The dedicated equipment for the infusion of epoxy formulations in the blades for eolic generators is successfully working for Siemens in three continents
The Siemens Group, through its Wind Power and Renewables Division, is a leading supplier of reliable, environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient renewable energy solutions. Driving down the cost of wind power is their key target as they strive to make renewable energy fully competitive with conventional energy sources.
Providing highly reliable and cost-efficient wind turbines, Siemens Wind Power (SWP) offers solutions to meet both business and environmental needs. With over 27,000 megawatts of wind power installed, their wind power solutions deliver clean, renewable energy from offshore and onshore installations around the world.
With innovations in blade design and generator technology, SWP boost efficiency while, through systematic modularization of their product range, they are allowed to streamline the entire manufacturing and installation process. Siemens occupies a leading position within onshore wind power, having been awarded the world’s largest single onshore order to date: a 1,050 MW order from MidAmerican Energy in the USA for a series of onshore wind power plants in Iowa.
Recent years’ industrialization have seen Siemens set and break the records for the world’s largest offshore wind power plants, presently held by the 630 MW London Array project: it features 175 Siemens 3.6 megawatt wind turbines.
With an experience of more than 30 years in onshore wind power business and more than 20 years in offshore SWP is one of the world’s market leaders. Nearly 13,000 wind turbines around the globe with a total capacity of 27 GW help to provide the world with clean, renewa-ble energy.
Supplying a World Leader
Cannon develops dedicated equipment for the wind power industry since 2007. The availability of Cannon Afros to produce bespoke machines, according to the specific needs of its client convinced the management of the Siemens Wind Power Danish factory to try one Epoxy resin metering unit built according their strict specifications. The positive test gave birth to a contin-uing, fruitful cooperation.
Smart Solution for Difficult Task
These machines are custom-made, suitable for the peculiar design of the SWP blades —built in one monolithic piece rather than in two glued shells, as all their competitors do —and for the long infusion cycles demanded by these large parts. Siemens remains the only wind turbine manufacturer to use blades cast in one piece in a closed process: their IntegralBlade® technology eliminates glue joints to deliver blades of optimum quality, strength, and reliability.
Their longest blades incorporate Aeroelastically Tailored Blade (ATB) technology, to flex with the wind rather than resisting it. They can reach up to 75 meters in length, requiring several tons of resin to be dispensed in some hours of uninterrupted, precise metering. This operation generates a progressive pressure build-up, due to the resistance created by a very large mass of glass fibre mats to the flow of the viscous resin. This effect demands a specific pumping solution to adjust component’s output and pressure on-the-fly, according to the progress of the operation, to guarantee the constant rate of infusion that provides the same mechanical resistance values across the whole length and section of these sophisticated blades.
Cannon Afros designed a dedicated metering system that fulfils this fundamental need, and the machines quickly became a standard equipment for the SWP factories.
The Main Advantages of the DX Series
SWP have been confirming their trust in Cannon solution mainly for four reasons:
• Machine’s metering accuracy: Cannon guarantees a dosing precision of 1% both in output and component’s ratio. Competitors usually offer 2.5% accuracy only. Since the whole blade must be made with the same mechanical resistance in every point and the TG (Glass Transi-tion Value) of the cured matrix is very much influenced by the resin/hardener stoichiometric ratio, it is of paramount importance to guarantee the strictest output parameters during a very long infusion cycle.
• Reliability in operation: a major machine’s fault in the middle of a hours-long infusion means hundreds of thousands euros of costs. Cannon provides sturdy machines that, until now, have never failed to perform their task.
• Ergonomic design: the machine is compact, easy to be transported on wheels from one mold to the other, provided with efficient remote controls to be operated from very far away in a large production hall. A magnetic joint on the dosing pumps of the Cannon DX 35 avoids the leakage of components even after years of service
• International presence and Service: Cannon has an international network of Local Units and Agencies present in over 50 countries. Most of these offices provide local Technical Cus-tomer Care and Spare Parts Service. Dedicated technicians have been trained to assist the Epoxy infusion range of products when one of them has been installed on their territory.
Dida:
With over 27,000 megawatts of wind power installed, Siemens Wind Power solutions deliver clean, renewable energy from offshore and onshore installations around the world.
The Cannon DX 35 infusion unit features metering accuracy, reliability in operations, ergo-nomic design and International Technical Service.
Siemens use blades cast in one piece in a closed process: their IntegralBlade® technology eliminates glue joints to deliver blades of optimum quality, strength, and reliability.
