laminate layers that are damaged, or to grind down to the damaged area, and the damaged laminate layers replaced with new materials. US2022/0243703 discloses a method of inspecting a wind turbine blade. The wind turbine blade comprises an electro-thermal heating element and a surface protection layer. The wind turbine blade may further comprise an insulating layer between the electro-thermal heating element and the surface protection layer. A test point of the electro-thermal heating element may be exposed by removing blade material, such as a part of the insulating layer and a part of the surface protection layer. The parts of the insulating layer and the surface protection layer may be removed by grinding. The wind turbine blade may be repaired by replacing the removed parts of the insulating layer and the surface protection layer with repair patches. A problem with LIS6145787 and US2014/0199170 is that a repair method as disclosed in US2020/0149513 or US2022/0243703 cannot be used to repair the wire, conductive ribbon or current supply leads, because they are within the interior of the blade and hence too far from the outer surface to be reached by grinding. WO2011/096851 discloses a de-icing/anti-icing system comprising at least two conductive structures sandwiched in a wind turbine blade, which includes an outer surface being designed as an aerodynamic surface, at least one of the conductive is arranged adjacent the outer surface, a control unit is adapted to control the energy supply to the conductive structures for generating heat to the outer surface. One conductive structure comprises a first conductive nano structure, the conductive structure's conductive property differs from the conductive property of the other conductive structure comprising a second conductive nano structure. The first and second conductive structures are preferably compatible regarding the thermal elongation with both glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) and carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) structures. According to WO2011/096851 , a common conductive structure for ice protection is made of metal, which is less compatible with GFRP and CFRP due to a higher thermal expansion which may cause debonding, failure in the electrical path etc. A problem with WO2011/096851 is that a repair method as disclosed in US2020/0149513 or US2022/0243703 cannot be used to repair the conductive nano structures, because the grinding may release nano structures as dust into the environment, which is hazardous to health. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A first aspect of the invention provides a wind turbine blade shell comprising: an inner shell portion comprising a fibre-reinforced composite material; an outer shell portion; an electro-thermal heating element embedded within the blade shell; and a metallic power line which is connected to the electro-thermal heating element at a terminal and configured to carry electrical power to the electro-thermal heating element via the terminal, wherein the metallic power line is sandwiched between the inner and outer shell portions. Optionally the wind turbine blade shel