NREL Invites Robots To Help Make Wind Turbine Blades
Although robots have been used by the wind energy industry to paint and polish blades, automation has not been widely adopted.
- Although robots have been used by the wind energy industry to paint and polish blades, automation has not been widely adopted.
- The post-molding operations to manufacture wind turbine blades require workers to perch on scaffolding and wear protective suits including respiratory gear.
- “This work is critical to enable significant U.S.-based blade manufacturing for the domestic wind turbine market,” said Daniel Laird, director of the National Wind Technology Center at NREL.
- Wind turbine blades are considerably longer, but because they bend and deflect under their own weight, a robot would have to be programmed to work on the bigger blades section by section.