Wind turbine blade holding arrangement

Abstract

A wind turbine blade holding arrangement is described comprising a root frame for securing to a root portion of a blade; an airfoil clamp for arranging about an airfoil portion of the blade; and an airfoil frame for supporting the airfoil clamp wherein the root frame and tip clamp are realized for use in a first blade orientation in a first storage and transport stage of the blade and also for use in a second blade orientation in a second storage and transport stage of the blade, wherein the first and second blade orientations are essentially at right angles to each other. A method of handling a number of wind turbine blades is also described.

The claims are as follows: 
     
         1 . A wind turbine blade holding arrangement comprising:
 a root frame for securing to a root portion of a blade;   an airfoil clamp for arranging about an airfoil portion of the blade; and   an airfoil frame for supporting the airfoil clamp;   wherein the root frame and a tip clamp are realized for use in a first blade orientation in a first storage and/or transport stage of the blade and also for use in a second blade orientation in a second storage and/or transport stage of the blade,   wherein the first and second blade orientations are essentially at right angles to each other.   
     
     
         2 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 1 , wherein the root frame comprises a number of root end brackets realized for securing the root frame to the root end of the blade. 
     
     
         3 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 1 , wherein a frame is realized to be stacked on a further frame of the same type. 
     
     
         4 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 1 , comprising a root end foot realized to support the root portion of the blade. 
     
     
         5 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 4 , wherein the root end foot comprises bolt cover portions realized for mounting over pinbolts of the root end of the blade. 
     
     
         6 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 4 , wherein the root frame is realized to accommodate the root end foot. 
     
     
         7 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 1 , wherein a frame comprises a first interface portion for connecting with a second interface portion of a corresponding frame. 
     
     
         8 . A The holding arrangement according to  claim 1 , comprising a mounting foot realized for mounting to a surface of a transport means and/or storage facility. 
     
     
         9 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 8 , wherein the mounting foot comprises a mounting portion corresponding in shape to a frame interface portion of a frame. 
     
     
         10 . A The holding arrangement according to  claim 1 , comprising a connecting strut for connecting adjacent frames. 
     
     
         11 . The holding arrangement according to  claim 10 , wherein a combined width of a connecting strut and a root frame corresponds essentially to a width of two airfoil frames. 
     
     
         12 . A method of handling a number of wind turbine blades comprising the steps of:
 securing a root frame to a root end of a blade;   arranging a tip clamp about an airfoil portion of the blade;   mounting the tip clamp onto a tip frame;   
       arranging the root frame in a first blade orientation in a first storage and transport stage of the blade; and 
       arranging the root frame in a second blade orientation in a second storage and transport stage of the blade;
 wherein the first and second blade orientations are essentially at right angles to each other. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , comprising the step of forming a vertical stack of blades comprising a root frame stack and a tip frame stack. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 12 , comprising the step of forming an array of vertical blade stacks. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 12 , comprising the step of securing a root end foot to the root end of the blade at an initial storage and transport stage and removing the root end foot only after a final storage and transport stage.