ROTOR BLADE MOLD FOR PRODUCING A ROTOR BLADE, AND METHOD

Abstract

A rotor blade mold for producing a rotor blade, a method for producing a rotor blade mold, the use of a rotor blade mold, a spray device for producing an insulation layer, and an adhesive product. A rotor blade mold for producing a rotor blade or a part of a rotor blade, in particular of a wind turbine, comprising a mold insert, having a mold side which forms a cavity for molding a rotor blade or a part of a rotor blade, and a structured side facing away from the mold side, an insulation layer arranged on the structured side, and having an adhesive, and a plurality of pouring elements made of an insulation material.

Claims

1. A rotor blade mold for production of a rotor blade or part of a rotor blade, the rotor blade mold comprising: a mold insert having: a mold side that forms a cavity and is shaped for shaping the rotor blade or the part of the rotor blade; and a structure side facing away from the mold side; and an insulation layer disposed on the structure side of the mold insert, the insulation layer having: an adhesive; and a plurality of fill elements made of an insulation material.

2. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the insulation material comprises at least one material chosen from a mineral material, an organic material, and a synthetic material; or the insulation material is made of a mineral material, an organic material, or a synthetic material.

3. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 1, wherein the insulation material is a material selected from a group consisting of: cellulose; wood fibers; mineral wool; and polystyrene.

4. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive has at least one base chosen from an isocyanate-free adhesive base, a polyurethane-free adhesive base, and an adhesive base free of isocyanate-containing polyurethane.

5. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one adhesive base of the adhesive is selected from a group consisting of: polyamide; polyolefin; rubber; isocyanate-free polyurethane, isocyanate-free adhesive base; and polyurethane-free adhesive base.

6. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 1, comprising: a heating device, wherein the heating device is configured to heat the mold side.

7. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 6, wherein the heating device is configured to: provide electrical heating, and/or provide water-based heating.

8. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mold insert comprises a plastic material.

9. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 1, comprising a support structure, wherein the support structure is disposed at least partly on the structure side of the mold insert.

10. A process for producing a rotor blade mold, comprising: providing a mold insert, having: a mold side that forms a cavity and is for shaping of a rotor blade or part of a rotor blade, and a structure side facing away from the mold side; providing adhesive and plurality of fill elements made of an insulation material; producing an insulation adhesive mixture by mixing the adhesive with the plurality of fill elements; and arranging the insulation adhesive mixture on the structure side.

11. A process for producing a rotor blade mold, comprising: providing a mold insert having: a mold side that forms a cavity and is for shaping of a rotor blade or part of a rotor blade, and a structure side facing away from the mold side; applying adhesive on the structure side; and arranging, by blowing, a plurality of fill elements on the structure side such that the plurality of fill elements adhere to the structure side by the adhesive and a first insulation stratum is formed.

12. The process as claimed in claim 11 comprising: providing a rotor blade material comprising fibers and a matrix material, and shaping the rotor blade material with the rotor blade mold to form the rotor blade or the part of the rotor blade.

13. The process as claimed in claim 12, further comprising arranging the part of the rotor blade with respect to one or more rotor blade components to produce a finished rotor blade.

14. (canceled)

15. An apparatus for production of an insulation layer, comprising: an insulation material nozzle and an adhesive nozzle, wherein: the insulation material nozzle has an insulation material exit direction, and the adhesive nozzle an adhesive exit direction, the insulation material exit direction and the adhesive exit direction intersect in a mixing region remote from at least one of the insulation material nozzle or the adhesive nozzle, and the insulation material nozzle and the adhesive nozzle are formed such that an insulation material that exits from the insulation material nozzle and an adhesive that exits from the adhesive nozzle mix in the mixing region to form an insulation adhesive mixture.

16. An adhesive product for further processing to give an insulation adhesive mixture for a rotor blade mold for producing a rotor blade for a wind turbine, comprising: an adhesive that is in solid form at room temperature, wherein the adhesive is a spray adhesive or a hotmelt adhesive, and a plurality of fill elements made of an insulation material, wherein the plurality of fill elements are homogeneously distributed in the adhesive.

17. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 8, wherein the rotor blade or the part of the rotor blade is for a wind turbine.

18. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 8, wherein the mold insert is made of a fiber composite plastic.

19. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein providing the adhesive comprises spraying adhesive or melting adhesive.

20. The rotor blade mold as claimed in claim 9, wherein the support structure is a lattice structure.

21. The process as claimed in claim 11, further comprising applying adhesive to the first insulation stratum and arranging fill elements atop the first insulation stratum such that the plurality of fill elements adhere to the first insulation stratum by the adhesive and a second insulation stratum is formed.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the adhesive that exits from the adhesive nozzle is a spray adhesive or a hotmelt adhesive.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] Preferred working examples are elucidated by way of example with reference to the appended figures. The figures show:

[0044] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wind turbine;

[0045] FIG. 2 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of rotor blade molds;

[0046] FIG. 3 shows a detail view of a rotor blade mold;

[0047] FIG. 4 shows a further detail view of a rotor blade mold;

[0048] FIG. 5 shows a schematic two-dimensional cross-sectional view through one embodiment of a rotor blade mold;

[0049] FIG. 6 shows a schematic two-dimensional cross-sectional view through a further embodiment of a rotor blade mold;

[0050] FIG. 7 shows a schematic arrangement for production of an insulation layer;

[0051] FIG. 8 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of a spray apparatus;

[0052] FIG. 9 shows a schematic process for producing a rotor blade mold having four steps;

[0053] FIG. 10 shows a schematic process for producing a rotor blade mold having five steps.

[0054] In the figures, elements that are identical or have essentially the same or a similar function are identified by the same reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wind turbine 100. FIG. 1 shows a wind turbine 100 with a tower 102 and a nacelle 104. Disposed on the nacelle 104 is a rotor 106 having three rotor blades 108 and a spinner 110. In operation, the rotor 106 is set in a rotating motion by the wind and hence drives a generator in the nacelle 104. The rotor blades 108 or parts of the rotor blades 108 may have been produced with a rotor blade mold as described hereinafter and as described above.

[0056] FIG. 2 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of rotor blade molds 150, 160. The apparatus shown in FIG. 2 comprises a first rotor blade mold 150 and a second rotor blade mold 160. The first rotor blade mold 150 has a first mold insert 152 and a first support structure 154. The first mold insert 152 has additionally been provided with a heating apparatus (not shown) that can heat a cavity 151 between the first and second rotor blade molds 150, 160. The second rotor blade mold 160 is of analogous construction to the first rotor blade mold 150 with a second mold insert 162 and a second support structure 164. On the outside of the mold insert 152 is disposed an insulation layer shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. FIG. 4 more particularly shows part of the heating apparatus, namely the two heating elements 158, 159.

[0057] FIG. 5 shows a schematic two-dimensional cross-sectional view through a rotor blade mold. The rotor blade mold 200 has a mold insert 210. The mold insert 210 has a cavity 212. In addition, the mold insert 210 has a mold side 214 that at least partly forms the cavity 212, and a structure side 216. It is apparent in FIG. 5 that the structure side 216 is disposed opposite the mold side 214. The structure side 216 is thus located on a side of the mold insert 210 facing away from the cavity 212. The mold insert 210 additionally has a heating apparatus with a first heating element 220, a second heating element 222, a third heating element 224, a fourth heating element 226 and a fifth heating element 228. The heating elements 220 to 228 are disposed within the mold insert 210. The heating elements 220 to 228 are especially disposed within the mold insert 210 in such a way that these can release heat to the mold side 214. It is thus possible to warm the mold side 214 and hence to enable or to improve a rotor blade production process.

[0058] Also disposed on the structure side 216 of the mold insert 210 is an insulation layer 250. The insulation layer 250 extends essentially over the entire convex extent of the mold insert 210. The insulation layer 250 comprises fill elements 252 and adhesive 254. The insulation layer 250 shown here with the fill elements 252 and the adhesive 254 is shown in a simplified schematic view.

[0059] FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of a rotor blade mold 200′. The rotor blade mold 200′ differs from the rotor blade mold described above by the insulation layer 250′. The insulation layer 250′ has a first insulation stratum 256 and a second insulation stratum 258. The first insulation stratum 256 adheres by means of the adhesive 254 to the structure side 216. The first insulation stratum 256 may be produced, for example, by application of the adhesive 254 to the structure side 216 and subsequent application of the fill elements 252 by blowing. The second insulation stratum 258 is disposed atop the first insulation stratum 256. The first insulation stratum 256 is disposed between the structure side 216 and the second insulation stratum 258. A plurality of insulation strata 256, 258 disposed one on top of another may form an insulation layer 250′.

[0060] FIG. 7 shows a schematic arrangement for production of an insulation layer. An insulation layer is to be disposed on the structure side 216 with the apparatus shown. The insulation system 300 has an insulation material source 322 with a plurality of fill elements and an adhesive source 320 with adhesive. The adhesive source 320 and the insulation material source 322 are coupled to the spray apparatus 310 via conduit systems. The coupling is effected with an adhesive access conduit 312 and an insulation material access conduit 314. In the spray apparatus 310, there is mixing of the plurality of fill elements composed of the insulation material and the adhesive. The mixture of adhesive and the plurality of fill elements made of insulation material exits from an opening, especially a nozzle, of the spray apparatus 310. This mixture is also referred to as insulation adhesive mixture 330. By means of corresponding pressure elements that are not shown in FIG. 6, the insulation adhesive mixture 330 escapes from the spray apparatus 310 and can thus be disposed on the structure side 216.

[0061] FIG. 8 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of a spray apparatus 310′. The spray apparatus 310′ comprises the adhesive access conduit 312′ and the insulation material access conduit 314′. The spray apparatus 310′ does not have a mixing chamber, but rather an insulation material nozzle 318 and an adhesive nozzle 316. An adhesive jet 334 exits from the adhesive nozzle 316. An insulation material jet 332 composed of a plurality of fill elements exits from the insulation material nozzle 318. The insulation material nozzle 318 and the adhesive nozzle 316 are designed such that the insulation material jet 332 and the adhesive jet 334 meet in a mixing region spaced apart from the nozzles, where they mix to form an insulation adhesive mixture.

[0062] FIG. 9 shows a schematic process for producing a rotor blade mold having four steps. In step 401, a mold insert is provided, having a mold side that forms a cavity and is for shaping of a rotor blade or part of a rotor blade, and a structure side facing away from the mold side. In step 402, an adhesive and a plurality of fill elements made of an insulation material are provided. In step 403, an insulation adhesive mixture is produced, by mixing the adhesive with the plurality of fill elements. In step 404, the insulation adhesive mixture produced in step 403 is disposed on the structure side of the mold insert.

[0063] FIG. 10 shows a process for producing a rotor blade mold having five steps. The process comprises step 501, namely the providing of a mold insert, having a mold side that forms a cavity and is for shaping of a rotor blade or part of a rotor blade, and a structure side facing away from the mold side. In step 502, an adhesive and a plurality of fill elements made of an insulation material are provided, with application, in step 503, of the adhesive to the structure side of the mold insert.

[0064] In a next step, fill elements are disposed on the structure side in such a way that the fill elements adhere to the structure side by means of the adhesive and a first insulation layer is formed. The arranging, especially by blowing, of the fill elements on the structure side provided with the adhesive especially follows after the application of the adhesive on the structure side. This is especially effected within a predefined time interval in which the adhesive has not yet solidified.

[0065] In step 505, adhesive is disposed atop the first insulation stratum, and fill elements are subsequently disposed atop the first insulation stratum such that the fill elements adhere to the first insulation stratum by means of the adhesive and a second insulation stratum is formed. The insulation strata arranged one on top of another form an insulation layer. The process described in steps 501 to 505 differs from the process defined by steps 401 to 404 in that no insulation adhesive mixture is formed here prior to the application; instead, the adhesive is combined with the plurality of fill elements only on the structure side of the mold insert. The process preferably comprises a further step that provides for the repetition of step 505. Step 505 is preferably repeated sufficiently often for the insulation layer to have a total thickness of 3 to 5 cm.

[0066] The rotor blade mold described above and the processes for producing this rotor blade mold have the advantage that the insulation layer 250 can be formed in an efficient and additionally resource-conserving manner. Furthermore, the process described enables the use of natural products as insulation material. As a result, it is possible to form the insulation layer 250, 250′, for example, in an isocyanate-free and/or polyurethane-free manner and/or free of isocyanate-containing polyurethane, and hence also to improve occupational safety during the production of the rotor blade mold 150, 160, 200.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0067] 100 wind turbine [0068] 102 tower [0069] 104 nacelle [0070] 106 rotor [0071] 108 rotor blades [0072] 110 spinner [0073] 150 first rotor blade mold [0074] 151 cavity [0075] 152 first mold insert [0076] 154 first support structure [0077] 156 insulation layer [0078] 158, 159 heating elements [0079] 160 second rotor blade mold [0080] 162 second mold insert [0081] 164 second support structure [0082] 200, 200′ rotor blade mold [0083] 210 mold insert [0084] 212 cavity [0085] 214 mold side [0086] 216 structure side [0087] 220 first heating element [0088] 222 second heating element [0089] 224 third heating element [0090] 226 fourth heating element [0091] 228 fifth heating element [0092] 250, 250′ insulation layer [0093] 252 fill element [0094] 254 adhesive [0095] 256 first insulation stratum [0096] 258 second insulation stratum [0097] 300 insulation system [0098] 310, 310′ spray apparatus [0099] 312, 312′ adhesive access conduit [0100] 314, 314′ insulation material access conduit [0101] 316 adhesive nozzle [0102] 318 insulation material nozzle [0103] 320 adhesive source [0104] 322 insulation material source [0105] 330 insulation adhesive mixture [0106] 332 insulation material jet [0107] 334 adhesive jet