Pressure Vessels

Wind/Energy

Bi-angle fabrics find first commercial application

Bicycle manufacturer sees dramatic productivity gains using unbalanced fabrics conceived at Stanford University and manufactured by Chomarat.

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Wind/Energy

Waiting for $5/lb carbon fiber?

HPC editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan suggests we say goodbye to $5/lb carbon fiber and expect that composites will earn their way onto autos by saving drivers money.

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Wind/Energy

WTTC opens upsized wind blade test facility

The Wind Technology Testing Center (WTTC, Boston, Mass.) opened its $35 million+ wind blade testing facility on May 18, 2011, the only lab in the U.S. that can test blades up to 90m/295-ft long.

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Wind/Energy

UMaine’s Offshore Wind lab sports 70m/230-ft testing … and more

The Offshore Wind Laboratory’s new wind turbine blade test lab, part of a 38,700-ft² (3,595m²) expansion of the University of Maine’s (UMaine) AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center (Orono, Maine), was first announced in February 2009.

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In Europe: Fraunhofer-IWES, NaREC Take Blade testing to 100m/328 ft

Two rotor blade testing facilities in Europe have answered the call for testing capability that will accommodate today’s longer blade designs for offshore wind turbines with newly constructed blade test sites.Fraunhofer-Institut für Windenergie und Energiesystemtechnik (IWES, Bremerhaven, Germany), the first to complete its expanded facility, is now able to test 90m/295-ft blades, up from 70m/230-ft test lengths two years ago.

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Sustainability

Tidal turbine blade toughened for turbulent salt sea

Demonstrator design proves robust blade destined for 10-MW tidal turbine farm.

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Weaving

Structural health monitoring: Angling for the air

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for composite aerostructures have been slow to deliver on their promise, but a system developed by Luna Technologies (Roanoke, Va.) is on a glide path to implementation on in-service aircraft

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Weaving

Off-grid turbine: Helix in the wind

This new composite twist on the vertical-axis wind turbine makes no small impact on the private power market.

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Rapid layup: New 3-D preform technology

Hook-and-loop fasteners speed layup of carbon, aramid, glass and hybrid fabrics while improving composites’ mechanical performance.

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Out of Autoclave

Novel offshore wind energy system relies on carbon fiber sails

The 50-kW Nova project features a composites-intensive offshore, double-arm, vertical axes wind turbine system (VAWTS) that will investigate the affordability and feasibility of manufacturing this innovative energy system.

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