TRI Wind Turbine Blade Exterior Inspection Robot

설명

Blade damage is the failure mode that kills turbines, and people. Wind erosion strips the protective surface layer, dust and encrustation build up, and lightning, hail, sandstorms and hurricanes do the rest; a crack that is not caught extends into the fibreglass. Many wind farms run with damaged blades because inspecting them means a rope technician on a rotating structure at height. TRI's blade robot climbs the blade by vacuum adhesion — it has to, because a blade is a non-magnetic composite — and carries high-definition video cameras, ultrasonic phased-array inspection, image transmission instruments, and communication and storage equipment. It covers the blade comprehensively and then goes back for rapid focused inspection of critical areas. Navigation and positioning use artificial intelligence, with image recognition of abnormalities on both tower and blade, and the robot is remote controlled so the operator stays on the ground. TRI says it works in weather and wind conditions that are less than ideal, needs no crane or lifting equipment, builds a three-dimensional model of the blade from the inspection data and analyses that data across the blade's life to inform maintenance intervals. The company puts the gain at more than 40 per cent inspection efficiency and about 3.2 million yuan saved a year.

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