Ginger Gardiner Senior Technical Editor

Sustainability 1 Aug 2011

China invested to become world SWT leader

A 2009 China Europe International Business School (Shanghai) project titled The Rural Electrification in China and The Impact of Renewable Energies details the government policies and multinational funding that has established China as the leader in small wind.

Wind/Energy 1 Aug 2011

HAWTs vs. VAWTs

Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) command the small wind turbine (SWT) market, led by a handful of companies that have been in production for 20 to 30 years, while vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) manufacturers, with the exception of Ropatec (Bolzano, Italy), have mostly developed within the past five years.

Thermoplastics 1 Aug 2011

Small wind gets big

Massive growth, complex blade designs reopen challenging market in wind energy niche.

Construction 1 Jun 2011

Wet scrubber primer

A short description of Advatech and Chiyoda scrubbers.

Weaving 1 Jun 2011

Heavy-duty infusion: Scaling up for scrubbers

Infused 3-D woven fabric preforms best steel in beams and unitized deck structures built for the caustic confines of massive flue gas desulfurization systems.

Aerospace 2 May 2011

Thermoplastic composites: Primary structure?

Yes, advanced forms are in development, but has the technology progressed enough to make the business case?

Out of Autoclave 2 May 2011

TPCs on the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350

Although The Boeing Co.’s (Seattle, Wash.) 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus (Toulouse, France) A350 XWB have earned much press as showcases for thermoset composites in aircraft structure, both programs also have advanced the use of thermoplastic composites.

Aerospace 2 May 2011

Marquez innovates aircraft TPCs

Marquez (Montréal, Québec, Canada) supplies TPC ducting for The Boeing Co.’s 787 Personal System Unit (PSU), and the TPC structural window bezel used on all Bombardier (Montréal, Canada) Global Express business aircraft.

Out of Autoclave 1 Jan 2011

Performance requirements: CAI vs. OHC

John Russell, who manages nonautoclave research programs for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio), recently threw down the gauntlet at the Fall SAMPE conference in Salt Lake City, Utah: “Give us a 25 percent improvement in notch properties with no microcracking in high-modulus fibers.” While OOA prepreg suppliers can’t do much about fiber microcracking, Advanced Composites Group (ACG, Tulsa, Okla.) already has announced that its XMTM47 material will be commercial by next year, designed for 120°C/248°F service with the increased notched performance requested.