Vestas Wind Systems A/s

Toby Collard

Nathan A Brilliant

Lasse Lykkegaard

Andrew Hedges

Damien Rajasingam

Stephen Sandercock

Angela Thwaites

Chris Sutton

Arne Haahr

Robert Hunter

Rens Christiaan Verhoef

Leon Barton

Gurmukh Singh

Jed Richter

Julian Anaya Calvo

A wind turbine blade having at least two blade modules extending in the spanwise direction of the blade and being configured for connection end-to-end at a connection joint An electromagnetic shield is positioned in electrically conductive contact with the blade modules and extending across the connection joint in the spanwise direction.

Modular wind turbine blade with lightning protection system

A wind turbine rotor blade having a blade shell with a generally chordwise layup of fibre plies and a generally spanwise spar cap. A lightning conductor extends over the spar cap, and the spar cap includes conductive material. An equipotential bonding element electrically bonds the lightning conductor to the spar cap. The equipotential bonding element extends between an outboard edge of one stack of the fibre plies and an inboard edge of an adjacent stack of the fibre plies, which overlap to define an overlapping edge region.

Equipotential bonding of wind turbine rotor blade

Improvements relating to wind turbine blades A wind turbine blade is described that comprises a main blade and one or more separate edge modules attached to the main blade module. The main blade module defines a main body of the blade, and the separate edge module(s) defines at least part of a leading edge or a trailing edge of the blade. A down conductor for a blade lightning protection system is embedded within the edge module.

Relating to wind turbine blades

A wind turbine rotor blade has a spar cap including conductive material, and a lightning conductor extending over the spar cap. There is a non-conductive layer between the lightning conductor and the spar cap. An equipotential bonding element electrically bonds the lightning conductor to the spar cap. The non-conductive layer is discontinuous to define a gap, and the equipotential bonding element extends through the gap.

A wind turbine blade assembly is described. The wind turbine blade assembly comprises: first and second blade sections connected together, each blade section having a shell defining an aerodynamic profile and each section comprising lightning protection components; a substantially enclosed interior region defined in part by the shell of the first blade section and in part by the shell of the second blade section; a first connector located in the interior region, the first connector being attached to the first blade section and electrically connected to the lightning protection components of the first blade section, the first connector defining a contact surface; a second connector located in the interior region, the second connector being attached to the second blade section and electrically connected to the lightning protection components of the second blade section, the second connector defining a contact surface opposed to and in contact with the contact surface of the first connector. The wind turbine blade assembly further comprises a first fastener extending through the shell of the first blade section into the interior region, the first fastener having a threaded shank that extends at least partially through the first and second connectors, and the first fastener clamps the contact surfaces of the first and second connectors together to form a torqued connection between the first and second connectors.

Wind turbine blade assembly

A method of making a wind turbine blade incorporating a lightning protection system includes providing a blade mold; arranging a protruding element in the mold; arranging an electrically conductive layer over the protruding element; arranging one or more structural layers and/or structural components over the conductive layer; consolidating the layers under vacuum to form a blade shell having the conductive layer proximate an outer surface of the shell; separating the protruding element from the blade shell to define a recess with the conductive layer extending into the recess; providing an electrical component adjacent an inner surface of the shell; and electrically connecting the conductive layer to the component. An end portion of the connecting member is housed in the recess such that a surface of the connecting member abuts the conductive layer inside the recess.

Wind turbine blade having a lightning protection system and method of making the same

A method of making a wind turbine blade () having a metallic lightning receptor () is described. The method comprises configuring a wind turbine blade () mold assembly () such that a clearance region () is defined between a mold surface () of at least one mold half () and a majority of a metallic lightning receptor component () when the mold assembly () is closed, such that contact between that mold half () and the metallic lightning receptor component () is substantially avoided. In certain embodiments of the invention, one or both mold halves () are truncated such that the metallic lightning receptor component () projects from the mold () when the mold () is closed.

Wind turbine blade with lightning protection

A method for manufacturing a blade spar for a wind turbine blade includes positioning a first spar segment having a first adhering portion; positioning a second spar segment having a second adhering portion at the first spar segment such that the first adhering portion and the second adhering portion are at least partially overlapping, wherein an adhesive is at least partially provided between the overlapping adhering portions; providing at least one fiber layer impregnated with an uncured resin on the outer surfaces of the first and second spar segments at least in the joint region of the first and second spar segments; and simultaneously curing the adhesive and the resin, thereby fixating the first and the second spar segments to each other.

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Cowes, United Kingdom

Toby Collard