Covestro, the world's leading supplier of high-performance polymer materials, today announced that the first fan blades made with its polyurethane resin had been successfully installed and marked another milestone in the commercialization of polyurethane resin as a fan blade material by Covestro.
The material can better meet the needs of the wind power industry for a new generation of longer, more resilient blades. The installed fan blade (model Wb113-pu) is 55.2 meters long and has a power of 2 MW, and its main girder and webs are made from Covestro's polyurethane resin material.
The wind turbine was installed in a wind farm in Tieling, Liaoning Province, and the wind farm was operated by Liaoning Datang International New Energy Co., Ltd. Longer fan blades are a new trend in the wind power industry, and increasing the wind resistance of the blades on the higher tower is a new challenge. Covestro specializes in the development of polyurethane resin materials for the production of wind turbine blades to meet this new requirement.
Covestro's research and development teams around the world work closely with many downstream partners in the industry chain, including blade manufacturers, machine builders, fiberglass manufacturers, equipment suppliers and blade design teams to complete research and development. "The successful installation of the pilot project in north-east China is a recognition of the strength of Covestro's polyurethane resin materials and the application of the material in the wind turbine blade field," said Julien Guiu, Vice-President, Guilian, marketing Department of Covestro's polyurethane business unit. We want to take this opportunity to deliver a strong signal to industry partners that the era of the use of polyurethanes to make longer, stronger blades of wind turbines has arrived.
' In order to obtain the relevant certification, the new fan blades must pass through a variety of rigorous third-party testing.
To ensure that fan blades are able to operate in harsh environments for long periods of time, Covestro has thoroughly tested the fan blade performance and successfully passed the static and fatigue tests (including pendulum and wave direction) of the Beijing Authentication Center (CGC). Fan blades are usually made of special glass fiber reinforced resins, which are manufactured by vacuum infusion technology. The successful application of polyurethane composites to the manufacture of large fan blades proves that the polyurethane resin has excellent mechanical properties and anti-fatigue properties.
At the same time, due to the high speed of polyurethane curing and good processability, blade manufacturers can shorten production time and improve production efficiency.
In addition to the wind turbine blades installed and shipped in the Northeast, Covestro has also developed a 59.5-metre-long, 2.2-megawatt blade with another leading Chinese machine manufacturer, with its main girder, web and root blades made from Covestro's polyurethane resin material and installed in south central China. Guilian added: ' We have installed two sets of fan blades in wind farms across China to test the viability and stability of the blades under different wind conditions. This will provide valuable data for future blade designs and help us further contribute to the renewable energy of wind power.