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Manufacturing Industrial Development for the Alternative Energy Systems-Final Report
NCMS identified and developed critical manufacturing technology assessments vital to the affordable manufacturing of alternative-energy systems. NCMS leveraged technologies from other industrial sectors and worked with our extensive member organizations to provide DOE with two projects with far-reaching impact on the generation of wind energy. In the response for a call for project ideas, 26 project teams submitted ideas. Following a detailed selection criteria, two projects were chosen for development: Advanced Manufacturing for Modular Electro-kinetic (E-K) Wind Energy Conversion Technology - The goal of this project was to demonstrate that a modular wind energy technology based on electrohydrodynamic wind energy principles and employing automotive heritage high volume manufacturing techniques and modular platform design concepts can result in significant cost reductions for wind energy systems at a range of sizes from 100KW to multi-MW. During this program, the Accio/Boeing team made major progress on validating the EHD wind energy technology as commercially viable in the wind energy sector, and moved along the manufacturing readiness axis with a series of design changes that increased net system output. Hybrid Laser Arc Welding for Manufacture of Wind Towers - The goal of this research program was to reduce the cost of manufacturing wind towers through the introduction of hybrid laser arc welding (HLAW) into the supply chain for manufacturing wind towers. HLAW has the potential to enhance productivity while reducing energy consumption to offset the foreign low-cost labor advantage and thereby enhance U.S. competitiveness. HLAW technology combines laser welding and arc welding to produce an energy efficient, high productivity, welding process for heavy manufacturing. This process leverages the ability of a laser to produce deep weld penetration and the ability of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) to deposit filler material, thereby producing stable, high quality, welds on joints with gaps and mismatches typical of those seen in heavy manufacturing. Wind towers utilize varying thicknesses of steel throughout their structures to meet the mechanical load requirements while keeping material costs low. A typical tower might have as many as twelve different material thicknesses. Joining each thickness requires a unique joint design and welding approach to enable the management of quality, productivity, and mechanical properties. In this program, laser joining of materials with thicknesses ranging from 12mm to 35mm were evaluated against the standard quality and mechanical requirements for General Electric wind tower components. The joining processes demonstrated showed the ability to meet key requirements with the appropriate process controls in place