Feasibility study of pultruded blades for wind turbine rotors

Conference · Mon Feb 28 04:00:00 EST 2000

OSTI ID:753806

Migliore, P G; Cheney, M C

In work performed under subcontract to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a preliminary design study and proof-of-concept field test were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using pultruded blades for wind turbine rotors. A 400 kW turbine was selected for the design study, and a scaled 80 kW rotor was fabricated and tested as a demonstration of the concept. To examine the feasibility of pultruded blades, several issues were addressed, including power performance, tower strikes, yaw stability, stall flutter, fatigue, and rotor cost. Results showed that with proper design, rotors using pultruded blades demonstrate acceptable fatigue life and stable yaw behavior without tower strikes. Furthermore, blades using this technology may be manufactured for approximately half the cost of conventional blades. Field tests of the scaled rotor provided experimental data on power performance and loads while verifying stable yaw operation.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 753806
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-500-27506
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
FABRICATION
FATIGUE
FATIGUE LIFE
LIFE-CYCLE COST
ORIENTATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
STABILITY
STABLE YAW
TURBINE BLADES
WIND ENERGY
WIND TURBINE ROTORS
PULTRUDED BLADES
WIND TURBINES
WIND TURBINES