STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR SELF-ALIGNING ROTOR BLADE JOINTS

• US 20100310379A1
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (GE Vernova, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Livingston, Jamie T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,167,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 416/229R
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 1/0675 of the blades
• CPC Class Codes: F03D 13/10 Assembly of wind motors; Arrangements for erecting wind motors
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2230/60 Assembly methods
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2240/302 Segmented or sectional blades
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/72 Wind turbines with rotation axis in wind direction
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/50 Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49337 Composite blade

Abstract

An inventive self-aligning blade joint structure is provided to facilitate assembly and clamping of wind turbine blade sections carried on a transporter. The blade joint structure includes alignment pins on one end bulkhead of a blade body section at the joint and complimentary female bushings on a bulkhead of an adjacent blade body section to permit fine alignment of the joint. The blade joint structure also includes through holes in the end bulkheads for the adjacent blade body sections to permit clamping of the sections in preparation for application of adhesive bonding to the joint. A pair of male scarfed surfaces of spar caps extend from one blade section into the second blade section and engage female scarfed surfaces of spar caps formed in the second blade section and recessed from the joint. An inventive method is provided to utilize the self-aligning blade joint structure for assembly of the blade sections.

Claims

1. An alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade, comprising:

a plurality of blade sections forming joints between adjacent blade sections, including at least a first section and a second section forming a joint;

a bulkhead mounted on the inner surface of a shell of the first section at an outer end; and

a bulkhead mounted on the inner surface of a shell of the second section at an inner end; and

at least one of the bulkhead for the first section and the bulkhead for the second section include at least one male alignment pin in predetermined locations on an exterior surface and extending normal to an exterior surface of the opposite bulkhead, and the at least one of the bulkhead of the first section and the bulkhead of the second sections includes at least one bushing in predetermined complimentary locations for receiving the at least one male alignment pin of the opposite bulkhead, the male alignment pins and the bushings in complimentary locations being precisely aligned to facilitate mating of the bulkhead of the first section and the bulkhead of the second section.

2. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 1, wherein the at least one male alignment pins are mounted on the exterior surface of the bulkhead of the first section and the plurality of bushings are mounted on the exterior surface of the bulkhead of the second section.

3. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 1, wherein the plurality of male alignment pins are mounted on the exterior surface of the bulkhead of the second section and the plurality of bushings are mounted on the exterior surface of the bulkhead of the first section.

4. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 1, wherein the bulkhead for the first section includes at least one male alignment pin and at least one bushing mounted on the exterior surface of the bulkhead, and the bulkhead for the second section includes at least one bushing and at least one male alignment pin mounted on the exterior surface of the bulkhead, the male alignment pins being precisely located with respect to the complimentary bushings on the opposite bulkhead, so as to facilitate mating of the sections of the blade.

5. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 2, wherein the bulkhead for the first section includes a plurality of through-holes and the bulkhead for the second section includes a corresponding plurality of complimentary through-holes, the plurality of through-holes on the bulkhead for the first section and the plurality of through-holes for the second section being precisely aligned to facilitate fastening of the first section and the second section.

6. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 5, wherein the first section and the second section are clamped together with fasteners through the plurality of corresponding through-holes in the bulkhead for the first section and the bulkhead for the second section.

7. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 6, further comprising:

at least one of a top surface and a bottom surface for the first section and the second section including a plurality of access ports providing access to the inside of the joint.

8. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 7, further comprising

at least one shear web, running longitudinally along a body of the first section;

a top spar cap running longitudinally along a body of the first section and oriented normal to a top surface of the at least one shear web and a bottom spar cap running longitudinally along a body of the first section and oriented normal to a bottom surface of the at least one shear web;

a scarfed surface being formed at an outer end of the top spar cap of the body of the first section;

a scarfed surface being formed at an outer end of the bottom spar cap of the body of the first section;

at least one shear web, running longitudinally along a body of the second section,

a top spar cap running longitudinally along a body of the second section and oriented normal to a top surface of the at least one shear web and a bottom spar cap running longitudinally along a body of the second section and oriented normal to a bottom surface of the at least one shear web;

a scarfed surface being formed at an inner end of the top spar cap of the body of the second section; and

a scarfed surface being formed at an inner end of the bottom spar cap of the body of the second section.

9. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 8, wherein the scarfed surface at the outer end of the top spar cap of the first section and the scarfed surface at the inner end of the top spar cap of the second section form complimentary and overlapping scarfed surfaces, and the scarfed surface at the outer end of the bottom spar cap of the first section and the scarfed surface of the inner end of the bottom spar cap of the second section form complimentary and overlapping scarfed surfaces.

10. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to claim 9, wherein the scarfed surface at the outer end of the top spar cap of the first section and the scarfed surface at the outer end of the bottom spar cap of the first section comprise male scarfed surfaces, the male scarfed surfaces extending a predetermined distance outward beyond the outer end of the first section;

and the scarfed surface at the inner end of the top spar cap of the second section and scarfed surface at the inner end of the bottom spar cap of the second section comprise female scarfed surfaces, the female scarfed surfaces extending a predetermined distance outward from the inner end of the second section.

11. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to claim 9, wherein the scarfed surface at the outer end of the top spar cap of the first section and the scarfed surface at the outer end of the bottom spar cap of the first section comprise female scarfed surfaces, the female scarfed surfaces extending a predetermined distance inward from the outer end of the first section;

and the scarfed surface at the inner end of the top spar cap of the second section and scarfed surface at the inner end of the bottom spar cap of the second section comprise male scarfed surfaces, the male scarfed surfaces extending a predetermined distance inward beyond the inner end of the second section.

12. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 9, wherein the bulkhead for the outer end of the first section and the bulkhead for the inner end of the second section includes cutouts for the male scarfed surfaces.

13. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 12, wherein the inner ends of the at least one shear web of the section with female scarfed surfaces include cutouts to accept the male scarfed surfaces from the opposing section for engagement.

14. The alignment and clamping structure for sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade according to Claim 1, wherein the first section comprises a root section and the second section comprises a tip section.

15. A method for aligning and clamping sections of a multi-section wind turbine blade during assembly, including a first section and a second section with bulkheads at connecting ends of the sections wherein at least one of alignment pins and bushings are provided on the bulkhead at a connecting end of the first section and at least one of complimentary bushings and complimentary alignment pins are provided at the opposing connecting end of the second section, the method comprising:

hoisting the second section;

positioning a bulkhead at the connecting end of the second section and a bulkhead at the connecting end the first section in proximity;

inserting the second section onto the first section;

clamping the second section to the first section;

hoisting the clamped blade from the transporter; and

setting the clamped blade on a ground surface.

16. The method according to Claim 15, the step of hoisting the second section comprising:

hoisting the second section from at least one of a fixture on a transporter and a fixture on a ground surface.

17. The method according to Claim 15, the step of positioning connecting end of the second section in proximity to the connecting end of the first section comprising:

positioning a connecting end surface of the second section aligned with and in parallel to a connecting end surface of the first section with the while maintaining a physical separation between elements of the first section and the second section.

18. The method according to Claim 15, the step of inserting the second section onto the first section comprising:

moving the second section toward the first section until the male scarfed surfaces of the first section engage with associated cutouts in the bulkhead of the second section;

moving the second section toward the first section until the male scarfed surfaces of the second section overlap with corresponding female scarfed surfaces of the second section;

moving the second section toward the first section until the alignment pins abut the complimentary bushings of the opposing bulkhead surfaces; and

moving the second section toward the first section until alignment pins of the bulkhead surfaces fully engage the bushings of the opposing bulkhead surfaces.

19. The method according to Claim 15, the step of clamping comprising:

fastening the bulkhead of the first section to the bulkhead of the second section through corresponding through-holes in the bulkhead of the first section and the bulkhead of the second section.

20. The method according to Claim 15, further comprising inserting a male extension of a shear web of the first section through a bulkhead cutout of the second section until the male extension of the shear web is fully inserted into the bulkhead cutout.

21. The method according to Claim 15 further comprising:

removing joint covers for the blade joints on the first section and the second section;

removing access covers for the blade joints on the first section and the second section prior to inserting the second section onto the first section; and

replacing access covers for the blade joints on the first section and the second section after clamping the second section onto the first section.

22. The method according to Claim 15, the step of inserting the second section onto the first section comprising:

moving the second section toward the first section until the male scarfed surfaces of the second section engage with associated cutouts in the bulkhead of the first section;

moving the second section toward the first section until the male scarfed surfaces of the second section overlap with corresponding femalescarfed surfaces of the first section;

moving the second section toward the first section until the alignment pins abut the complimentary bushings of the opposing bulkhead surfaces; and

moving the second section toward the first section until alignment pins of the bulkhead surfaces fully engage the bushings of the bulkhead surfaces.

23. The method according to Claim 15, the step of inserting the second section onto the first section comprising:

inserting the top male scarfed surface and the bottom male scarfed surface of the first section through the cutouts of the at least one shear web of the second section.

24. The method according to Claim 15, wherein the first section of the blade comprises a root section and the second section of the blade comprises a tip section.