| Work Detail |
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have effectively integrated robotic assistance into the production of wind turbine blades, offering the possibility of eradicating challenging working environments for humans and enhancing product uniformity. The research was financed by the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Despite robots being employed by the wind energy sector for tasks such as painting and polishing blades, automation has not seen widespread adoption. Research at the laboratory highlights a robot’s capability to carry out essential tasks like trimming, grinding, and sanding blades. These crucial steps come after the blade’s two sides are manufactured using a mold and subsequently bonded together.
The study took place at the Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology (CoMET) facility located at NREL’s Flatirons Campus. During the research, the robot operated on a 5-meter-long segment of a blade. Although wind turbine blades are much longer, their tendency to bend and deflect due to their own weight means that a robot would need to be programmed to handle larger blades in sections.
Using a sequence of scans, the researchers generated a 3D model depicting the blade’s position and accurately pinpointed the front and rear sections of the airfoil, a specialized shape crucial for ensuring smooth airflow over the blade. Subsequently, the team programmed the robot to execute a series of tasks, evaluating its performance based on accuracy and speed. Through their assessment, the researchers identified areas for enhancement, particularly concerning grinding. The robot exhibited tendencies to over-grind certain sections of the blade while under-grinding others.
The article titled “Toolpath Generation for Automated Wind Turbine Blade Finishing Operations” has been published in the journal Wind Energy. The paper is authored by a team from NREL, including Casey Nichols, Scott Lambert, Petr Sindler, Derek Berry, David Barnes, Ryan Beach, and David Snowberg.
“I would consider it a success,” said Hunter Huth, a robotics engineer at NREL and lead author. “Not everything operated as well as we wanted it to, but we learned all the lessons we think we need to make it meet or exceed our expectations.”
“This work is critical to enable significant U.S.based blade manufacturing for the domestic wind turbine market,” added Daniel Laird, director of the National Wind Technology Center at NREL. “Though it may not be obvious, automating some of the labor in blade manufacture can lead to more U.S. jobs because it improves the economics of domestic blades versus imported blades.”
“The motive of this research was to develop automation methods that could be used to make domestically manufactured blades cost-competitive globally,” Huth said. “Currently offshore blades are not produced in the U.S. due to high labor rates. The finishing process is very labor intensive and has a high job turnover rate due to the harsh nature of the work. By automating the finishing process, domestic offshore blade manufacturing can become more economically viable.” |
