General Electric Company

Jan Willem Bakhuis

Jamie Thomas Livingston

Andrew Billen

Sjef Van Breugel

Klaus Ulrich Koegler

Bart Jan Veldkamp

Eric Morgan Jacobsen

Bruce Clark Busbey

Scott Gabell Riddell

Amir Riahi

Nicholas Keane Althoff

Howard Daniel Driver

Thomas B Jenkins

Juergen Esser

Qi Zhu

Pradeepa Nagabhushana

Markus Peter Griesel

Arthur H E Burke

Sjef Breugel

A rotor blade assembly for a wind turbine has a rotor blade. A strip-member blade accessory is mounted to one of the rotor blade surfaces that stretches under normal operating conditions of the wind turbine. The blade accessory has a base portion. An attachment layer connects the base portion to the rotor blade surface and has a lower shear modulus than the base portion to allow for shear slippage between the base portion and the underlying rotor blade surface.

Attachment system for a wind turbine rotor blade accessory

A wind turbine blade includes a leading edge, a trailing edge, a suction side, and a pressure side. At least one integrated attachment bore is configured in each of the suction side and pressure side between the leading edge and trailing edge. The attachment bores are structurally configured for receipt of a handling mechanism therein for supporting the blade during a transportation, installation, or maintenance procedure.

Wind turbine blade with integrated handling mechanism attachment bores

A method of manufacturing a wind turbine rotor blade includes, in one embodiment, the steps of providing a core, and applying at least one reinforcing skin to the core to form a blade subassembly. Each reinforcing skin is formed from a mat of reinforcing fibers. The method also includes applying a micro-porous membrane over the at least one reinforcing skin, applying a vacuum film over the micro-porous membrane, introducing a polymeric resin to the core, infusing the resin through the core and through the at least one reinforcing skin by applying a vacuum to the blade assembly, and curing the resin to form the rotor blade.

Methods of making wind turbine rotor blades

A method of manufacturing a retrofit sleeve for a wind turbine blade, includes positioning at least a portion of a blade-shaped form in a mold; and applying a curable material to the space between the form and mold.

Method of manufacturing a retrofit sleeve for wind turbine blade

A spar for a wind turbine blade includes at least one shear web extending between pressure and suction sides of the blade; and a joint, arranged substantially midway between ends of the shear web, for sizing the shear web. The joint may include a resilient and/or expandable spacer.

Wind turbine spars with jointed shear webs

A wind turbine blade includes a body having a first surface characteristic; and a sleeve, arranged on the body, having a second surface characteristic which is different from the first surface characteristic.

Retrofit sleeve for wind turbine blade

A spar cap for a wind turbine rotor blade. The spar cap may include multiple preform components. The multiple preform components may be planar sheets having a swept shape with a first end and a second end. The multiple preform components may be joined by mating the first end of a first preform component to the second end of a next preform component, forming the spar cap.

Preform spar cap for a wind turbine rotor blade

Disclosed is a modularly constructed rotorblade including a leading and a trailing edge, including a plurality of rotorblade sections in bonded association, and at least one bonding line disposed away from continuous contact with the leading edge and the trailing edge.

Modularly constructed rotorblade and method for construction

Disclosed is a system for forming a blade-section including a transporting frame, at least one transporting support removeably associated with the transporting frame, and a blade-section forming structure receptive of the transporting frame and the at least one transporting support.

System and method for forming a blade-section

A method of manufacturing a root portion of a wind turbine blade includes, in an exemplary embodiment, providing an outer layer of reinforcing fibers including at least two woven mats of reinforcing fibers, providing an inner layer of reinforcing fibers including at least two woven mats of reinforcing fibers, and positioning at least two bands of reinforcing fibers between the inner and outer layers, with each band of reinforcing fibers including at least two woven mats of reinforcing fibers. The method further includes positioning a mat of randomly arranged reinforcing fibers between each pair of adjacent bands of reinforcing fibers, introducing a polymeric resin into the root potion of the wind turbine blade, infusing the resin through the outer layer, the inner layer, each band of reinforcing fibers, and each mat of random reinforcing fibers, and curing the resin to form the root portion of the wind turbine blade.

Growing community of inventors

Nijverdal, Netherlands

Jan Willem Bakhuis