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Wind blades are the most expensive parts of wind turbines made from fibre-reinforced polymer composites. The blades play a critical role on the energy production, but they are prone to damage like any other composite components. Leading edge (LE) erosion of the wind turbine blades is one of the common damages, causing a reduction in the annual energy production especially in offshore wind turbine farms. This erosion can be caused by rain, sand and flying solid particles. Coating the blade against erosion using appropriate materials can drastically reduce these losses and hence is of great interest. The sol–gel technique is a convenient method to manufacture thin film coatings, which can protect the blades against the rain erosion, while having negligible effect on the weight of the blades. This article provides an extensive review of the liquid erosion mechanism, water erosion testing procedures and the contributing factors to the erosion of the LE of wind turbine blades. Techniques for improving the erosion resistance of the LE using carbon nanotubes and graphene nano-additives are also discussed.

SummaryThe fluid warming capabilities of the Bair Hugger, Hotline, Standard Ranger and Fluido devices were evaluated in the laboratory with gravity flow via a 14G cannula (1 m head of fluid) and with the fluid bag pressurised to 300 mmHg. The resulting flows (70-450 ml.min )1 ) were recorded. At a room temperature of 22°C, no device warmed the fluid to 37°C. However, the Standard Ranger with gravity flow and the Fluido with both gravity and pressurised flow achieved 35°C, whereas the Bair Hugger and Hotline with both gravity and pressurised flow, and the Standard Ranger with pressurised flow, achieved only 24-31°C. However, from the way delivered temperatures changed with flow, we calculated that all four devices would achieve close to 37°C at the flows specified by the manufacturers: 17, 83, 150 and 800 ml.min )1 for the Bair Hugger, Hotline, Standard Ranger and Fluido, respectively.

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