Lightweight spar cap with concave structure for wind turbine blade and manufacturing method thereof, wind turbine blade and manufacturing method thereof

Inventors: Jun Yang (Zhuzhou, CN); Chaoyi Peng (Zhuzhou, CN); Xuebin Feng (Zhuzhou, CN); Binbin Hou (Zhuzhou, CN); Hang Deng (Zhuzhou, CN); Jiehua Hu (Zhuzhou, CN); Pengcheng Liang (Zhuzhou, CN); Jiangang Zhao (Zhuzhou, CN); Manchuang Zhang (Zhuzhou, CN)

Assignee: Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., Ltd.

F03D1/0675 F03D80/30 B29C66/1142 B29L2031/085 F05B2230/60 F05B2280/2006 F05B2280/6003

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12704109
App. No.: 17/599,735
Granted: Aug 11, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

The present disclosure provides a lightweight spar cap with a concave structure for a wind turbine blade and a manufacturing method thereof, a wind turbine blade and a manufacturing method thereof. The lightweight spar cap is groove-shaped as a whole, and includes supporting portions located on two wings of the lightweight spar cap and an intermediate connecting portion connecting the two supporting portions. The manufacturing method of the lightweight spar cap includes laying a reinforcing body of the intermediate connecting portion and a supporting material of the supporting portion, and performing resin infusion. By comprehensively considering multiple factors, the present disclosure reduces the weight of the wind turbine blade, improves the material utilization of the wind turbine blade, and realizes a lightweight wind turbine blade.

Claims (31)

1 . A lightweight spar cap with a concave structure for a wind turbine blade, wherein the lightweight spar cap is groove-shaped as a whole, and comprises supporting portions ( 32 ) located on two wings of the lightweight spar cap and an intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) connecting the two supporting portions ( 32 );

one splicing surface formed by connecting the supporting portion ( 32 ) and the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) is an integral plane; the shape of the integral plane is configured to be consistent with an inner side of an upper shell ( 1 ) or a lower shell ( 2 ) of the wind turbine blade for abutting;

the other splicing surface formed by connecting the supporting portion ( 32 ) and the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) is a groove-shaped discontinuous plane; a positioning groove ( 34 ) formed by the groove-shaped discontinuous plane is configured to be consistent with an end of a web ( 5 ) of the wind turbine blade for abutting and nesting; and

a cross section of the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) is in a trapezoidal shape; a reinforcing body of the intermediate connecting portion is formed by sequentially superimposing multiple layers of reinforcing fiber cloths from an upper base to a lower base of a trapezoid; a cross section of the reinforcing body formed by superimposing the reinforcing fiber cloths presents a trapezoidal shape,

wherein the positioning groove is formed by the supporting portions and the intermediate connecting portion of the lightweight spar cap, and wherein a thickness of the supporting portion ( 32 ) is greater than that of the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ), and each of the supporting portions wraps a lateral side and a part of a side of the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) into the positioning groove that is inverted trapezoidal, the side is located at the other splicing surface formed by connecting the supporting portion ( 32 ) and the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ).

2 . The lightweight spar cap with a concave structure for a wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing fiber cloths are carbon fiber cloths, and the reinforcing body is formed by laying the carbon fiber cloths with equal widths in staggered layers so as to present the trapezoidal cross section.

3 . The lightweight spar cap with a concave structure for a wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein an inclined surface ( 37 ) is provided at an outer corner of the supporting portion ( 32 ) and is kept parallel to a trapezoidal lateral side of the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ).

4 . The lightweight spar cap with a concave structure for a wind turbine blade according to claim 1 , wherein the supporting portion ( 32 ) adopts a reinforcing material composed of one or more from the group consisting of balsa, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HPE); the supporting portion ( 32 ) and the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) are integrally molded by resin infusion.

5 . A lightweight wind turbine blade, comprising an upper shell ( 1 ), a lower shell ( 2 ), a web ( 5 ) and two lightweight spar caps for the wind turbine blade, wherein the lightweight spar caps for the wind turbine blade are concave spar caps, and the two concave spar caps comprise a pressure surface lightweight spar cap ( 3 ) and a suction surface lightweight spar cap ( 4 ):

a longitudinal positioning structure is provided on one side of each of the pressure surface lightweight spar cap ( 3 ) and the suction surface lightweight spar cap ( 4 ); double ends of the web ( 5 ) are respectively connected with the positioning structures of the pressure surface lightweight spar cap ( 3 ) and the suction surface lightweight spar cap ( 4 ) through a positioning matching structure, and are fixedly connected with the pressure surface lightweight spar cap ( 3 ) and the suction surface lightweight spar cap ( 4 ) as a whole, to form a lightweight spar cap structure combination; and

one end of the lightweight spar cap structure combination for the wind turbine blade is connected with the upper shell ( 1 ), and the other end thereof is connected with the lower shell ( 2 ); the lightweight spar cap structure combination for the wind turbine blade is fixedly connected with the upper shell ( 1 ) and the lower shell ( 2 ) as a whole; double ends of the upper shell ( 1 ) and the lower shell ( 2 ) are correspondingly connected to form a leading edge ( 6 ) and a trailing edge ( 7 ) respectively;

the lightweight spar cap is groove-shaped as a whole, and comprises supporting portions ( 32 ) located on two wings of the lightweight spar cap and an intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) connecting the two supporting portions ( 32 );

wherein the positioning groove is formed by the supporting portions and the intermediate connecting portion of the lightweight spar cap, and wherein a thickness of the supporting portion ( 32 ) is greater than that of the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ), and each of the supporting portions wraps a lateral side and a part of a side of the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ) into the positioning groove ( 34 ) that is inverted trapezoidal, the side is located at the other splicing surface formed by connecting the supporting portion ( 32 ) and the intermediate connecting portion ( 36 ).

6 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 5 , wherein a trailing edge web ( 8 ) is provided in a trailing edge chamber defined by the web ( 5 ) and the trailing edge ( 7 ).

7 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 6 , wherein a starting point ( 61 ) of the trailing edge web ( 8 ) along a length direction of the blade is provided in a region that is spaced apart from a blade root ( 63 ) by 12% to 15% of a length of the blade, and an end point ( 62 ) of the trailing edge web ( 8 ) along the length direction of the blade is provided in a region that is spaced apart from the blade root ( 63 ) by 57% to 60% of the length of the blade from the blade root ( 63 ); a height of the trailing edge web ( 8 ) is smaller than that of the web ( 5 ), and the trailing edge web is parallel to the web ( 5 ).

8 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 5 , wherein the upper shell ( 1 ) and the lower shell ( 2 ) are made of a compressive and shear resistant composite material; the composite material comprises a core material and glass fiber fabrics ( 86 ) adhered on upper and lower surfaces of the core material; the core material uses a sandwich panel ( 9 ) as a support; a path is formed in the sandwich panel ( 9 ) to place a fiber bundle; a vertical fiber column ( 81 ), a diagonal fiber column ( 82 ), a longitudinal fiber rib ( 83 ) and a transverse fiber rib ( 84 ) are formed in the sandwich panel ( 9 ) by a dipping process; the diagonal fiber column ( 82 ), the longitudinal fiber rib ( 83 ) and the transverse fiber rib ( 84 ) form a lattice type fence ( 85 ) that is vertically and horizontally interwoven and integrally bonded in the sandwich panel ( 9 ); the glass fiber fabrics ( 86 ) adhered on the upper and lower surfaces of the sandwich panel ( 9 ) are bonded with the vertical fiber column ( 81 ) and the lattice type fence ( 85 ) to form an integral structure.

9 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 8 , wherein the sandwich panel ( 9 ) is made of any one or more from the group consisting of balsa, PVC, PET and HPE; the glass fiber fabric ( 86 ) is made of a carbon fiber-glass fiber composite material, and the carbon fiber-glass fiber composite material comprises a carbon fiber and a glass fiber in a mass ratio of (10-90):(10-90).

10 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 5 , wherein the lightweight wind turbine blade further comprises a lightning protection system; the lightning protection system comprises a carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) wrapping a surface of the upper shell ( 1 ) and/or the lower shell ( 2 ), at least one layer of metal belt ( 93 ) and a down conductor ( 96 ) that is connected with a wind turbine lightning protection system; the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) conducts a lightning current to the metal belt ( 93 ); the metal belt ( 93 ) is connected with the down conductor ( 96 ) through a wire.

11 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 10 , wherein the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) conducts the lightning current to the at least one layer of metal belt ( 93 ) through at least one additional carbon fiber cloth layer ( 92 ); a width of the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) depends on a lightning current carrying capacity of a carbon fiber material, and a minimum requirement is that the lightning current passes through the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) without damaging the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ).

12 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 11 , wherein there are multiple additional carbon fiber cloth layers ( 92 ) and multiple layers of metal belts ( 93 ); the multiple additional carbon fiber cloth layers ( 92 ) and the multiple layers of metal belts ( 93 ) are alternately arranged, such that the lightning is dispersed to the multiple layers of metal belts ( 93 ) through the multiple additional carbon fiber cloth layers ( 92 ) and is finally conducted to the down conductor ( 96 ); a superimposed area of each additional carbon fiber cloth layer ( 92 ) is the same, and each additional carbon fiber cloth layer ( 92 ) completely wraps the metal belt ( 93 ).

13 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 10 , wherein the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) is laid from a blade tip to the blade root ( 63 ); a connection point of the metal belt ( 93 ) and the carbon fiber cloth layer ( 91 ) along the length direction of the blade is located in a region that is spaced apart from the blade root ( 63 ) by 30% of the length of the wind turbine blade, and is connected with the blade by integral infusion.

14 . The lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 10 , wherein the metal belt ( 93 ) passes through the blade shell and extends into the blade chamber to be twisted into a strand, and is connected with the wire through a doubling device ( 95 ); upper and lower wires are connected with the down conductor ( 96 ) through a wire doubling device ( 94 ); the down conductor ( 96 ) is connected with the wind turbine lightning protection system at the blade root ( 63 ).

15 . A lightweight spar cap structure combination for the lightweight wind turbine blade according to claim 5 , wherein the positioning structure and the positioning matching structure adopt a groove matching positioning mode; one of the positioning structure and the positioning matching structure is configured as a positioning groove ( 34 ), and the other thereof is configured as an insert that fits with the positioning groove ( 34 ); and the groove matching positioning mode is as follows:

the positioning groove ( 34 ) is a trapezoidal groove respectively provided on the pressure surface lightweight spar cap ( 3 ) and the suction surface lightweight spar cap ( 4 ), and the insert is an upper base plate ( 51 ) and a lower base plate ( 52 ) which are respectively provided at double ends of the web ( 5 ) and matched with the trapezoidal groove;