Anyone have info on wind turbine blade construction? Also any helpful tips for getting into that industry?
Generally infused. Fiberglass and carbon is used, not always both though.
Look for manufacturers of turbine blades and see if they’ll hire you.
Blades - or the whole machine?
Last summer I saw some blades on transport. They were – HUGE – 14+ feet tall at root chord and 2 semis long! :eek:
Something smaller maybe? I have some coordinates (I’d have to look for them - so let me know if you are interested). They are for milling (on a cnc router – or maybe could hotwire foam for core). They are a bit smaller - maybe on order of 12 - 14 foot radius if that helps.
Can’t speak to the power unit too much - there are plans out there building alternator/generator/permanent magnet motors for energy production. The one I have is a perm Mag motor - 3 blade AIRX. The blades are clearly carbon fiber.
Cheers - Jim
If you have some qualifications in the composites area or engineering/design feild you should be able to get in to the industry without too much trouble, after all it is a growth industry. A lot of manufacturers are poping up in China (like everything), apparently the quality and lifespan of the turbines they produce is very much inferior to those made in other parts of the world.
I was at a composites show here in Australia a while back and spoke at length with a rep from Vestas. Very interesting peices of equipment they build. The service crew come in on a chopper and land on the body, they control the blades with a remote control to make take off and landing safer. It has bunks and facilites if the chopper has to make an emergency take off if the weather turns ugly while the service crew are at work. All kinds of monitoring equipment which sends messages to the owners mobile phone. I think we’ll see the day where the blades are infused in multiple peice molds at the site to overcome the transportation limitations of such huge componants.
Good luck with it…
Splint
yeah. PM me your email, and I’ll try to scan/take a pic of general diagrams. I did some research awhile back, but didn’t find anything good. There is ALOT of design that goes into the SHAPE of the blade to make it the most efficent.
Check out vertical wind turbines. i think they have simple curved shapes (think a squirrel cage fan) and might work without the 30ft clearance normal turbines need.
For those interested in DIY wind turbines – here are a few sites I have “reviewed/considered” wrt Wind Turbines.
In no particular order:
http://www.ppart.de//programming/java/profiles/NACA4.html
http://www.windpower.org/composite-85.htm
http://www.windmission.dk/workshop/workshop.html
http://www.warlock.com.au/10kwblades-abstract.htm
http://www.demandfoamcutting.com/twister.html
Clearly a foam core and composite structure is a good way to go.
Vertical Turbines:
These have frequently “sparked” interest - but are generally less efficient. Unfortunately, as on a sailboat (my main application BTW that is why the “handle” Chainplates) they are much more readily placed and used. Perhaps a better option is a “more than three blade” application. Get more HP out of the available wind (means WATTS for electricity) and less diameter. I modified one I have on our sailboat this way and it did produce more power at lower wind speed.
In deep dark ages (when in grad school) a project I helped an architect with, was designing a Ducted Fan - wind turbine - showed a lot of promise - WATTS. But as he wanted to build conventionally - not composite - it would be too heavy to put aloft!
Cheers - Jim
Wow - just this week I was discussing this with our Electrical Engineer. I can do solid modeling and we have CAM and 3D cnc machines where we could make a mould with high density foam and pop out blades relatively easily…
I guess a group of engineers from my company was talking to some UW experts in this a couple weeks ago.
My mind is fried from a wicked day at work, but I’ll post back anything that I find out when it is working again… 
Check out these babies! We spotted them last week while we were out for a final fall cruise on the St. Lawrence River. These are the nacels they’re unloading. I’m guessing these are for smaller mills…
Then we spotted these on a barge ready for unloading. These blades have to be over 200’ long!! :eek: The tower is in the center and it’s at least 20’ in dia.
Saw a special on the Discovery channel awhile back where they’re setting up huge farms in the Baltic. I think Calif & a few other windy states/provinces are setting them up as well.
Lowride, my brain is fried from a hard day of work today too. Post up when you have some info on the subject 
While we’re on the topic of this, how 'bout a video of one of these babies self-destructing? Apparently the auto-braking system…err…broke. Then the whole thing broke!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FZtmlHwcA&feature=related
It’s kinda cool to see the closeups of the blades…they don’t look like much more than hollow fiberglass structures!
Nice clip, I like that.
I think they may be made from various materials, this one from banana skins maybe?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YCvf61_ebgM&feature=related
I wonder if there’s any vid of that unit failing…looks like whatever they were made of, all that failed there was the seam sealing.
Clearly, we need to work on our banana skin adhesive!
yup…hollow is light. Problem is, they normally do 2 halves and bond together. One company has started doing 1 piece blades. I’m sure that tech will catch up soon. They are mostlly fiberglass due to the cost of carbon. Most only use carbon in key locations.
I LOOOOVE that video though!
I love this picture too!
Another one on fire here for you:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4N4HQv-UyUo&feature=related
I thought it strange how the turbines are burning near the tips 
If I had to guess, I’d say the fire started in the top area of the tower, where all the gearing and generation is housed, spread to the blades from there, and worked their way out to the tips from the center.
well, they are hollow. smoke rises…eh
The left hand blade is pointing down…
Saw this on the news and thought of you guys:
i cna’t listen to it, but just watching the video made me fall asleep. Same 3 shots over and over :-/
gezzuz…UFOs? What about REALLY TALL elves?