Drones for Wind Turbine Blade Inspection

The importance of wind turbine inspection

Every day, hail, snow, lightning, rain, salt, and dust are thrown against the parts of wind turbines. A turbine blade may potentially sustain damage from things like high load buckling or production flaws that cause de-bonding.

The following flaws are frequently discovered during inspections of wind turbines:

  • Tower: Corrosion, deterioration, paint flaking, and a crack
  • Blade: Water penetration, paint peeling, damages, degradation, and cracks
  • Nacelle: Lightning damage, peeling paint, oil splits, cracks, and corrosion
  • Hub: Damage, a loose connection, and skewness

In the absence of preventative maintenance, the cost of repairing and replacing turbine parts might approach $30,000 (Rs 22,50,000).

When capital components take a long time to arrive as well as when planned shutdowns are scheduled for manual inspections or ground-based inspections, there is an extra income loss due to missed production days.

Traditionally used methods of wind turbine inspection present challenges

There are normally two ways to examine wind turbine parts. Rope access and platforms, together with ground-based examination, are the most often employed techniques for both inspection and repair. a method in which a telephoto lens is used to check the blades.

Rope access and platforms typically require more than three persons to operate, which results in expensive labour. The technicians can only examine one or two turbines every day using this approach, and since they must operate at heights, the danger element and insurance costs are significant.

The Ground-Based approach, on the other hand, has poor data quality for dark sections and fast-moving parts of the blades since the pictures are acquired from multiple angles and orientations (like the tip). The angles make measuring and locating the damages impossible. A camera arrangement is required to capture each side of the blade, which is time-consuming.

Innovation in wind turbine inspection: Drones

Drones provide several benefits over the traditional techniques listed above, including removing worker risk, cutting inspection time by 70%, and eliminating the need to shut down wind turbines for extended periods of time as with human inspections.

Drones can conduct a comprehensive site evaluation or an examination of a single wind turbine. A drone outfitted with high-performance cameras can examine a wind turbine without putting personnel in danger or requiring access to the wind turbine.

A single wind turbine examination can take anything from 3 to 6 hours, with inspectors working at height. Wind-resistant RTK drones, on the other hand, can check a turbine in 45 minutes or less. As a consequence, the full 15-turbine farm could be examined in three days.

High-resolution drone imagery produces better data

Drones not only reduce worker safety risks, but they also give high-resolution photographs of locations that climbers cannot view or reach. Wind turbines may be photographed from any angle or location, including those that humans cannot reach.

Images of high resolution are captured and sent to Analysis Software, where they may be evaluated to diagnose and detect faults.

A technician’s inspection of a wind turbine can only cover what is visible, allowing possibility for mistakes or missing inspection regions.

Summary

Wind farm owners may undeniably minimise efficiency losses and maintenance costs by utilising an accurate, up-close picture of probable problems as well as quality data that can be utilised to produce precise inspection reports down to the millimetre.

Drones may be put into the air in minutes and capture visual and thermal data in seconds, while technicians remain safe on the ground.

By performing periodic and regular preventative checks, drone inspections can increase energy output and safely supply clean energy to mankind.

DroneMaster in the field of wind renewable energy

Inspection of wind turbines and blades may be quite difficult since internal structural issues with the blade may become apparent from the outside. We provide drone-powered solutions to address these issues. 

Our drones are outfitted with very sophisticated sensors, such as thermal and infrared sensors that were created and calibrated specifically for inspecting wind turbines and their blades. These sensors gather data quickly and can see up to 15 cm within wind turbines. Our team helps wind farms guarantee structural integrity, increase the lifespan of the turbines, and take necessary measures at the appropriate moment by using machine learning and sophisticated processing tools to discover any internal or exterior structural difficulties (issues as tiny as 5mm).

Our pilots are highly qualified, and they adhere to all safety regulations when doing aerial inspections of wind turbines and their blades. Throughout every survey or inspection operation, we have never had an accident. We have already helped wind farms increase productivity and decrease downtime by covering the inspection of more than 200 turbines.

Benefits of DroneMaster's Wind Turbine Inspection

  • Drone visual inspections are more detailed than ground-based assessments.
  • Using thermal/4k capabilities, you can use high-resolution data more effectively and quickly.
  • Without the need for any humans to climb to the top, safely inspect each component of a wind turbine.
  • Drone Inspection uses less money, time, and resources than the manual, conventional technique.
  • When inspecting wind turbines and blades with a drone, you may save your inspection costs by up to 50%.
  • Aerial data makes it more affordable to maintain track of all the assets in wind farms.