SAERTEX® produces largest carbon belt for wind turbine rotor blades using the vacuum infusion process
Saerbeck, July 24, 2019 – SAERTEX is pleased to announce its contribution to the production of an innovative prototype for the rotor blade of a wind turbine. This is probably the longest and thickest carbon fiber belt ever manufactured using the vacuum infusion process. In April 2019, a Chinese manufacturer of rotor blades for wind turbines successfully completed the production of an 87.5 m long rotor blade belt. The belt is one of the key structural elements that absorbs most of the mechanical loads in a rotor blade. The new record-breaking belt was made of carbon fiber to reduce component weight and achieve greater stiffness. Both are crucial for rotor blades of this length. The rotor blade belt was designed by WINDnovation. Due to its dimensions, length (87.5 m), and width (800 mm), the production of the belt presented a number of technical challenges. UD618gsm (unidirectional fabric) carbon reinforcement materials with increased Z-permeability of SAERTEX were used for production. These were specially developed for the infusion of large laminate thicknesses and made it possible to use CTP AM's 3325 A/B latent resin system with optimized viscosity and longer pot life.
The infusion of the belt was carried out using VAP technology with the VAP membrane from COMPOSYST. This process enables degassing of the resin during the entire infusion, facilitates resin distribution and regulation of the resin content throughout the component and makes the process safer.
The infusion process itself took less than two hours and there were no problems whatsoever. After curing and demolding on the following day, the entire team was delighted to have an almost perfect component with no defects. The production of the prototype was technically supported by SAERTEX, WINDnovation, COMPOSYSt and CTP AM.
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