3 ms·

At the risk of asking a dumb question - why do wind turbine blades need to be transported in one single impossibly large piece? They are all composite material

At the risk of asking a dumb question - why do wind turbine blades need to be transported in one single impossibly large piece? They are all composite materials, right? Can't they be manufactured in a couple pieces and fused together properly on-site, using technology that is a more economical as compared to designing and building new types of aircraft?

fnordpiglet 3y ago
I have no expertise of any sort but I would assume a contiguous fiber material would have higher strength and the fuse joint would be considerably weaker.
icegreentea2 3y ago
They don't -need- to be. There are commercial options (see: https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/onshore-wind/cypress-platform https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/onshore-wind/... for example) with segmented blades. However, I understand that doing a composite/chemical joint basically involves setting up a mini-factory, since your joint quality will depend very much on being able to control the conditions. Mechanical joints require less on site infrastructure, but have an efficiency penalty (https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/84397.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/84397.pdf). In any case, I imagine Radia is betting on getting enough volume to make the development cost irrelevant. In the end, you had to transport the roughly the same amount of material onsite anyways, in roughly the same form factor. The cost of a fleet of aircraft can be amortized over a huge geographic span wind farms, while also being attractive from the perspective of delivering replacements. I definitely think segmented blades are a way forward, but I can also see Radia's argument. I can totally believe that the "real winner" is going to a combination of situation and execution.
pineaux 3y ago
I dont have any expertise either, but wouldnt it be more feasible to make a mobile factory that can be built on site? Power shouldnt be a problem, a huge cable needs to be laid anyway. Just turn it around after the job is done. Just have a traveling circus with a large construction tent. Trailers that connect to each other etc. Sound more feasible than a plane to be honest.
- usrusr 3y ago
  That's an approach explored by many it seems, and success on this front would certainly have to be considered a risk of investment in novel transport solutions. As far as I know, factories heat-treat (and pressure-treat) those composites in one go, in a huge oven enclosing the entire blade. On-site manufacture would either require those huge heat treatment units built locally or somehow made transportable, or a process that does without. It might be a bit of a chicken/egg situation, the materials science required to do without the full-size oven not being worthwhile without a transportable implementation of all the assembly and layup arrangement that would have to be done before, and the logistics not happening without a solution on the materials side.

fnordpiglet 3y ago

I have no expertise of any sort but I would assume a contiguous fiber material would have higher strength and the fuse joint would be considerably weaker.

icegreentea2 3y ago

They don't -need- to be. There are commercial options (see: https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/onshore-wind/cypress-platform https://www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wind-energy/onshore-wind/... for example) with segmented blades. However, I understand that doing a composite/chemical joint basically involves setting up a mini-factory, since your joint quality will depend very much on being able to control the conditions. Mechanical joints require less on site infrastructure, but have an efficiency penalty (https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/84397.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/84397.pdf). In any case, I imagine Radia is betting on getting enough volume to make the development cost irrelevant. In the end, you had to transport the roughly the same amount of material onsite anyways, in roughly the same form factor. The cost of a fleet of aircraft can be amortized over a huge geographic span wind farms, while also being attractive from the perspective of delivering replacements. I definitely think segmented blades are a way forward, but I can also see Radia's argument. I can totally believe that the "real winner" is going to a combination of situation and execution.

pineaux 3y ago

I dont have any expertise either, but wouldnt it be more feasible to make a mobile factory that can be built on site? Power shouldnt be a problem, a huge cable needs to be laid anyway. Just turn it around after the job is done. Just have a traveling circus with a large construction tent. Trailers that connect to each other etc. Sound more feasible than a plane to be honest.

usrusr 3y ago
That's an approach explored by many it seems, and success on this front would certainly have to be considered a risk of investment in novel transport solutions. As far as I know, factories heat-treat (and pressure-treat) those composites in one go, in a huge oven enclosing the entire blade. On-site manufacture would either require those huge heat treatment units built locally or somehow made transportable, or a process that does without. It might be a bit of a chicken/egg situation, the materials science required to do without the full-size oven not being worthwhile without a transportable implementation of all the assembly and layup arrangement that would have to be done before, and the logistics not happening without a solution on the materials side.