Coatings specialist Covestro and a consortium managed by the Technical University of Denmark is carrying out a research project to develop new coatings to protect rotor blades from erosion.
According to the company, when it is raining and the blades are turning quickly, raindrops hit the edges of the longitudinal edges of rotor blades at high speed and with a large amount of energy. Over time, this destroys the coating layer and the composite material beneath, and the edge erosion can reduce annual energy performance by more than 5%.
The Duraledge project also plans to develop calculation models to predict edge protection, and eventually increase the peak speed at the ends of the blades to over 90 m per second.
‘We are working at high speed to develop a raw material for a specialized, robust paint system,’ said Dr Matthias Wintermantel, head of infrastructure coatings at Covestro. ‘It will significantly increase the service life of rotor blades, while also reducing maintenance expenses and associated costs.’
The project started in November 2018 with a term of three years. It is being funded with 11.7 million Danish Krones (around €1.57 million) from the Danish Innovation Fund.
This story uses material from Covestro, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
