An aerostructure is provided. The aerostructure may comprise an airfoil extending from a leading edge to a trailing edge, the airfoil comprising a stiffness and a camber, and a shape memory alloy (SMA) mechanically coupled to the airfoil via a resin, the SMA configured to be coupled to a current source, wherein at least one of the stiffness or the camber changes in response to a phase change of the SMA.

The present invention relates to a wind turbine blade mould comprising a first mould part and a second mould part, where said first mould surface is configured for moulding a pressure side shell of a wind turbine blade, where said second mould surface is configured for moulding a suction side shell of a wind turbine blade, and where the wind turbine blade mould and thus also a wind turbine blade moulded in said mould comprise a first end, a second end, a pressure side shell, a suction side shell, and further comprise a leading edge area and a trailing edge area. The present invention also relates to a wind turbine blade and a manufacturing method for producing a wind turbine blade using a wind turbine mould as mentioned above.

Disclosed herein are methods, devices, and systems for manufacturing wind turbine blades which in some instances require using new blade joint designs. The blade joint designs described herein may allow for contact in places where welds will be made, which allows for existing manufacturing tolerances to be used while still enabling the use of thermal welding for wind turbine blades.

A method for fabricating a member in a resin-infusion-based casting process, in which at least one component forming the member is infused with a resin, including the steps: Providing a mold, the at least one component, the resin, at least one measurement device and at least one sensing device, wherein the sensing device has at least one property which changes measurably with temperature and/or when the sensing device comes into contact with the resin, attaching the at least one sensing device to an inner surface of the mold and/or to the component, arranging the component inside the mold, providing the resin to at least one inlet of the mold, and wirelessly measuring and evaluating the property of the sensing device with the measurement device for monitoring a temperature and/or a distribution of the resin in the mold and/or in the component, is provided.

A multi-layer braided article and a method of making the multi-layer braided article. The multi-layer braided article includes a braid extending along a first axis, wherein the braid is folded over itself to form a first layer and a second layer; and a wrapper laid over the first layer of the braid and extending circumferentially around the first axis, wherein the wrapper defines an edge of the first layer about which the braid is folded. The multi-layer braided article may form part of a blade for an aircraft. A sleeve may be provided around a conical portion of the article to connect the article to something else, such as a propeller hub, where the multi-layer braided article is formed as part of a blade. The sleeve may provide a primary or secondary load path.

The invention relates to a blade (3) of a fan (1) of a turbomachine having a structure made of a composite material comprising a fibrous reinforcement (5) obtained by three-dimensional weaving and a matrix in which the fibrous reinforcement (5) is embedded, the fibrous reinforcement (5) comprising first strands (9) having a predetermined elongation at break, a portion of the fibrous reinforcement (5) further comprising second strands (10) having an elongation at break higher than that of the first strands (9).

A reinforcing structure for a wind turbine blade is in the form of an elongate stack of layers of pultruded fibrous composite strips supported within a U-shaped channel. The length of each layer is slightly different to create a taper at the ends of the stack; the centre of the stack has five layers, and each end has a single layer. The ends of each layer are chamfered, and the stack is coated with a thin flexible pultruded fibrous composite strip extending the full length of the stack. The reinforcing structure extends along a curved path within the outer shell of the blade. The regions of the outer shell of the blade on either side of the reinforcing structure are filled with structural foam, and the reinforcing structure and the foam are both sandwiched between an inner skin and an outer skin.

A method of manufacturing a fabric structure for use in manufacturing a composite aircraft blade. The method comprises: combining yarns including both reinforcing material filaments and a matrix material with yarns of reinforcing material filaments and/or yarns including at least one filament of matrix material; or by combining yarns of reinforcing material filaments with yarns including at least one filament of matrix material; or by combining yarns each comprising both reinforcing material filaments and matrix material. Combining may comprise weaving, knitting or braiding. The matrix material may be a thermoplastic.

Methods for manufacturing composite components having complex geometries are provided. In one exemplary aspect, a method includes laying up each of a plurality of laminates to an initial shape with a substantially planar geometry or a gently curved geometry. Then, a laid up laminate is formed to a final shape for each predefined section defined by the composite component to be manufactured. Thereafter, the laminates formed to their respective final shapes are stacked to build up the complex geometry of the composite component. Next, the composite component can be cured and finish machined as necessary to form the completed composite component.

A composite blade is formed by laying up composite layers in which reinforced fibers are impregnated with resin. The composite layers are laid up in a blade thickness direction that is a direction connecting a suction side and a pressure side of the composite blade. The composite blade includes a thick part that has a surface layer area from a surface of the thick part to a predetermined depth in the blade thickness direction and a deep layer area at a depth larger than the predetermined depth from the surface in the blade thickness direction. A median value in a predetermined range of thicknesses of each composite layer in the surface layer area is smaller than a median value in a predetermined range of thicknesses of each composite layer in the deep layer area.