Patents by Inventor Claus Engholm Nielsen

Claus Engholm Nielsen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250092859
    Abstract: A coating applicator tool head configured for use with a robotic maintenance device includes a tool head body with a frame, a supply container, a drive for actuating delivery of flow of coating from the supply container, a feed tube, a nozzle receiving flow from the feed tube, and a spreading tool such as a roller brush or a spatula receiving flow from the nozzle. The coating applicator tool head is moved by an articulated arm of the maintenance device over surface of a wind turbine blade containing damage such that the roller brush or spatula can apply layers of the coating to cover and fill in the damage. The nozzle directly supplies coating continuously onto the roller brush or the spatula, and the drive can be configured to independently adjust supply of two or more different components in the supply container that may be mixed to form the coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2024
    Publication date: March 20, 2025
    Applicant: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
    Inventors: Ivar J.B.K. Jensen, Aksel Petersen, Asger Bioksma Krogstrup, André Alexander Westergaard, Claus Engholm Nielsen, Lean Frandsen, Anders Tuxen
  • Publication number: 20250003394
    Abstract: A robotic maintenance device (40) and method for repairing damage (26) around the leading edge (22) of a wind turbine blade (20) are provided. The maintenance device (40) includes a main chassis (42) that is configured to be mounted on the wind turbine blade (20), an applicator head (46) for applying a coating material (32) onto an exterior surface (30) of the blade (20) to cover and fill in damaged areas (26), and an environmental control module (60). The environmental control module (60) is located proximate the applicator head (46) and includes a tent (62) that selectively deploys over a portion of the leading edge (22) of the blade (20) behind operations of the applicator head (46) to define a curing zone. The coating material (32) within the curing zone can cure on the wind turbine blade (20) to complete the repair while remaining shielded from local environmental conditions such as wind and rain around the wind turbine blade (20).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2022
    Publication date: January 2, 2025
    Inventors: Ivar J.B.K. Jensen, Rasmus Nørgaard, Aksel Petersen, Claus Engholm Nielsen, Christian Skov
  • Publication number: 20240309854
    Abstract: A repair device and method for repairing damage around the leading edge of a wind turbine blade (20) are provided. The repair device includes a robotic maintenance device (40) and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (62) that can move the maintenance device (40) between a storage position and an operation position, the former being mounted on a blade (20) of the wind turbine (10). The UAV (62) hovers and remains connected to the maintenance device (40) during operations at the blade (20) to minimize a total operational downtime needed to conduct the repair actions. The UAV (62) is secured to the maintenance device (40) by at least one support line (68) that carries the weight load of the maintenance device (40) and at least two control lines (72) that prevent undesired rotations of the maintenance device (40), thereby improving precision and accuracy of UAV-driven movements of the maintenance device (40).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2022
    Publication date: September 19, 2024
    Inventors: Ivar J.B.K. Jensen, Christian Skov, Claus Engholm Nielsen, Rasmus Sole Nørgaard, Aksel Petersen
  • Publication number: 20230048890
    Abstract: A coating applicator tool head configured for use with a robotic maintenance device includes a tool head body with a frame, a supply container, a drive for actuating delivery of flow of coating from the supply container, a feed tube, a nozzle receiving flow from the feed tube, and a spreading tool such as a roller brush or a spatula receiving flow from the nozzle. The coating applicator tool head is moved by an articulated arm of the maintenance device over surface of a wind turbine blade containing damage such that the roller brush or spatula can apply layers of the coating to cover and fill in the damage. The nozzle directly supplies coating continuously onto the roller brush or the spatula, and the drive can be configured to independently adjust supply of two or more different components in the supply container that may be mixed to form the coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Inventors: Ivar J.B.K. Jensen, Aksel Petersen, Asger Bioksma Krogstrup, André Alexander Westergaard, Claus Engholm Nielsen, Lean Frandsen, Anders Tuxen
  • Patent number: 11014202
    Abstract: An applicator tool (40) for repairing damage (26) to a wind turbine blade (20) includes a spatula (42) including a flexible extrusion plate (44) and one or more spacers (60, 106) positioned proximate an inner surface (58) of the extrusion plate (44). The one or more spacers (60, 106) are configured to define a gap between an outer surface (34) of the wind turbine blade (20) and the inner surface (58) of the extrusion plate (44). A feed tube (86) is provided for supplying a coating material to the spatula (42), wherein the spatula (42) is configured to shape the coating material into a coating (30) over a damaged area (26) of the wind turbine blade (20).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
    Inventors: Aksel Petersen, Claus Engholm Nielsen, Lean Frandsen, Anders Tuxen, Ivar J. B. K. Jensen