Wednesday, 28 September 2016
14:30 - 16:00 Droning On! The use of UAVs in wind turbine O&M
O&M & logistics  
          

This session will give an overview of the emerging technology of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), otherwise called drones, and their application to the remote inspection of wind turbines, with an emphasis on the assessment of blade damage. It will look at what has been done to date and what the capabilities may be for the future. Finally, it will consider the advantages and disadvantages of different inspection techniques.

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Learning objectives

• List the ways in which wind turbine blade damage can be assessed using drones;
• Identify the potential advantages of drones over other approaches to turbine assessment;
• Anticipate future developments in drone technology and associated instruments.

Co-chair(s):

Andrew Bellamy Aarufield Limited, United Kingdom
Co-authors:
Andrew Bellamy (1) ^F Simon Haag (2)
(1) Aarufield Limited, London , United Kingdom (2) 8.2 Consulting AG, Hamburg, Germany

Best practice: How to inspect rotor blades offshore and reduce your overall O&M expenses

Introduction

Rotor blades are one of the components in offshore turbines where growth has been most significant. Physical blade proportions have grown at an incredible rate, as the race to increase turbine yield and performance continues. However, rotor blades also remain one of the most variable components of a modern turbine system, due to their size and required manufacturing processes to achieve acceptable factory output.

Approach

Whilst manufacturers of blades have continuously improved design and manufacturing to deliver the required quality, the industry has seen common cases of blades in operation which have failed or developed serial defects requiring retrofit or replacement. This presentation will outline best practice examples verifying the multiple options for visual inspection of rotor blades from an independent expert view.

Main body of abstract

One of the complexities of offshore projects is to perform suitable inspections and checks to confirm the integrity of a rotor blade fleet. There are multiple solutions for performing inspections, typically involving technicians visiting each blade and performing a visual inspection via rope access. This has proven to be extremely time consuming and expensive, especially where large wind parks require inspections ahead of maintenance campaigns. It is critical to have sufficient data to ensure the blade fleet is known, but without causing high down-time on the turbines and incurring enormous cost from physically accessing each turbine.
In order to reduce downtimes and operational costs, first practical experience with the use of helicopters and drones has been gained. It is clear that from the multiple options available for visual inspection of rotor blades, some technologies are suited to projects more than others – typically dependent on vessel availability, access, distance to shore and weather conditions.


Conclusion

A study has been carried out, where each format of blade inspection has been reviewed and compared, on the basis of quality, cost and related downtime in the windfarm.


Learning objectives
Using these results, it is possible to develop a “best-fit” of blade inspection technologies for windparks around European offshore waters, using a cost model to provide the most effective solution for each project.