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Small Details of Great Importance
a report by
SSP Technology A/S
Since 2001, the Danish-based company SSP Technology A/S has been and risk, and therefore an open planning phase with agreed objectives
designing and manufacturing moulds and components for global and costing is mandatory in order to succeed,” says Sales Director Søren
players in the wind industry. Today, SSP Technology is an innovator in Horn Petersen. “We regard ourselves as being part of our customers’
competitive blade manufacturing for wind turbines – from blade team as they strive to improve competitiveness in the market.”
design, to manufacture of moulds and blade components, to factory
layout and start-up. Skilled engineers and experienced production staff Know-how Leads to Smart Inventions
work closely together to ensure that every product meets Based on in-depth experience in design, materials and, not least,
the customer’s expectations – always in close co-operation with the production of blade moulds for wind turbines, SSP Technology has
customer’s own team. designed and developed a lightweight, strong and smart root solution,
which is now an important part of SSP Technology’s range of patented
Facing the Challenges of the Future components. The root joint might be a small detail compared with the
The wind industry is maturing, and SSP Technology is as well. “We have actual rotor blade, but it is a very important one. The actual fixing of the
changed from being pioneers breaking new ground every day into being blade to the hub can be compared to the root of a tree or the foundation
a strong, experienced industrial company, who systematically researches of a building, and is thus crucial to the success of the finished blade.
and develops in close dialogue with our global customers. From the
start-up in 2001, the focus has been on developing and supplying The Best Implementation of Your Design
cutting-edge wind turbine blade technology, based on simple yet The difference between traditional root joints and the root joint designed
effective technologies,” says co-founder and CTO Flemming Sørensen. by SSP Technology goes way back. For a long period of time, it has been
Rune Schytt-Nielsen, also a co-founder of SSP Technology, explains: known that a good start is vital for the entire blade design, and a few
“The wind turbine manufacturers of today face a number of challenges years ago blade designers were on shaky ground with no experience to
and choices when deciding on a blade manufacturing strategy. First of guide them. This gave them no choice but to feel their way through, and
all, globalisation has to be tackled, taking customer requirements and the outcome was extremely conservative and over-dimensioned
transportation issues of increasingly larger blades into account. Second solutions. At the same time, the demand for bigger blades was high and,
of all, although the blade is probably the most critical sole component due to time pressure, the wind industry was forced to scale up the
as regards total turbine cost and turbine performance, it is often not original solutions instead of looking into new and smarter designs.
part of the wind turbine manufacturers’ core competencies. Hence,
compromises in quality and blade performance are frequently made on From the foundation of the company in 2001, SSP Technology always
the alter of supply chain and standardisation.” knew that the effort that went into finding the perfect root solution
was time wisely spent, and in 2006 the SSP root joint was granted a
Tailor-made Solutions patent. Flemming Sørensen, who was part of the process of developing
The design of the blade is an integral part of the blade manufacturing the root joint, is confident that the SSP root joint is a unique solution:
strategy. SSP Technology has introduced a holistic definition of “Compared with other root solutions, the SSP root solution offers a
blade design including not only the aerodynamic design but also better load capacity and less material consumption and is thus a great
structural design, choice of materials, method of production, design of deal lighter than typical constructions. For the large blades of
moulds and establishment of production and quality assurance (QA) the future, this is a solution that will not only reduce the weight of the
processes. This approach allows SSP Technology to tailor the optimum blade, but also increase the overall efficiency of the wind turbine. It is
blade for each customer, taking specific requirements and individual a known fact that the weight and homogeneity of a blade is crucial to
circumstances into consideration. the running of the turbine. Lighter blades make it possible to reduce
the weight of the turbine” (see Figure 1).
The difference in performance and loads between a standard blade and
an SSP tailor-made blade can be significant. In fact, most surprisingly for The SSP Specialised Root Joint
many customers, the total investment in blade design and manufacture The SSP root joint is made in serial production with all plies cut to
facilities is often lower with an SSP tailor-made blade, particularly precise fit by CAM machines, and is made from pre-preg material,
compared with a standard blade with a traditional root solution. which makes it possible to obtain a very efficient process with the
Furthermore, the optimised design of both blade and plant ensures highest possible accuracy and repeatability (see Figure 2). It ensures
competitive blade costing for the SSP tailor-made blade. SSP Technology that materials are correctly allocated, preventing material inconsistency
always plans a blade design in close dialogue with its customer, and and reduced durability. Furthermore, it ensures that the risk of variance
is always very eager to ensure full visibility of objectives, timeline and cost. in weight is eliminated. One of the key advantages of the root joint is
“Investment in a new blade design is significant, with regard to both cost that it eliminates the need for expensive and risky root grinding and
© TOUCH BRIEFINGS 2010
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