

A World Made of Rotor Blades - davesailer
http://www.notechmagazine.com/2015/02/a-world-made-of-rotor-blades.html

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jdietrich
I was initially sceptical, but these ideas seem like genuinely sensible uses
for old turbine blades. The bus shelter in particular seems rather appealing.

I'm reminded of the use of crumb rubber from recycled tyres as a paving
material. Rubberised asphalt is an excellent material for many applications,
but would be largely uneconomic without the supply of very inexpensive rubber
from discarded tyres. These structures made from repurposed turbine blades may
not be ideal, but they may make a great deal of sense if the raw material is
basically free.

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mc32
Isn't there some concern over the chemicals which can leach out into the
environ from recycled tires (crumb rubber) Concerns over impact on human
health. Or is that concern misplaced?

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aroch
You're not eating the rubber and by the time the tires have made their way to
recycling I would expect basically all the volatiles would have offgased. The
MSDS [1] would suggest the biggest risk is breathing the fumes caused by
burning or rubbing the crumbs in your eyes and scratching your cornea. While
there are trace amounts of naphthalene, I imagine its more an issue for those
involved in the manufacture than those people playing on a playground padded
with it.

[1]
[http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P11413/public/Crumb%20Rubber%20MSDS](http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P11413/public/Crumb%20Rubber%20MSDS)

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mc32
I thinks it's too early to tell if there is or isn't a danger. Preliminary
studies in controlled environs have not found cause for much concern, but
others are calling for more rigorous examination. Personally I dont think
there has been enough research taking into account people playing multiple
hours a day on these surfaces, so id rather see more studies into exposure.

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Jolijn
It all seems rather desperate to me and unimaginative (children will love
climbing over it!). This is not a structural way of disposing of these blades,
it's a public relations effort.

For me, at least, it's not working.

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acjohnson55
I agree. This seems like a "solution" completely out of proportion with the
scale of the problem

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lotsofmangos
The solution of using old rotor blades as structural material seems not badly
suited to the scale of the problem. The global market for cheap lightweight
and strong structural elements is far larger than the amount of rotor blades
needing recycled. Just working out a nice design for an agricultural barn
would probably cover it.

Also, modification for re-use is generally far less energy intensive than full
recycling, even if it were currently available.

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bengali3
Reminds me of this 747-200 'Wing House' in malibu

[http://www.ilikearchitecture.net/2014/01/wing-house-david-
he...](http://www.ilikearchitecture.net/2014/01/wing-house-david-hertz-
architects-and-the-studio-of-environmental-architecture/)

~~~
CPLX
Interesting article. I liked this part:

> Although, David Hertz Architects did find out that the studio has to
> register the roof of the house with the FAA (Federal Aviation
> Administration) so pilots flying overhead do not mistake it as a downed
> aircraft.

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galfarragem
Materials are not good or bad in itself, they have just different properties
that are weighted by the 'architect' when choosing a material:

\- some more objective (resistance, durability, toxicity, etc)

\- some more subjective (costs, fashionability, desirability, commissions..,
etc)

In this specific case, the material was imposed, changing the 'game': material
comes first than the function and reaching an optimal solution is normally
more difficult. Optimal solutions are almost never obvious and while there
isn't one, 'architects' use some temporary/obvious solutions like this one.

 _What constitutes true creativity is the openness and adaptability of our
spirit - Robert Green_

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chiph
Can these blades not be shredded and chopped up, and the resulting fibers used
in less-critical parts, like aftermarket auto hoods, swimming pools, etc?
Using a process like the fiberglass spray lay-up, with a chopper gun.

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mcguire
Not a materials person, but wouldn't shredding and chopping leave you with
small fragments of fibers encased in resin. Fiber length is important to the
strength, and I'm not sure how well new resin would bond with cured resin. I'd
think the result would be much, much weaker.

Chopped mat fibers would also defeat the purpose of carbon fiber in
aftermarket auto parts, which is to be pretty.

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jkot
Carbon fiber dust is nasty stuff, something like asbestos. It can not even go
to landfill, so lets make children playgrounds out of that. Lovely.

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kcbanner
From what I understand, carbon fiber is not directly exposed.

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ps4fanboy
So much for renewables not creating pollution.

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Shivetya
sounds to me we need to find a better material to make them from if their
lifespan is as short as it is let alone their disposal is such an issue.

so why is their service life so much shorter than some planes have had? Seems
the idea behind their structure should not be too far off.

~~~
darklajid
I'm confused. Why do you think that planes have a longer lifespan?

I mean, I assume we're talking about plane propellers here, right? Not
airframes or something? Are you sure that a plane would fly with the same
blades for more than the cited 10-25 years?

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switchbak
It's been a while, but I used to work with some folks who performed
maintenance on helicopters that had composite rotor blades - and they were
constantly being inspected and sent back to the manufacturer.

Perhaps it's different in the civilian aerospace world, but I don't think it's
sensible to expect those blades to last as long as the airframe.

~~~
frik
The lifetime of _composite rotor blades_ is shorter than metal based rotor
blades that were used in older generations of helicopters.

Example:

The B0 105 helicopter is cleared for up to 3.5 positive G force and one
negative. Its agility and responsiveness can be partly attributed to its rigid
rotor blade design, a feature uncommon on competing helicopters.

The rotor system is entirely hingeless, the rotor head consisting of a solid
titanium block to which the four blades are bolted; the flexibility of the
rotor blades works to absorb movements typically necessitating hinges in most
helicopter rotor designs. The reliability of the advanced rotor system is
that, in over six million operating hours across the fleet, there had been a
total of zero failures. One benefit of the Bo 105's handling and control style
is superior takeoff performance, including significant resistance to
catastrophic dynamic rollover; a combination of weight and the twin-engined
configuration enables a rapid ascent in a performance takeoff.

The MBB Bo 105 is the only heli cleared for acrobatic stunt flight and is the
work horse of "Flying Bulls" (Red Bull).

Source:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBB_Bo_105](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBB_Bo_105)

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a3n
We could just bury the blades under Yucca Mountain.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_r...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository)

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malkia
That's like a new kind of LEGO for grownups. Someone should try to make a game
where you can reuse such pieces, carve them, and then place them on top of
existing google/bing/other maps.

Social Blades...

