Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Pre-Staged for Retrofitting with a Replacement Blade Tip Segment

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a wind turbine blade that is pre-staged for subsequent retrofitting with a replacement blade tip segment includes providing the wind turbine blade with a continuous spar structure from a root end to a tip end of the wind turbine blade. At a pre-defined span-wise location, one of a span-wise extending beam structure or span-wise extending receiver section is configured with the spar structure.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a wind turbine blade that is pre-staged for subsequent retrofitting with a replacement blade tip segment, comprising: providing the wind turbine blade with a continuous spar structure from a root end to a tip end of the wind turbine blade; and at a pre-defined span-wise location, incorporating one of a span-wise extending beam structure or span-wise extending receiver section with the spar structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the beam structure is incorporated with the spar structure by fixing a root-end of the beam structure with the spar structure and leaving a tip-end of the beam structure free of the spar structure, the beam structure having a size for insertion into a receiver section within the replacement blade tip segment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiver section is incorporated with the spar structure by fixing a root-end of the receiver section with the spar structure such that the receiver section extends at least to a location of a chord-wise joint line where the replacement blade tip segment will be retrofitted.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the spar structure includes opposite shear webs, comprising fixing a root-end of the beam structure or root-end of the span-wise extending receiver section between the shear webs.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrofitting the wind turbine blade at a time subsequent to manufacture of the wind turbine blade by: cutting an existing blade tip segment from the wind turbine blade at a chord-wise joint line such that a tip-end of the beam structure extends span-wise from a remaining blade root segment beyond the chord-wise joint line, or a tip end of the receiver section is exposed in the remaining blade root segment at the chord-wise joint line; removing the spar structure from the tip-end of the beam structure or the receiver section; aligning and connecting the replacement blade tip segment with the blade root segment in a span-wise direction so that the beam structure moves into a mating receiver section of the replacement blade tip segment, or the receiver section receives a mating beam structure of the replacement blade tip segment; and providing a finish surface to blade shell components of the blade root segment and the replacement blade tip segment at the joint line.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the spar structure includes opposite shear webs and the root-end of the beam structure or the root end of the receiver section is between and fixed to the shear webs, and wherein the removing of the spar structure comprises cutting away the shear webs along the tip-end of the beam structure or the tip end of the receiver section.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the wind turbine blade is operational on a wind turbine at a field site, comprising performing the retrofitting process with the wind turbine blade in an up-tower position on a rotor hub of the wind turbine.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the wind turbine blade is operational on a wind turbine at a field site, comprising removing and lowering the wind turbine bade from a rotor hub of the wind turbine and performing the retrofitting process with the wind turbine blade in a down-tower position relative to the rotor hub.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising producing and maintaining an inventory of the replacement blade tip segments, wherein for the retrofitting process, one of the replacement blade tip segments is selected from the inventory and transported to the field site.

10. A wind turbine blade that is pre-staged for subsequent retrofitting with a replacement blade tip segment, comprising: a pressure side shell; a suction side shell joined to the pressure side shell along a leading edge and a trailing edge such that an interior cavity is defined between the pressure side shell and the suction side shell; a continuous spar structure within the interior cavity from a root end to a tip end of the wind turbine blade; and at a pre-defined span-wise location, one of a span-wise extending beam structure or span-wise extending receiver section configured with the spar structure; wherein the span-wise extending beam structure is configured for insertion into a mating receiver section in a replacement blade tip segment, or the receiver section is configured for receipt of a mating beam structure extending from a replacement blade tip segment.

11. The wind turbine blade of claim 10, wherein the beam structure comprises a root end fixed to the spar structure and a tip-end that is adjacent and unfixed to the spar structure, wherein the spar structure can be removed from alongside the tip-end of the beam structure when retrofitting the wind turbine blade with the replacement blade tip segment.

12. The wind turbine blade of claim 10, wherein the receiver section comprises a root end fixed to the spar structure such that the receiver section extends at least to a location of a chord-wise joint line where the replacement blade tip segment will be retrofitted.

13. The wind turbine blade of claim 10, wherein the spar structure includes opposite shear webs, comprising fixing a root-end of the beam structure or root-end of the span-wise extending receiver section configured between the shear webs.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which:

[0019] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of a wind turbine that may utilize a retrofitted blade according to the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 2 is a view of a pre-staged wind turbine blade hat has been retrofitted with a replacement blade tip segment;

[0021] FIG. 3 is a view of a different embodiment of a pre-staged wind turbine blade hat has been retrofitted with a replacement blade tip segment;

[0022] FIGS. 4a through 4c are sequential conceptual views of an embodiment for subsequent retrofit of a pre-staged wind turbine blade in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIGS. 5a through 5c are sequential conceptual views of an alternative embodiment for subsequent retrofit of a pre-staged wind turbine blade in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; and

[0024] FIGS. 6a through 6e are sequential conceptual views of an embodiment of a retrofitting process in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0026] Generally, the present subject matter is directed to methods for manufacturing wind turbine rotor blades (and the resulting blades) that are pre-staged for subsequent retrofitting with a replacement blade tip segment.

[0027] Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a side view of an exemplary wind turbine 10 having a plurality of rotor blades 28 that may be retrofitted in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The illustrated wind turbine 10 is a horizontal-axis wind turbine. Alternatively, the wind turbine 10 may be a vertical-axis wind turbine. The wind turbine 10 includes a tower 12 that extends from a support surface 14, a nacelle 16 mounted on the tower 12, a generator 18 positioned within the nacelle 16, a gearbox 20 coupled to the generator 18, and a rotor 22 that is rotationally coupled to the gearbox 20 with a rotor shaft 24. The rotor 22 includes a rotatable hub 26, with the rotor blades 28 coupled to and extending outward from the rotatable hub 26. Each rotor blade 28 includes a blade tip 17 and a blade root 19, and corresponding root-end blade segment 32 and a tip-end blade segment 29.

[0028] FIG. 2 is a view of a retrofitted wind turbine blade 70 that was made by modifying a pre-staged blade 28 of FIGS. 4a-4c such that the root-end blade segment 32 of pre-staged rotor blade 28 is retrofitted with a replacement blade tip segment 30 that extends in the opposite span-wise direction from a chord-wise joint 34. Each of the blade segments 30, 32 includes a pressure side shell member 31 and a suction side shell member 33. The blade segments 30, 32 are connected by internal joint structure 36 extending into both blade segments 30, 32 to facilitate joining of the blade segments 30, 32, as described in greater detail below. The blade 70 includes a leading edge 74 and a trailing edge 76, as well as the root portion 19 and tip portion 17, with the upper and lower shell member 31, 33 joined together at the leading edge 74 and trailing edge 76. The pre-staged blade 28 and retrofitted blade 70 include an internal cavity in which various structural members, such as spar caps 46 and shear webs 44 are configured. The construction and function of the internal structural components of the blade 70 are well known to those skilled in the art and need not be described in detail herein for an understanding and appreciation of the present invention.

[0029] Referring still to FIGS. 2 and 4a-4c, the pre-staged wind turbine blade 28 is provided with a continuous spar structure 42 from the root section 19 to the tip section 17, as with any number of conventional wind turbine blade designs. This spar structure 42 may include, for example, opposite shear webs 44 and opposite spar caps 46 that define a box-beam spar structure 42. At a pre-defined span-wise location, a span-wise extending beam structure 40 is incorporated with the spar structure 42 during fabrication of the pre-staged blade 28 by fixing a root-end 41 of the beam structure 40 with the spar structure 42 and leaving a tip-end 43 of the beam structure 40 essentially unattached to the spar structure 42. As appreciated from FIG. 2, the beam structure 40 has a size for insertion into a mating receiver section 54 within the replacement blade tip segment 30 during the retrofitting process.

[0030] In the embodiment of FIGS. 4a-4c wherein the spar structure 42 includes opposite shear webs 44, the root-end 41 of the beam structure 40 may be fixed between the shear webs 44, for example with an adhesive, mechanical means, or any other suitable means. The tip-end 43 of the beam structure 40 may lie adjacent to the shear webs 44, but is unattached to the shear webs 44 so that the shear webs 44 can be easily cut away from the tip-end 43, as depicted in FIGS. 4b and 4c, for subsequent retrofitting with the replacement blade tip segment 30. For this, as discussed above, the shell components 31, 33 of the blade tip segment 29 (pre-staged blade 28) are cut away at a chord-wise joint line 34 such that the tip-end 43 of the beam structure extends span-wise from the remaining blade root segment 32 beyond the chord-wise joint line 34. The spar structure 42 in the blade root section 32 that extends along the tip-end 43 of the beam structure 40 may be removed at the same time or after cutting away of the blade shell components 31, 33 so only the beam structure 40 extends from the blade root segment 32, as depicted in FIG. 4c. Then, the replacement blade tip segment 30 can be aligned and connected with the blade root segment 32 in the retrofitting process wherein the tip-end 43 of the beam structure 40 slides into the mating receiver section 54 of the replacement blade tip segment 30, as seen in FIG. 2.

[0031] The embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 5a-5c is drawn to providing the pre-staged wind turbine blade 28 with a pre-staged receiver section 54 having a root end 55 fixed to the spar structure 42. An opposite end of the receiver section 54 extends at least to the chord-wise joint line 34 and may be fixed to the webs 44 along the complete length of the receiver section 54. As depicted in FIGS. 5b and 5c, when the blade tip segment 29 is cut away from the pre-staged blade 28, the spar structure, including the webs 44 and/or are subsequently cut back to the joint line 34. If the receiver section 54 extends beyond the joint line 34 (as depicted in FIG. 5b), then this length of the receiver section 54 may also be trimmed to the joint line 34 such that an open end of the receiver section 54 is exposed at the joint line (FIG. 5c) for receipt of a beam structure 40 that extends from the replacement blade tip segment 30.

[0032] FIGS. 6a through 6e sequentially depict an embodiment of the current method for retrofitting a pre-staged wind turbine rotor blade 28 in the field, wherein the blade 28 remains attached in the uptower positon to a rotor hub. Alternatively, the pre-staged wind turbine blade 28 can be removed and lowered from the hub 26 using any suitable process and the retrofitting process is performed with the wind turbine blade 28 in a down-tower position relative to the rotor hub 26.

[0033] FIG. 6a depicts the pre-staged rotor blade 28 on the rotor hub 26 at a six o'clock position, the blade 28 including the root-end blade segment 32 and integral blade tip segment 29.

[0034] FIG. 6b depicts a chord-wise cut made in the blade 28 at a location that defines a chord-wise joint line 34. With this embodiment, the cut can made completely through the blade 28, wherein the existing blade tip segment 29 is removed, as depicted in FIG. 6c. The remaining spar structure 42 is depicted in the blade root segment 32 (FIG. 6c). In an alternate embodiment wherein the pre-staged blade 28 includes a pre-staged beam structure 40, the cut at the chord-wise joint line 34 would be made through the blade shell components 31, 33 leaving the spar structure 42 (e.g., webs 44 and spar caps 46) essentially intact (as depicted and discussed above with respect to FIG. 5b).

[0035] FIG. 6c depicts the blade root segment 32 with the receiver section 54 exposed at the joint line 34.

[0036] FIG. 6d depicts selection of one of the preformed replacement blade tip segments 30 from an inventory 60 and span-wise connection of the segment 30 with the blade root segment 32. In particular, as the replacement blade tip segment 30 is moved in the span-wise direction, the beam structure 40 slides into the pre-staged receiver section 54 within the blade root segment 32. To fix the beam structure 40 with the receiver section 54, the end pin 52 on the root end 43 of the beam structure 40 extends through a slot in the wall 57 of the receiver section 54 (FIG. 3), and chord-wise oriented slots in the receiver section 54 align with corresponding slots in the beam structure 40. A chord-wise pin 53 is then inserted through the aligned slots, as particularly seen in FIG. 3.

[0037] FIG. 6e depicts the replacement blade tip segment 30 fixed to the blade root segment 32 and the blade shell components provided with a finish at the joint line 34, for example a fiberglass, epoxy or other repair type finish that provides a relatively smooth and aerodynamic surface at the join line 34 between the shell components of the replacement blade tip segment 30 and the root-end blade segment 32. The finish may include a seal band 68 wrapped around the blade shell components 31, 33 at the joint line 34. Thus, the blade in FIG. 6e is a complete retrofitted blade 70 as also depicted in FIG. 3.

[0038] This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.