3D printing of high-performance continuous fiber composites (CFC) for repair of wind turbine blades (PrintRepair)

Can an automated process be set up for manufacturing composite repair patches with high accuracy and mechanical performance to overcome the challenges associated with the current manual repair of wind turbine blades? PrintRepair answers this question by taking advantage of a dronemounted 3D laser scanner and a composite 3D printer equipped with robotic arms for automatic manufacturing of the repair patches. The 3D laser scanner provides a digital 3D model of the damaged area of the blade and the 3D printer fabricates an accurate and high-performance composite repair patch. Hence, PrintRepair reduces the repair cost, ensures the safety of the repair process by eliminating manual repair, and enhances the repair quality by digitalization and automation.