TECHNOLOGY

www.reinforcedplastics.com 15REINFORCEDplastics JULY/AUGUST 2013

DIAB supplies core materials for prototype 83.5 m blade

The prototype blade.

THE 83.5 m LONG blade – said

to be the world’s largest to date

– was commissioned by

Samsung Heavy Industries and

the fi rst prototype was designed

and manufactured by SPP

Technology of Denmark. It is part

of a project to develop a 7 MW

turbine for South Korea’s fi rst

off shore wind farm.

The 7 MW off shore turbine with

a 171.2 m diameter rotor will be

used in the construction of 12

units in an 84 MW off shore

installation in the Korea Straits. A

collaboration between Samsung

Heavy Industries and the Korea

Southern Power Corporation, the

wind farm is scheduled to start

operations in 2015, making it

South Korea’s fi rst off shore wind

energy project.

DIAB supplied all core materials

used in the blade: ProBalsa150

balsa wood core material and

Divinycell H80 structural foam

core material. The core materials

were provided with distinctive

grooves to facilitate processing.

Each blade skin was produced in

a female mould using a

combination of VARTM (vacuum

assisted resin transfer moulding),

prepreg and hand lamination.

SSP Technology was able to

produce the fi rst complete proto-

type at its production site in

Denmark within 15 months. The

blade was then transported to

the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind

Energy and Energy System

Technology (IWES) in Bremer-

haven, Germany, where it is

currently undergoing testing and

evaluation to prove the quality of

the blade, including the spar box

and the root design developed

by SSP Technology.

The tests, which will be verifi ed

by DNV, include two months of

static testing and a 25-year

lifecycle fatigue test, which will

last approximately 6 months.

After the successful completion

of the tests, production of the

three remaining prototype blades

will begin.

DIAB; www.diabgroup.com

RP0413_techNews 15 22-07-2013 11:28:26