Knight & Carver Wind Group has built over 1,200 wind blades from 9m to 27m. Techniques have been developed to maximize fiber strength, reduce weight and increase reliability.

Blade Manufacturing
Challenges in Megawatt Scale Blade
Building KC-51 Blades

INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, wind blades have been overlooked as a part of a wind turbine that needs maintenance. Blades are meant to last 20 years. After they are mounted on the turbine and begin service, they are expected to last the life of the turbine, baring lightning or other natural disasters that might affect the blade. Since the blade does not have mechanical parts (or so it seems), oil changes and other mechanical maintenance is not needed.

Blades need another type of attention that may not be immediately evident when purchasing a turbine. They need a scheduled maintenance followed by preemptive blade repair.

Blade Service and Maintenance
Wind Blade Service Plan
Economic Benefits of Scheduled Rotor Maintenance
Turbine from the Ground Level
Wind Blade Issues and Solutions
Manufacturing Blades for Turbine Reliability
New Service offering: Wind Blade Inspections

SWEEP TWIST ADAPTIVE ROTOR^®
A dynamic modeling effort of a swept-blade wind turbine rotor has been conducted. The swept-blade concept was used for increased energy capture without an increase in the turbine loads. The work is part of a Department of Energy contract for increased wind energy capture at low-wind speed sites. The blade works by twisting to feather under aerodynamic loads at the outboard region. Conceptual design of the blade resulted in a 28 m blade radius for eventual testing on a normally 50 m diameter turbine. The blade was modeled with codes developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Comparisons were made to an unswept rotor of the same diameter and a baseline 50-m rotor. The results demonstrated the twisting and load-reduction behavior of the swept rotor. Little detriment in the power curve was shown with the swept blade, and substantial power increase over the 50 m baseline was obtained in below-rated power.

STAR Blade^® (Sweep Twist Adaptive Rotor^® )
STAR Blade^® Development (Project Overview)
Aeroelastic Modeling
STAR Poster Presentation

2009 Wind Turbine Reliability Workshop's Presentations
Methodology  for  Assessing  the  Reliability  of  Nondestructive  Inspections  on  Wind Turbine  Blades
Wind Turbine Blades Building Reliability
Improved Wind Turbine Blade Reliability
Designing Blades as they are Really Manufactured
Manufacturing Blades for Turbine Reliability