Design Project 1 – Renewable Technology Challenge Wind Turbine Blade Technology ENGINEER 1P13 – Integrated Cornerstone Design Projects in Engineering Tutorial 01 Team Mon-02 Pusapati Karthik (Pusapatk) Submitted: Course Instructors: Dr. McDonald, Dr. Doyle, Dr. Ebrahimi, Dr. Fleisig, Dr. Hassan, Dr. Zurob 1P13 DP-1 Project Report Design Studio Section T01 Team MON 02 Independent Research Summary Introduction: Wind Turbines convert kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. There are many factors which affect the amount of KE harvested such as location, Temperature, Terrain, as well as the Earth’s rotation. Wind Turbines in engineering are classified into two types: Vertical Axis Turbine and Horizontal Axis turbine. Our focus is on wind farms powering off-grid locations for sustainability which usually is HAT’s. [1] Design factors: Many elements of the turbine are engineered to the minute detail to achieve desired results. The axis of windmill determines whether the blades are placed upwind/downwind. Factors such as Blade length, the number of blades, Height of placement, Colour of blades, The material used in spar and prepreg are altered to achieve desired results such as optimal weight to stiffness ratio, tensile strength, rotational speed and to withstand against elastic buckling. Individual sheets are infused together to achieve a blade using modern engineering techniques. The materials used in the construction of blades are not uniform but follow a hybrid pattern, specially designed to meet the desired features. Materials such as Epoxyglass is used to increase stiffness and compression strength but is replaced by carbon fiber in the main spar for better tensile strength, stiffer and lower density than Glass fiber used in spar cap. Furthermore, Nano engineering techniques improve resistance and compressive strength and fracture toughness from 30% to 80%. [2][3] The longest blade is 115.5 m long and is made with such modern engineering techniques. Blade maintenance is as important as production and is mainly of two types, preventive and corrective. Main type of damages that occur to these blades are due to cracks, impact of lighting or bird. [4] Considering the complexity of the project we will be proceeding with HAT’s and designing hybrid curved blades which are aerodynamic and resilient, thereby harvesting the maximum energy. [4] 2 1P13 DP-1 Project Report Design Studio Section T01 Team MON 02 Reference List [1] Credible information by Gov of US stored in online webpage https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work [2] Online directory “Sciencedirect” https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/vertical-axis-wind-turbine [3] Webpage Alternative Energy Tutorials https://www.alternative-energy-tutorials.com/wind-energy/wind-turbine-bladedesign.html [4] Materials for Wind Turbine Blades: An Overview noted in National Library of mEDICINE (NIH) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5706232/ 3
