Wind Blade Manufacturer Saves Costs, Weight With TYCOR® W

Like most manufacturers in the wind energy market, one leading wind turbine blade manufacturer used thick balsa in the shear webs of its blades. But when growing global demand for the raw material put a strain on ready supplies, the wind blade manufacturer began looking for alternatives. The company chose TYCOR^®, a fiber reinforced engineered composite core manufactured by WebCore Technologies LLC. The core material was readily available and offered the ability to reduce cost and weight during blade production. The blade manufacturer began production with TYCOR in 2008, using the core material in the shear webs of its wind blades. “We experienced an immediate weight savings of 325 pounds per blade,” said a spokesperson for the company.

Weight savings is a critical advantage for blade manufacturers. During the first four months of production, WebCore worked closely with the blade manufacturer and CoreKits achieving a four percent yield improvement due to reduced scrap. By altering the sheet size to further improve yield, WebCore was able to increase savings for the blade manufacturer to seven percent.

Lean inventory goals are another crucial element of the manufacturer’s ongoing growth strategy. In 2009 the manufacturer asked WebCore to begin delivering TYCOR on a Kanban or just-in-time delivery basis. WebCore was able to coordinate with the blade manufacturer and Core Kits to implement a system capable of accommodating the needs of each company in the supply chain. To date, WebCore has achieved a 100 percent on- time delivery rating.

In addition, the use of TYCOR has eliminated quality issues like hot-spots, previously experienced with balsa due to the variable density of the material. TYCOR’s composite core is contaminant free and dimensionally stable, eliminating the inconsistent cure and poor infusion performance typically found with other materials like balsa. The blade manufacturer is currently working to adopt TYCOR for use in its blade shells. In 2010, WebCore introduced TYCOR W, a new highly machinable contourable core that permits the use of large sheets in blade shells. TYCOR W’s larger sheet size also reduces the number of core segments necessary to load large turbine blade molds resulting in fewer core joints, faster fabrication and enhanced core fit at adjoining segments.

“WebCore worked closely with our engineering staff and our blade designers to qualify the new core material,” said the blade manufacturer spokesperson. “Their ability to provide on-site process support during adoption of the material will allow us to consider new opportunities for sandwich part design and fabrication.”