Researchers at the U.S.National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) have developed a novel way of manufacturing wind turbine blades that improves both their performance and end-of-life recyclability.
Rather than creating blades from normal thermoset resins, the team has devised a unique set up for 3D printing them using thermoplastics, which can later be heated to recover their original polymers for reuse. Putting their approach into practise, the engineers have already managed to fabricate a 13-meter prototype, and in future, they believe the process could yield cost and speed gains for manufacturers.
“革命”刀片设计
目前，许多公用事业尺度的风力涡轮机叶片具有类似的披风式设计，其中两个玻璃纤维“皮肤”与粘合剂粘合在一起，并使用剪切网僵硬。但是，这些大型部分倾向于用热固性树脂（如环氧树脂，多酯和乙烯基酯）产生，这些树脂曾经固化，以一种使塑料无法重复使用的方式不可逆地交联。
NREL项目的负责人德里克·贝里（Derek Berry）解释说：“一旦使用热固性树脂系统生产刀片，就无法扭转这一过程。”“这使刀片难以回收。”更重要的是，根据NREL本身，在过去25年中，该过程可能已经进行了调整以提高效率，但实际上它的变化很小，因此涡轮机的建造方式并非与其可持续形象相匹配的方式。
鉴于earlier this year, President Biden set an ambitious target of将美国温室的排放切成两半到2030年，NREL研究人员现在已经确定了对“彻底改变风力涡轮机叶片制造方式”的改革的必要性，并强调了“绿色能源技术”对实现这一目标至关重要。
NREL’s CoMET makes an impact
To make blade production more circular, Berry and his team have embarked on a project with colleagues at the NREL’sComposites Manufacturing Education and Technologyor ‘CoMET’ facility. Opened in 2017, the complex specializes in advancing the R&D of wind, waterpower and composite technologies, by providing users with access to 3D printed tooling, composite mixing equipment and prototyping tools.
In the case of Berry’s project, which is backed by theU.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, he and his team have managed to develop a system capable of processing recyclable thermoplastics. These can then be used to print more circular blades, which are attachable to other parts via thermal welding, in a process that removes the need for often-toxic and costly adhesives.
By switching from conventional manufacturing methods to 3D printing, the multi-disciplinary team have also been able to produce more advanced blades with highly-engineered, net-shaped structures that feature varying densities and geometries between their ‘skins,’ which can themselves, be infused using a thermoplastic resin system.
“With two thermoplastic blade components, you have the ability to bring them together and, through the application of heat and pressure, join them. You cannot do that with thermoset materials.”
贝瑞（Berry）和他的团队利用他们的小说创作，已经能够在NREL的彗星设施上建立13米的热塑性原型，这充分利用了这些与3D印刷相关的好处。
Working with partnersTPI复合材料,Additive Engineering Solutions,Ingersoll机床,Vanderbilt University和the高级复合材料制造创新研究所, the researchers believe that in future, it could be possible to reduce the weight and cost of turbine blades by 10%, and their lead times by 15%, while developing lightweighted parts up to 100 meters in length.
Additionally, when the NREL’s research received funding earlier this year, it was backed alongside two subgrant projects, which are also investigating 3D printing’s turbine blade potential. While科罗拉多州立大学目前正在制作纤维增强复合材料，以创建新型的内部叶片结构，GE Researchis developing afully-sized 3D printed blade tipfor structural testing.
AM-enhanced clean energy
As the world begins to turn towards offshore energy solutions to combat the global climate crisis, a significant amount of research is now being poured into making wind turbines themselves more eco-friendly. Engineers atMcGill University和瑞尔森大学have developed a means of converting wind turbine blade waste into anovel 3D printable PLA, capable of yielding fiber-reinforced parts.
今年早些时候缅因州大学also secured $2.8 million in federal funding, to support its development of an eco-friendly涡轮刀片模具3D打印过程。在Ingersoll机床的支持下，就像NREL团队的项目一样，Umaine的研究更多地集中在使用基于生物的原料的使用上，可以将其减半创建大型零件的成本。
同时在德国Fraunhofer IGCV和voxeljethave set out to advance the scale of 3D printed wind turbine blades, rather than focus specifically on improving their circularity. To accomplish this, the two organizations are working on an“预先铸造牢房”that’s capable of producing the molds needed to cast parts forGE’sHaliade-X turbine, which can weigh up to 60 tons each.
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Featured image shows a portion of the NREL researchers’ 13-meter thermoplastic blade prototype. Photo via Ryan Beach, the NREL.
