The next generation wind turbine blade

This project proposal is the result of a pre-project carried out during the last halfyear of 200l with the aim to define a main project proposal. The background for the proposal is that Umoe Mandal has decided to start large-scale industrial production of wind turbine blades for the fast growing international wind power market. In order to establish a technological competitive level, Umoe Mandal also decided to start the development of cost saving technologies to improve the competitiveness of the product and production process. This proposal is also an attempt to bring together Norwegian and international expertise in order to contribute to a stronger domestic knowledge base and development potential. Composite laminates used today are typically made of glass polyester or carbon epoxy. This project will evaluate the possibility to apply low cost vinylester materials for wind turbine blades. A smarter combination with vinylester may give the same perfor mance at a significant lower cost. In addition, new weaving techniques allow tbe direct application of thick reinforcements without building up many layers. There is need do develop robust metbods for measurerments of strains and loads of wind turbine rotor blades that can withstand tough environmental and strong elecetromagnetic fields during both prototype testing and in-service monitoring.