PFI-RP: Value-Added Products from Decommissioned Composite Material Wind Turbine Blades

这一创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于发展一家以大规模基础设施废物为原料的企业--表明对创新和环境可持续性的关注可以推动有利可图的商业机会。该项目将建立在NSF赞助的研究之前开发的知识产权的基础上，以展示退役复合材料风力涡轮机叶片的增值产品。这些在美国退役的风力涡轮机叶片将被转换为电力传输结构和其他大型民用基础设施，使用研究团队开发的专有软件和硬件，并由两项临时美国专利涵盖。由这笔PFI赠款产生的商业企业将从一个双边市场获得价值，收入来自让风力涡轮机叶片退役的风力发电场，以及获得风力叶片产品的客户。拟议中的项目由软件支持，该软件根据激光扫描或风力叶片照片创建的数据创建风力涡轮机叶片的几何和结构模型。这些算法创建了在土木工程载荷条件下分析新结构所需的结构特性数据，这与风叶最初设计时所针对的气动载荷有很大不同。该团队开发的其他算法被用来估计复合材料的剩余寿命。风力涡轮机叶片中的结构被用来匹配退役叶片的能力以适应新的应用。该技术最初的目标市场是大型输电杆，通常高70至120英尺，用于将电力从发电厂输送到电网。该团队开发的产品将通过增加基础、斜拉索支撑、交叉臂和其他载电接口将风叶改造成电线杆。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project lies in the development of an enterprise that uses as its feedstock large-scale infrastructure waste – demonstrating that a focus on innovation and environmental sustainability can drive profitable business opportunities. The project will build on previously developed intellectual property from NSF-sponsored research to demonstrate value-added products from decommissioned composite material wind turbine blades. These wind turbine blades, coming out of service in the United States, will be converted to electrical power transmission structures and other large-scale civil infrastructure using proprietary software and hardware developed by the research team and covered by two provisional U.S. patents. The commercial enterprise resulting from this PFI grant will accrue value from a two-sided market with revenues coming from the wind farms decommissioning the wind turbine blades, and the clients who receive products created from the wind blades. The proposed project is enabled by software that creates geometric and structural models of the wind turbine blades from data created from laser scans or photographs of the wind blades. The algorithms create the structural property data required for analysis of the new structures under civil engineering loading conditions, which are quite different from the aerodynamic loading for which the wind blades were originally designed. Additional algorithms developed by the team are used to estimate the residual life of the composite materials. The structures in the wind turbine blades are used to match the capacity of the de-commissioned blades to the new application. The initial target market for the technology is large power transmission poles, typically 70 to 120 feet high, used to transmit electricity from electrical generation plants to the grid. Products developed by the team will adapt the wind blade into an electricity pole by adding foundations, supports for cable-stays, cross-arms, and other electricity carrying interfaces.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.