KurvedCores

Challenge

All wind turbine blades have a core made of composite material.

The production of the composite core kits used in the industry has not changed significantly in the last 30 years. The processes require a lot of manual labor, and the components are very heavy, which poses challenges in blade design and a greater need for strength in the foundation and the turbine itself.

Solution

KurvedCores will transform the traditional production of wind turbine blades by using 3D thermoformed core kit technology from the company Kurvatur, which initially developed the technology for the production of high-end sailboats. In the KurvedCores innovation project, the technology is transferred to the wind industry.

The partners in KurvedCores will validate the use of this technology in wind turbine blade production by introducing a new fully automated process for manufacturing blade cores based on thermoformed core kits.

Impact

The project partners expect KurvedCores to generate several positive effects:

• Reduction of resin binder as an alternative to the traditional grid-cut core kits.
• Weight reduction of three tons per blade in a 20-blade production line.
• CO2 savings in the blade market of 5.5 million tons of CO2 by 2030.