Posters

Abstract

In a fleet of multi-technology wind turbines maintained by Iberdrola in Spain that account for more than 15.000 blades (including both types, Fiberblade and LM), the use of digitalization is key as complementary tool for decision making to schedule blade repair campaigns on a yearly basis with a highly restricted OPEX. Granted that an annual maintenance plan for the blades in such a heterogeneous fleet must be scheduled, it becomes fundamental to assess each one of the blades with a unique and a standardized technical criterion. This can be done by using an algorithim to digitalize the blades. The algorithm incorporates the technical guidelines in order to asses, quantify and categorize the different types of damage that may be present on the blades (cracks, lack of adhesive, ...). Furthermore, this algorithm also generate the specific each blade needs. However, to fully implement this type of technology a solid step on data acquisition is required. Hence, different visual information is gathered by performing thermal inspections with a drone that represent the initial state of the blade, complemented with visual blade inspections from the ground, and lastly properties that are unique to each blade (Blade type, age, …). Digitalization enables the possibility to build a ranking of blades and categorize them according to the present damage they have. This information is very useful once it is combined with a restricted OPEX in order tailor a blade repair maintenance plan where specific actions and recommendations are defined for each blade.