Biobased polyurethane materials and a new process from Bayer MaterialScience may help strengthen blades and decrease the weight of root rings in wind turbines while reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in composites.
The traditional resin infusion process for forming large, high-strength components such as wind turbine parts uses vinyl ester, unsaturated polyester, and epoxy. These materials have limited strength and give off VOCs. Increasing blade sizes make limited strength a problem. The gravity-induced bending loads on blades increase dynamic stress, so materials that reduce blade mass while retaining blade strength are needed.
Bayer MaterialScience has developed the Baydur family of polyurethane systems for producing large polyurethane composites by vacuum infusion with increased stiffness and fatigue endurance. The composites are lighter, tougher, and stronger than their counterparts.
Composites made from a soy-based polyurethane resin can produce lighter wind turbine components, such as these root rings, that retain their strength. (Source: Bayer MaterialScience)
"Polyurethane has usually been associated with fast processing, such as reaction injection molding, not resin infusion, where gel times can be an hour or two," Dr. Usama Younes, Bayer's principal scientist, said in a press release. The Baydur resins possess low viscosity and long-gelling properties.
Compared with epoxy- and vinyl ester-based composites, the Baydur polyurethane system has a faster infusion time and superior tensile fatigue, interlaminar fracture toughness, and fatigue crack growth. "The infusion rate is about two times faster than epoxy," Younes told us in an email. "Tensile fatigue is about 10 times better than epoxy, and fracture toughness is about two times higher than epoxy. The Baydur sustainable raw material is a soy-based polyether polyol." Polyurethane also gives off fewer VOCs.
Yes, the technology that's getting developed in one of those gov/industry/university projects works to grab winds that are not pointing in such a way as to spin stationary blades while at the same time optimizing the spin by adjusting the blade positions.
Al, thanks for the added details on improving turbine blade design. And you're right, the weight reduction seems to be the big deal here for composite blades, especially as they get a lot larger.
Chuck, no data of that kind was attached to the press release, but Bayer's site is pretty extensive and they may well have MDS or other such spec info located there.
Aldo, thanks for your input on the complex algorithms required to optimize the operation and performance of components such as blades. Beth, I'd also think that motion sensors and accelerometers would probably also be involved.
Funny you should raise the issue of idle turbine blades. We have one fairly large wind turbine located in my town and I have say, most of the time I drive by it, it sits idle. We live in a coastal community and the wind turbine is fairly near a pretty good size river that flows directly into the Atlantic. Needless to say, coastal winds are a big deal here. Again, despite the proximity to all this, the blades are spinning far less than I ever thought they would.
That said, I imagine the turning of the blades to adapt to wind direction has to be where it's at for future development. I would guess in addition to CAD and CAE software, intelligent sensors, embedded software, and some sort of accelerometer technology would be critical, perhaps??
Hi, this is interesting for the energy industry because wind power is highly expected to become a major source or energy for many countries. Nowadays it is very attractive for investors to invest in a wind power plant when the resource is good instead of investing in a fossil fuel utility plant. I have studied new methods for optimization of turbine components like blades by using programming techniques like genetic algorithms combined with CAD/CAE software to increase efficiency of energy conversion, reduce size and weight of components and making the technology more affordable. More information about genetic algorithms used for wind blade development can be read in the following link: http://mozart.dis.ulpgc.es/Gias/Publications/mendez-greiner.pdf
I would also expect that reducing the weight of the blades could help boost overall performance. With the emphasis on offshore installations and much larger turbines, the weight of the blades is a huge factor for design, installation and maintenance.
Blade control is one of the areas where potential technology developments could improve the efficiency of wind turbines. Today, most turbines are using independent pitch control where each blade is independently controlled by a servo actuator. But all of the blades respond to the same command as they go through their cycle. Individual pitch blade control provides real-time feedback from blades or monitoring devices, and one approach is to embed sensors into the blades for real time load feedback. The system closes the loop at the turbine level using that feedback to significantly reduce the load variation from blade to blade. The result is an ability to handle peak gusts better and more quickly.
Oh, I get it. I didn't realize you meant not only getting the most out of a particular gust of wind, but keeping them going in the first place, so they are turning whenever there's wind instead of staying idle just because there's wind but not going the right way.
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