How to Automate Composite Wind Turbine Blade Fabrication

MAG has also developed a patent-pending quick-cure mold system utilizing tooling it will supply. The molds are produced using the customer’s CAD data. The system yields a finished blade to spec with each cycle. It can be infused with resin in an hour, followed by a two-hour cure, about half the normal time. MAG is exhibiting sample parts representing a 100 mm-thick root section and root spar cap system. The latter will show three zones of material and three thicknesses, demonstrating the system can infuse and cure all three zones at the same time quickly. Like the lay-up system, the infusion/curing system includes process control metrics for resin metering, temperatures, blocked channels, etc., with alarm limits.

On the finishing side of blade automation, MAG offers a five-axis machining system for root drilling/milling/sawing. The company is the leading supplier of composites processing technology for the aerospace industry, and produces a full range of upstream and downstream composites solutions, such as tape laying, fiber placement, machining, robotic painting and optical inspection systems, as well as an extensive service support capability.

For metalworking production of wind-power parts, MAG offers a line of horizontal turning centers (HTCs) in the U.S. that combines a wide array of unusual capabilities for finishing a  large part in one setup. Ideal for rotor shafts, pinions and similar shaft-type parts, these machines can perform operations unheard of on a typical HTC: deep-hole drilling, serrating, grinding, hard turning, notch milling, hobbing, grinding, as well as cut-to-length and centering, rough and finish turning.  European wind industry leaders are already using these machines to produce parts up to 1500 mm diameter and 2800 mm long.

From blade tip to output shaft, MAG has a total package of automation solutions for turbine and component manufacturers. www.mag-ias.com