Wind turbine props, textile-reinforced
SpecialtyFabricsReview.com | January 18, 2010
Wind energy promises to become a staple of a green economy, and innovative strategies to make wind turbines more durable can give companies a competitive edge. Technical textiles developed with carbon, glass and aramid reinforcements bonded by thermosetting or thermoplastic agents give rotor blades the strength to hold up to wind, wear and weather. Karl Mayer Malimo Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Obertshausen, Germany, recently exhibited multiaxial knitting machines that create these reinforcing textiles at Asia Wind Power 2009 in Shanghai, China, in December.
Multiaxial textiles are knit together to form composites that are strong, reliable and economical for engineering challenges that require forms that are strong, shaped and lightweight. The Karl Mayer Malitronic® Multiaxial machine is its newest version, a warp knitting machine with adjustable weft insertion systems. Other applications for reinforcing textiles include strengthening elements for cars, tanks, pressure vessels and machine parts that undergo extensive stress or wear.
For more, see www.karlmayer.com/internet/en/textilmaschinen/22.jsp.
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Standard rotor blades can be as long as 135 feet, turn as fast as 22 revolutions per minute and make up 20 percent of the cost of a wind turbine; textile-reinforced composites can make them last longer. Photo: Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH.
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