General Electric Company
Joint assembly for a wind turbine rotor blade

Abstract:

A joint assembly for joining rotor blade segments of a wind turbine rotor blade includes a female structural member secured within a first rotor blade segment. The female structural member includes first bore holes on opposing sides thereof that are aligned in a chord-wise direction. Further, the joint assembly includes a male structural member extending longitudinally from an end face of a second rotor blade segment. As such, the male structural member is received within the female structural member of the first rotor blade segment such that the first and second rotor blade segments are aligned and connected. The male structural member includes second bore holes on opposing sides thereof. Further, the second bore holes are aligned with the first bore holes. Moreover, the joint assembly includes at least one chord-wise extending pin extending through the first and second bore holes so as to join the first and second rotor blade segments. In addition, the male structural member has a height that increases from a blade root of the rotor blade towards the at least one chord-wise extending pin.