47 www.drivesncontrols.com July/August 2024 CLEAN ENERGY n ... as blades are given a sustainable upgrade The average wind turbine generates enough electricity in 46 minutes to power a US home for a month. And with more than 70,800 turbines across the country, wind power has now surpassed hydroelectric power as America’s largest source of renewable energy. With the help of a $2m grant from the US Department of Energy, researchers from Virginia Tech university are pioneering processes using additive manufacturing, computational design, and recyclable, highstrength thermoplastic materials, to make wind energy more sustainable. The grant is part of a $72m initiative to innovate manufacturing processes for wind technologies and create sustainable solutions for harnessing wind energy. “Although the energy generated by wind turbines is green, the materials they are made of are not recyclable, creating a tremendous amount of waste,”explains Professor Chris Williams, of Virginia Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, who is joint leader of the project. “We are looking to dramatically reduce waste, completely eliminate all hazardous materials, and enable 3D printing of a completely recyclable wind turbine.” To accomplish this will require the convergence of three innovations: n robotically printing large objects using new technology created in Virginia Tech’s Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (Dreams) lab; n optimising designs to ensure materials are printed in the most ecient way; and n using a novel polymer composite material that has the properties of glass-brereinforced composites, but is recyclable. A Virginia Tech wind tunnel will take measurements of the printed blades. Currently, most wind turbine blades are made using large moulds and need long lead times. Once fabricated, the blades are taken by truck on long, costly journeys to their often remote destinations. It can take a year of planning and up to 10 journeys to move the blades, which can be 60m long. The new printing technology could allow large blades to be made near their site, thus avoiding the costs of transporting them. The materials used to build turbine blades play a critical role in their performance and durability. While existing blades contain some recyclable materials, the new process will eliminate the use of hazardous materials in manufacturing, making them re-usable. “We have a novel material that, when processed through 3D printing, not only produces the properties that are traditionally used to make wind turbine blades, but are also wholly recyclable,” says Associate Professor Michael Bortner of Virginia Tech’s Department of Chemical Engineering, who is the project’s co-leader. “So if the blades get damaged or reach their end of life, we can break them down, reprocess them, and 3D print them again into new blades.” “Over the last few years, we’ve seen energy costs skyrocket,” says Bortner. “We need to start to identify more practical ways to harness renewable energy resources and ways to do so that are less expensive. By identifying technologies to reduce energy costs, cost savings will eventually trickle down to the average consumer.” This process is made possible through innovations in 3D printing, which allow objects larger than the printer itself – such as wind turbine blades – to be printed on the spot. Working with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and TPI Composites is a critical step towards the goal of producing turbine blades on-site at wind farms across the US. “NREL and TPI Composites are helping us explore how our research could be translated into their facilities and will help evaluate and test our materials and our optimised robotic printing toolpaths on their large robotic additive manufacturing platforms,”Williams explains. “The goal is to make sure that the interdisciplinary expertise we are bringing together has industrial relevance.” n Researchers at an American university are creating novel 3D printing methods and recyclable materials to help improve the environmental footprint of wind turbine blade production Virginia Tech researchers review the multi-axis motion paths for robotic 3D printing. Photo: Clark Dehart / Virginia Tech
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