Low Speed Technology for Small Turbine Development Reaction Injection Molded 7.5 Meter Wind Turbine Blade

Technical Report · Tue Jul 31 00:00:00 EDT 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/921599· OSTI ID:921599

Wright, David M

An optimized small turbine blade (7.5m radius) was designed and a partial section molded with the RIM (reaction-injection molded polymer) process for mass production. The intended market is for generic three-bladed wind turbines, 100 kilowatts or less, for grid-assist end users with rural and semi-rural sites, such as the farm/ranch market, having low to moderate IEC Class 3-4 wind regimes. This blade will have substantial performance improvements over, and be cheaper than, present-day 7.5m blades. This is made possible by the injection-molding process, which yields high repeatability, accurate geometry and weights, and low cost in production quantities. No wind turbine blade in the 7.5m or greater size has used this process. The blade design chosen uses a RIM skin bonded to a braided infused carbon fiber/epoxy spar. This approach is attractive to present users of wind turbine blades in the 5-10m sizes. These include rebladeing California wind farms, refurbishing used turbines for the Midwest farm market, and other manufacturers introducing new turbines in this size range.

• Research Organization: Composite Engineering, Inc.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: FG36-04GO14256
• OSTI ID: 921599
• Report Number(s): GO14256Final; TRN: US200806%%112
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
CARBON
DESIGN
GEOMETRY
MANUFACTURERS
MARKET
PERFORMANCE
PRODUCTION
TURBINE BLADES
TURBINES
VELOCITY
WIND TURBINE ARRAYS
WIND TURBINES
turbine blade
RIM
Injection Molding
100kW or less
IEC Class 3-4
Farm Market
Ranch Market
Grid Connected
Carbor Epoxie Spar
low cost
refurbished wind turbine
accurate geometry
uniform weight
Midwest Market