SBIR Phase I: Novel Technique to Manufacture Large Turbine Blades

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在消除陆地风电场大型风力涡轮机叶片所面临的运输问题。由于道路长度、高度和重量的限制，用卡车运输叶片的尺寸限制在标准的50m-60m之间。如果超过这一运输限制的叶片可用于陆上风力发电场，则可以使用更大的涡轮机，低级风力发电场将开放开发，并且可以使用现有涡轮机增加容量系数。SBIR一期项目将进一步开发模块化叶片工具概念，允许在风电场现场生产100米或更长长度的连续叶片梁，从而消除道路运输问题。这个工具概念包含了一系列优化现场方法有效性的后勤改进。独特的制造方法允许叶片结构部件的卓越集成，生产更坚固的产品，不容易受到典型叶片失效模式的影响。在第一阶段，可行性将在三个主要领域进行评估：制造方法、结构和动态性能、物流和成本建模。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是降低成本，从而增加风力发电的渗透率。风力发电机的输出功率随叶片半径的平方而增加。海上涡轮机（在5MW到7MW范围内）使用的叶片长度为60米到80米。如果陆基涡轮机的运输不是问题，这些涡轮机将继续扩大其海上同行的容量。更长的叶片也将允许使用现有涡轮机开发低级别风力站点，从而增加国内可再生能源的渗透率。此外，更长的叶片可以增加现有涡轮机的容量系数，降低其能源成本，这是风电项目开发商至关重要的话题。风力发电场的叶片制造将为当地创造就业机会。虽然100米刀片刀具可以运输，但其物流管道很大，仍然需要本地运输和大规模生产的所有供应链物流。然而，不是所有这些都在州外或国外完成，然后运输到美国农场，很大一部分叶片制造工作将在涡轮机现场进行。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project intends to eliminate the transportation problem faced by large wind turbine blades for land-based wind farms. Transporting blades by truck constrains their size to a limit that falls somewhere between standard dash 50m-60m, due to roadway length, height and weight limitations. If blades over this transportation limit were available for use at land-based wind farms, larger turbines could be used, lower class wind sites would be opened for development, and capacity factors could be increased using existing turbines. This SBIR Phase I project will further develop a modular blade tooling concept that will allow continuous blade spars of 100m or more to be produced on-site at wind farms thus eliminating road transportation issues. This tooling concept encompasses an array of logistical improvements that optimize the effectiveness of this on-site approach. The unique manufacturing method allows superior integration of the structural components of the blade, producing a more robust product that is not susceptible to typical blade failure modes. During this Phase I feasibility will be evaluated "across three major areas: Manufacturing Methodology,Structural and Dynamic Performance, and Logistics and Cost Modeling.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to reduce the cost and therefore increase the penetration of wind power. Wind turbine power output increases with the square of the blade radius. Offshore turbines (in the 5MW to 7MW range) use blades that are 60m to 80m in length. If transportation was not an issue for land-based turbines, these turbines would continue to scale in capacity with their offshore counterparts. Longer blades would also allow for the development of lower class wind sites with currently available turbines increasing the penetration of domestic renewable energy. Additionally longer blades would allow an increase in capacity factors for currently available turbines lowering their cost of energy, a topic of critical importance to wind project developers. Blade manufacturing at the wind farm will create local jobs. Although a 100m blade tool may be transportable, its logistics pipeline is large and will still require local transport and all the supply chain logistics of large scale production. However, instead of all this being done out of state or out of the country and then transported to a US farm, a large portion of the blade manufacturing work will occur at the turbine site.