Development of high-fidelity design-driven wind blade manufacturing process models to investigate labor predictions in wind blade manufacture

Abstract

Wind turbines have shown significant advancements in efficiency and power output in the last 20 years. However, during the same time period, parallel advances in the manufacturing of wind blades have not happened due to the reluctance of wind blade manufacturers to make significant capital investments into unproven automation technologies. This reluctance is due in part to the lack of access to a robust techno-economic model that can give feedback on if and how these investments will impact the overall cost to make a blade. In the current research, existing costing methods are reviewed and a new techno-economic model for estimating the number of man-hours required to manufacture a wind turbine blade is proposed. A set of standardized input parameters for the proposed model is developed from time studies completed at three wind blade manufacturing facilities. The proposed model uses 77 discrete processing steps. The credibility of the proposed model is validated by its ability the predict the required man-hours for the manufacture of previously produced blades by the blade manufacturers. Additionally, validation is done against models of publicly available designs. The proposed model delivers more accurate and realistic estimates over prior models reflecting the application of current production techniques and detailed design information.