Environmental Engineering Reference
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Micon needed the blades, Ole Larsen had a reputation for delivering
fibreglass work of high quality, and Helge Petersen had gone the
whole way from blade design with F. L. Smidth & Co.'s Aeromotors
during the Second World War, Risø to Danish Wind Technology
(DWT).
Three 11 m MAT blades (left) and three 19 m LM blades (right)
in a row at the Folkecenter Blade Expo.
Figure 7.53
The MAT blades were standard type, efficient and of
sufficient strength. The finish was perfect, but unfortunately an
untraditional type of air brake was chosen. Instead of the well-
proven tip brakes, which were industrial standard already at the
time, they got the idea of using parachutes which were hurled from
a lid in the blade for emergency braking. Naturally you run into
trouble refitting such a bundle of cloth in the blade ready for the
next release. That is what a wind turbine buyer would think. And
so MAT disappeared from the market again, being an example
that due to such a minor error of judgement on a detail like
aerodynamic brakes, an otherwise excellent product sank into
oblivion. When around 1990 Egypt planned domestic wind turbine
manufacturing, locally made blades used MAT technology. Today
MAT's production moulds and blades can be seen as museum
pieces in the Folkecenter.
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