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

这一创新-研究伙伴关系项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于发展一个以大规模基础设施废物为原料的企业-这表明，注重创新和环境可持续性可以推动有利可图的商业机会。该项目将建立在以前开发的知识产权从国家科学基金会赞助的研究，以证明增值产品从退役的复合材料风力涡轮机叶片。这些风力涡轮机叶片将在美国退役，将使用研究团队开发的专有软件和硬件转换为电力传输结构和其他大型民用基础设施，并获得两项临时美国专利。由该PFI赠款产生的商业企业将从双边市场中获得价值，收入来自停用风力涡轮机叶片的风力发电场，以及接收由风力叶片产生的产品的客户。拟议的项目是由软件，创建风力涡轮机叶片的几何和结构模型，从激光扫描或风力叶片的照片创建的数据。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，这些载荷条件与风力叶片最初设计的空气动力学载荷有很大不同。该团队开发的其他算法用于估计复合材料的剩余寿命。 风力涡轮机叶片中的结构用于使退役叶片的容量与新应用相匹配。该技术最初的目标市场是大型输电杆，通常为70至120英尺高，用于将电力从发电厂传输到电网。该团队开发的产品将通过增加基础、拉索支撑、横臂和其他电力传输接口，将风力叶片改造成电线杆。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值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.