Six Things to Consider When Developing Wind Turbine Blades

In a rapidly growing and increasingly competitive industry, wind turbine blade manufacturers are struggling to lower the cost of delivered energy. To achieve this goal, engineering teams are given the daunting task of producing ever lighter and larger blades to increase the output of a single wind turbine system while at the same time reducing labor and other manufacturing costs.
 
But this is a tall order because today’s emerging composite manufacturing environment is disconnected from engineering and insufficiently equipped to manufacture sophisticated composite designs at high volume. As a result, wind turbine blade manufacturers are in search of a better composite blade development process and a partner who can help them make it happen.

So where should you start when trying to decide on a solution to help you meet these challenges? There are six critical factors to consider when deciding upon a software application and a prospective partner. The solution and partner should:

• Enable the transition from manual to automated manufacturing with the aim of reducing cost and cycle times, thus maximizing profits and market share. Encourage a design-for-manufacturing approach that can be used across the conceptual, preliminary and detailed design phases and supports multiple processes, including autoclave curing, resin injection and automated deposition.

• Provide improved blade quality to avoid premature failures and the resulting high litigation costs. This lowers lifecycle costs and makes it possible to command a premium price.

• Enhance blade performance by implementing a truly concurrent sizing, design and analysis process that enables multiple design alternatives to be quickly evaluated. This encourages the use of new materials and manufacturing processes and improves aerodynamics, reduces noise and vibrations, minimizes weight and accelerates part optimization —all keys to increasing blade performance and lowering wind turbine lifecycle costs.

• Provide the ability to easily customize designs so innovative solutions can be devised for different blade sizes, wind profiles and specific site and energy generation conditions.

• Offer flexible and open support for multiple and best-in-class CAD, CAE, CAM and data management systems without vendor constraints or third party gateways.

• Finally, the partner should be a recognized thought leader in composites engineering. They should have experience partnering with leading companies in a variety of industries so they are well equipped to develop the vision and processes necessary to meet your challenges specific to the wind industry.

VISTAGY and its FiberSIM® composites engineering software meet all of these requirements. VISTAGY has strategic partnerships with the leading wind industry manufacturers and nearly 20 years experience in multiple industries developing software for creating highly complex composites products. Together, VISTAGY and FiberSIM provide wind turbine blade manufacturers with the perfect solutions to keep up with the industry’s demand for cost-effective blades that are larger and lighter than ever before.

To learn more, contact us at vistagy_viewpoint@vistagy.com.

Send this page to a Friend