A method of manufacturing a flexible element configured for pressing against composite material received on a mold surface of a mold during cure, including placing a porous material over the mold surface, forming a sealed enclosure containing the mold surface and the porous material, infusing a curable liquid material such as silicone in liquid form into the enclosure under vacuum and through the porous material, curing the liquid material to form the flexible element, and opening the enclosure and disengaging the flexible element from the mold. In a particular embodiment, the flexible element is a pressure pad.

A system for manufacturing a composite article includes a resin-wetting control layer configured to be placed in contact with a composite ply of a composite preform. The resin-wetting control layer is configured complementary to a ply surface of the composite ply.

Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for controlling a flow of a material through a vehicle component. In some embodiments, the methods include determining a first plurality of dimensions and a second plurality of dimensions associated with a flow medium based on one or more flow properties of the vehicle component, the flow medium including a plurality of baffle layers and a plurality of spacers. The methods may further include generating at least one baffle layer based on the first plurality of dimensions, and generating at least some of the plurality of spacers based on the second plurality of dimensions, the plurality of spacers being positioned on top of the at least one baffle layer.

A method of manufacturing a composite laminate structure of a wind turbine blade part is performed by resin transfer moulding. The fibre-reinforcement material is impregnated with liquid resin in a mould cavity which includes a rigid mould part having a mould surface defining a surface of the wind turbine blade part. The method includes alternately stacking on the rigid mould part: i) a number of fibre-reinforcement layers including electrically conductive fibres and ii) a flow strip layer in form of a layer of flow strips having a strip width and which are arranged so as to form voids having a void width between two juxtaposed strips. The method includes sealing a second mould part against the rigid mould part in order to form the mould cavity, optionally evacuating the mould cavity, supplying a resin to the mould cavity, and curing the resin to form the composite laminate structure.

The present disclosure provides a method of manufacturing a composite laminate structure of a wind turbine blade part by means of resin transfer moulding, preferably vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding. In a resin transfer moulding, fibre-reinforcement material is impregnated with liquid resin in a mould cavity. The mould cavity comprises rigid mould part having a mould surface defining a surface of the wind turbine blade part. The method comprises alternately stacking on the rigid mould part: i. a number of unidirectional fibre-reinforcement layers comprising electrically conductive fibres, such as carbon fibres, and ii. a flow-enhancing fabric layer for enhancing a flow of the resin during infusion of the fibre-reinforcement layers, the flow-enhancing fabric layer comprising an open-structured layer made of a first material, wherein the flow-enhancing fabric layer comprises a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction, The flow-enhancing fabric layer further comprises filaments or bundles of fibres made of a second material, which is an electrically conductive material and which are arranged and configured to provide a conductive path from first electrically conductive fibres of a first fibre-reinforcement layer on a first side of the flow-enhancing layer to second electrically conductive fibres of a second fibre-reinforcement layer on a second side of the flow-enhancing layer.

A pultrusion process for making a strip for an elongate reinforcing structure of a wind turbine blade, the process comprising drawing fibres (42) and resin through a pultrusion die (40) in a process direction to form a strip (102); and applying an infusion-promoting layer (110) to a surface of the strip down-stream from the die in the process direction. A pultrusion apparatus is also disclosed.

Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for controlling a flow of a material through a vehicle component. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include a plurality of baffle layers, each baffle layer of the plurality of baffle layers having a contour, wherein at least one space between at least some of the plurality of baffle layers defines at least one flow path. The apparatus may also include a first plurality of spacers positioned in the at least one flow path, the first plurality of spacers having one or more hydrodynamic properties determined based on a first plurality of dimensions, the one or more hydrodynamic properties determining, at least in part, a second flow property of the at least one flow path.

A method for the simultaneous production of two or more fiber composite components, to a fiber composite component, to a rotor blade of a wind power installation, as well as to a wind power installation. A method for the simultaneous production of two or more fiber composite components, in particular of two or more substantially identical fiber composite components which have a component contour, the method comprising providing at least one fibrous material, at least one planar separation element, and at least one matrix material, wherein the at least one planar separation element at least in portions is permeable to the matrix material; producing a semi-finished fibrous pack by disposing the fibrous material layer-by-layer so as to form semi-finished fibrous products stacked on top of one another, wherein at least one of the planar separation elements is in each case disposed between the semi-finish fibrous products; infusing the semi-finished fibrous pack with the matrix material; cutting the component contour into the infused semi-finished fibrous pack.

A pultruded strip (50) of reinforcing material for stacking with one or more similar strips (50) to form a spar cap for a wind turbine blade is disclosed. The pultruded strip comprises a core (56) comprising fibres (58) disposed in a resin matrix (60) and a sacrificial layer (52) at least partially covering one or more surfaces of the core (56). The sacrificial layer (52) is a resin layer defining an adherend surface (62A) of the strip. A pultrusion process for making such a strip (50) comprises drawing resin-coated reinforcing fibres (58) through a pultrusion die (80) in a process direction to form a core (56) of the strip (50) and applying further resin (53) to one or more surfaces of the core (56) to form a sacrificial resin layer (52) defining an adherend surface (62A) of the strip (50).

A method for identifying a fiber-reinforced plastic component includes the acts of providing a fiber preform, applying a label to the fiber preform and holding it in place, inserting the preform together with the label in a mold and closing the mold, and infiltrating the preform with a plastic compound and curing it in the closed mold. In order to reliably identify the plastic component, the label comes to rest on a flow aid portion formed on the inner mold wall which has at least one channel-shaped depression. The longitudinal extension of the flow aid portion projects beyond the label.