Claims
- 1. A process for manufacturing a rotor blade comprising the steps of
- forming a concave mold matching a predetermined air foil surface contour,
- wetting a plurality of thin wood layers with adhesive,
- stacking a predetermined number of wetted layers of wood on the concave mold,
- applying uniform pressure to the top layer while bonding the wooden layers together into an elongated laminated blank having convex and concave sides,
- bringing a rotating abrasive drum having a drum axis into contact with the concave surface of the blade blank with the drum axis approximately perpendicular to the length of the blank, and
- forcing the abrasive drum against the blank while both advancing the drum axially along the length of the blank and also gradually varying the tilt angle of the drum axis relative to horizontal according to a predetermined twist schedule to form a flat-bottomed air foil.
- 2. The process of claim 1, wherein said step of applying uniform pressure to the top layer is accomplished by means of expanding an air bag press against the top layer.
- 3. The process of claim 1, wherein said adhesive is melamine urea.
- 4. The process of claim 1, wherein said adhesive is heated while pressure is being applied.
- 5. The process of claim 4, wherein said adhesive is melamine urea and said step of heating said adhesive is accomplished by radio frequency heating.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-ACO4-76DP03533 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
158964 |
Dec 1980 |
JPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Wind Industry News Digest, p. 6, Feb. 1982, (Along with Photocopy of Sample Product). |
Faddoul, "Test Evaluation of a Laminated Wood Wind Turbine Blade Concept", May 1981, DOE/NASA/20320-30 NASA TM-81719. |