Long and Wide CNC Machine Blades

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Excerpt: The third generation of a multi-processing equipment, RAPA G3, reduces the machining and finishing time spent on large parts, such as turbine blades. The robotic machine-tool supports a variety of tasks such as scanning, measuring and inspection, and cutting. Tools include spray heads, water-jet cut …

First Assess the Site, Then Build the Wind Farm

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Excerpt: Wind developers come in all sizes. For those who would like to offset their electric bills with a small turbine or two, local ordinances provide sufficient guidance and permission. But those who would like to install units capable of generating a few megawatts and more will have to do a little homew …

Fast Accurate Flow Solver for Wind Turbine Simulations

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Excerpt: AcuSolve, a general-purpose finite-element-based flow solver, has evolved through years of development, experience, and feedback. The software's advantages are its reliability, speed, and accuracy. Users can rapidly obtain quality solutions without iterating on solution procedures or worrying ab …

Tools for Torque, Tools for Tension

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Excerpt: Wind turbine OEMs provide plenty of guidelines and instructions for tightening the bolts on their equipment. Each bolt gets a prescribed torque or tension. Bolts that fasten tower flanges, for instance, are often tightened to 2065 ft-lb. while foundation bolts are assigned a particular tension. Tens …

How Will the Waxman-Markey Bill Affect the Energy Industry?

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Excerpt: Controversy has arisen around the House of Representatives’ approval of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) of 2009, also referred to as the Waxman-Markey bill. As you’d expect, many coal-powered utilities are taking a public stand against the bill which limits allowable carbon …

CanWEA Attracts Top OEMs

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Excerpt: Officials for the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Toronto say they sold out all 350-booth spaces to 235 exhibitors at the September event. The attendee count topped 2,000. What’s more, the conference drew ten utility and commercial wind turbine OEMs, a …

Synthetics Get More Work Out of Wind Turbines

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Excerpt: Wind turbine nacelles are challenging environments for drivetrains. Input forces (wind captured by blades) can vary ±20% in the span of just three seconds. Unstable drivetrain foundations generate misalignments and additional stress. And the moisture levels and temperatures extremes outdoors are ge …

Nat Labs & OEMs Have Ideas, Suggestions for Suppliers

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Excerpt: The recent Wind Power Explained conference, presented at the Design and Manufacture Expo in Chicago, slated a full day of discussions to attendees on topics presented by the DOE, NREL, Sandia Labs, GE Energy, Northern Wind, and Clipper Windpower. Here’s a sampling: “The DOE recognizes the cha …

A Better Way to Protect Generator Bearings

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Excerpt: Although many wind farms in the U.S. are generating electricity and well beyond a testing stage, their debugging continues. Many of these turbines suffer design-related failures within their first few years of operation. Damaged bearings, for instance, can cause generator failures, which lead to …

Tight or Not, This Bolt Tells

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Excerpt: The VLI or Visual Load Indicator is a tension indicator built into the head of a bolt or stud. Reading the dial tells whether or not the bolt has reached its proper fastener load. If the bright yellow tension indicator stripe is hidden on the black face, clamp load remains assured within ±5%. If th …