The transition to renewable energy sources is vital to address climate change. Composites play an important role in enabling these technologies, such as in wind, tidal or solar energy and in hydrogen storage and transport. The benefit of composite materials for renewable energy solutions has been recognised for some time. Good structural properties, freedom of form, cost effective tooling, lightweight, the list goes on. Many renewable energy applications such as nacelle shell structures, rotors, wind turbine blades or tidal turbine blades must survive +20 years with millions of fatigue cycles. Composites allow the structures to meet the design life while achieving the most efficient aero- or hydro-dynamic form to produce the lowest cost of energy. As renewable energy is now competitive with other forms of energy generation, production volumes are increasingly significantly driving the need for cost reduction and faster production rates.

Why composites are important

• Superior structural properties with low weight

• Resistant to environmental conditions

• Enabling blade lengths now in excess of 100m

• Cost effective tooling and manufacturing at typical production rates

Thermosets

The incumbent technology for wind and other renewable structures is thermoset. Use of polyester, vinyl ester and epoxy resins are the standard. There remains considerable opportunities to decrease cost and optimise throughput of blades using these existing technology. Modularisation at the design phase makes components simpler and more suitable for automation. Material handling, and bespoke automation solutions can aid in material deposition rates. Other automation solutions for blade finishing (trimming and painting) can aid cost reduction and reduce variability. In mould sensorisation can be linked with Digitalisation to enable cure time optimisation through cure progression and live monitoring of temperatures without constant supervision.

Thermoplastics

The interest in thermoplastics continues to grow due to potential for recycling and reducing the end of life challenge of thermoset solutions. Airborne has a fundamental understanding of thermoplastic materials in design, processing and forming. We recognise the opportunity in renewables for these materials and while not yet established, we are open to supporting the market understand and develop new applications for structures manufactured from fibre-reinforced thermoplastics.

High pressure storage

Hydrogen will become a vital means of storing and transporting energy, to drive the electrification of transport in many sectors. Airborne has a long history of creating solutions for high pressure gas storage and transport, both in tanks and pipelines. Fibre-reinforced plastics are the most weight-efficient way to contain high pressures, but special care should be given to the design, manufacturing quality and the fittings, where the gas is entered or released. Airborne knows how to design and manufacture at industrial scale, both in thermoset and thermoplastic technologies.

Airborne recognises that “standard” solutions for Industrialisation and Automation are difficult for the wide range of challenges and the size of many renewable energy structures. We are open to working with you providing engineering support to your evaluation of automation options. Many of our existing products are adaptable to manufacturing modules or components of new blade designs, or please contact us to discuss your bespoke automation needs.

Industrialisation Partner 

Industrialisation solutions to ensure the right material, process and equipment.

Automated Preforming

Assembly of 2D and 3D preforms for offline assembly and improve in-mould cycle times.

Automated Laminating

Automated deposition of prepreg for net shape preforms.

Automated Kitting

Automated ply picking and sorting to optimise nest efficiency and ensure quality with low labour cost.