Development of a robotic maintenance system for wind turbine blades (ROMAIN)

Find Similar History 12 Claim Ownership Request Data Change Add Favourite

Title
Development of a robotic maintenance system for wind turbine blades (ROMAIN)

CoPED ID
2cb7182a-2d85-4bd6-bcc3-985be5a8ab55

Status
Active


Value
£2,103,455

Start Date
Aug. 31, 2022

End Date
Aug. 31, 2025

Description

More Like This


The wind energy sector continues growing rapidly even under the pandemic, as an estimated 93GW wind capacity was installed in 2020 globally. After installation, wind turbines are expected to run around 20-25years, during which O&M (operation and maintenance) becomes crucial in maximising the economic and environmental benefits of wind assets. This project aims to develop a complete solution for robotic based inspection and repair of wind turbine blades(WTBs), both onshore and offshore. Firstly, we will integrate thermography and shearography with laser heating, so that advanced lock-in techniques will be achieved for in-situ inspection of both surface and subsurface defects within WTBs. (Current techniquesincluding drone-based are limited to surface defects only). Secondly, a compact and efficient robotic deploymentsystem will be developed which will hold the inspection unit and a robotic repair arm. The robotic system will be operated by engineers working on ground (for onshore wind farms) or on a vessel (for offshore wind farms). When defects are detected and deemed reparable, the repair arm of the whole system will be activated to rapidly repair the faulty area of composite components by resistance welding for joining and/or disassembly. Comparing to the traditional adhesively bonding for repair, the proposed resistance welding with optimised processing would significantly reduce the curing cycles/time with much fewer preparation for surface treatment steps while it will be more easily designed to integrate with robotic arm. The whole system will be operated remotely by engineers working on ground or on a vessel without risking their lives working in the sky on WTBs. Field trials on wind towers will be conducted to validate the system.

UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER LEAD_ORG
UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER PARTICIPANT_ORG

Kate Kershaw PM_PER

Subjects by relevance
  1. Wind energy
  2. Robots
  3. Welding
  4. Wind turbines
  5. Pandemics
  6. Optimisation
  7. Wind farms
  8. Robotics
  9. Wind power stations
  10. Wind
  11. Inspection and revision

Extracted key phrases
  1. Wind turbine blade
  2. Wind turbine blades(WTBs
  3. Robotic maintenance system
  4. Onshore wind farm
  5. Robotic repair arm
  6. Wind energy sector
  7. Robotic system
  8. Wind capacity
  9. Wind asset
  10. Wind tower
  11. Robotic arm
  12. Efficient robotic deploymentsystem
  13. Development
  14. Surface defect
  15. Inspection unit

Related Pages

UKRI project entry

UK Project Locations