Process Improvement Wind turbine manufacturers are looking for ways to
standardize their production processes and be in the most competitive position for expected future demand for wind tur- bines, especially from off-shore wind farms. It is not uncom- mon for manufacturers to face quality challenges during the production of composite blades, including high rejection rates due to the complexity of the manufacturing process and the correlation of the variables involved.
Product Development Project Management Management of wind turbine product development is a
complex process, given the diverse engineering, testing and manufacturing disciplines and the globalization of these departments. Te program duration of a new wind turbine design is typically five years. Companies need to be able to de- velop innovative products and bring them to market quicker. Traditionally, each department implemented its own system to maintain the project data, which resulted in duplication of data, lack of traceability and no standardization of processes leading to significant project delays and cost overruns. Managing the project development process on a single
collaborative platform across departments enables concurrent engineering between design, testing and manufacturing. Com- panies can reduce the time needed to validate the design, en- able early start of production, and reduce time to market. By providing design with early feedback, issues can be detected much earlier in the development process, thereby eliminating costly manufacturing problems and delays. Stakeholders in all disciplines, as well as suppliers, can have
access to the accurate and up-to-date information. Tis provides full traceability ensuring that the project requirements and goals
require close interaction and iteration between all teams— design, analysis, and manufacturing—during blade develop- ment. For many blade manufacturers, preliminary design, detailed design, analysis, and manufacturing of composite blades are oſten “siloed” processes. Data exchange between each disparate system may require considerable time and ef- fort, as they do not share a common information backbone. Innovation in blade design requires close interaction and
iteration between all teams to manage all aspects of composite blade development from preliminary design all the way to testing and structural certification.
Advanced Simulation and Optimization Wind turbines operate at various sites across the globe under
varied operating conditions and have to withstand extreme temperature and climatic conditions such as ice, hail and hur- ricanes. Blades are subjected to large variations in stress while operating in different conditions throughout the year. Even during a single cycle, blades experience varying stresses due to increasing wind speeds with altitude and wake effects of sur- rounding blades, which have a fatigue effect on the blades. It is very important to predict the real-world behavior of
the turbine under all of these conditions to ensure maximum performance and reliability. Wind turbine manufacturers are subjected to very high warranty costs if the blade has to be replaced during operation. Te goal is to maximize the avail- ability of the turbine for its entire life, which is about 20 years. Many companies develop physical prototypes to test the
performance of wind turbine components. Tis can cost more than $1 million and can take up to one year to complete, depending on the complexity of the blade design. Advanced
Innovations in composite blades provide wind turbine manufacturers with an excellent opportunity to improve their product while reducing costs.
will be met. Project managers have the latest project informa- tion such as budget, resource allocation, issues and risks to take appropriate decisions for projects to be executed on time and on budget. Companies across several industries, including wind turbine manufacturers, typically experience a 14% reduction in time-to-market, 25% reduction in project management time and 8% improvement in engineering efficiency.
Composite Blade Design Blades are one of the most critical components of the wind
turbine. Te design of composite blades involves the design of a complex blade surface, the plies, manufacturability stud- ies, aerodynamics analyses, and tests for stress and fatigue. Manufacturers focus on innovation in blade design, such as optimizing the number of plies and blade weight. Such tasks
50 Energy Manufacturing 2013
simulations enable manufacturers to accurately predict complex real-world behavior of the turbines. Tis includes vibrations, nonlinear deformation and stresses, fracture and failure, and multiphysics effects, like fluid-structure interac- tions. Manufacturers can perform sensitivity studies, identify optimum design parameters, and quickly engineer market- leading wind turbines. By performing these analyses virtually, companies can reduce their development costs and time.
Manufacturing to Increase Throughput and Quality Many wind turbine manufacturers are seeking solutions to
lower costs—and to quickly ramp up their production—while increasing quality. Manufacturing planning in a virtual envi- ronment allows companies to plan and validate the manufac-
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