WIND TURBINE BLADE WITH NARROW SHOULDER AND RELATIVELY THICK AIRFOIL PROFILES

• Main Authors: Fuglsang, Peter, Andersen, Christian, Frank, Madsen, Jesper
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 02.08.2017
• Subjects: BLASTING; HEATING; LIGHTING; MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER; WEAPONS; WIND MOTORS; WIND, SPRING WEIGHT AND MISCELLANEOUS MOTORS

A blade (10) for a rotor of a wind turbine (2) having a substantially horizontal rotor shaft, said rotor comprising a hub (8), from which the blade (10) extends substantially in a radial direction when mounted to the hub (8), the blade having a longitudinal direction (r) with a tip end (16) and a root end (14) and a transverse direction is presented. The blade further comprises: a profiled contour including a pressure side and a suction side, as well as a leading edge (18) and a trailing edge (20) with a chord having a chord length (c) extending there between, the profiled contour, when being impacted by an incident airflow, generating a lift, wherein the profiled contour is divided into: a root region (30) having a substantially circular or elliptical profile closest to the hub, an airfoil region (34) having a lift-generating profile furthest away from the hub, and a transition region (32) between the root region (30) and the airfoil region (34), the transition region (32) having a profile gradually changing in the radial direction from the circular or elliptical profile of the root region to the lift-generating profile of the airfoil region. A shoulder (40) having a shoulder width (W) is located at the boundary between the transition region (32) and the airfoil region (34). The blade (10) has a blade length (L), and the profiled contour comprises a local relative thickness defined as the local ratio between a maximum profile thickness (t) and the chord length (c). The ratio between the shoulder width (W) and the blade length (L) being less than or equal to 0.075, and the relative thickness (t/c) in a blade length interval of 0-0.8L is at least 22%.