WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition 2019

e-POSTER: Build-up to the building-up. 3D printing in wind energy applications: prototypes and case study

22 May 19
11:55 AM - 12:15 PM

Tracks: Poster Presentations, Wind Turbine Components & Subsystems

Speaker(s): Damian Kadrowski, Build-up to the building-up. 3D printing in wind energy applications: prototypes and case study, Institute of Turbomachinery, Lodz Universty o

Throughout recent years the wind industry has been looking into the promising ways to use the additive manufacturing to reduce the cost of energy. Examples include the 3D printing of concrete wind turbine towers in-situ, permitting to cut down on transport and logistics. Or 3D printing the mould for wind turbine blade directly, eliminating the necessity to use the plug. GUST team from Lodz University of Technology (Poland) has been exploring the path of various additive manufacturing techniques application for producing complete wind turbine blades. Functional HAWT prototypes of rotor diameter 1.6 m were examined for integrity in no-wind conditions and tested in a wind tunnel experiment at predicted operating conditions. The research team has also been using small-scale 3D printed models of HAWTs and VAWTs for aerodynamic assessment of developed blade designs in a wind tunnel. The techniques incorporated by the team included up to now Fused-Deposition Modelling (FDM) and Stereolithography (SLA) in various non-metallic materials. The presentation will be devoted to sharing the experience acquired from the aforementioned studies. It will comment on the hitherto results and observations concerning the applicability and performance of the 3D printed blades in prototype and end product applications. It will also attempt to comment on the perspectives of scaling up the technology for big wind turbine projects.