Romain - Development of a robotic maintenance system for wind turbine blades

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Title
Romain - Development of a robotic maintenance system for wind turbine blades

CoPED ID
0239a875-734f-4bef-bf4d-adbe0c950dad

Status
Active


Value
£2,163,905

Start Date
Aug. 31, 2022

End Date
Aug. 31, 2025

Description

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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 techniques including drone-based are limited to surface defects only).Secondly, a compact and efficient robotic deployment system 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.

Jianxin Gao PM_PER

Subjects by relevance
  1. Robots
  2. Wind energy
  3. Welding
  4. Wind turbines
  5. Arms limitations
  6. Optimisation
  7. Pandemics
  8. Wind farms

Extracted key phrases
  1. Wind turbine blade
  2. Robotic maintenance system
  3. Efficient robotic deployment system
  4. Onshore wind farm
  5. Wind energy sector
  6. Robotic repair arm
  7. Robotic system
  8. Wind capacity
  9. Wind asset
  10. Wind tower
  11. Robotic arm
  12. Romain
  13. Surface defect
  14. Situ inspection
  15. Surface treatment step

Related Pages

UKRI project entry

UK Project Locations