Enabling technology for robotic inspection and maintenance of offshore wind turbine blades

海上风力涡轮机在恶劣和极端的环境中运行，如北海。随着叶片不断变大，叶尖速度可以超过100m/s。在这样的速度下，空气中的任何微粒，如雨、灰尘、盐、杂质等，都可以磨损叶片前缘的表面，这种现象被称为前缘侵蚀。反过来，这会改变叶片的气动形状，影响效率，并可能使叶片受到进一步和更严重的损坏，从而降低叶片的寿命。虽然导致前缘侵蚀的机制尚未完全了解，但可以说，在某些时候，所有风力涡轮机叶片在其使用寿命期间都会遭受某种形式或程度的前缘侵蚀，这需要解决。维护海上风电叶片是一项昂贵而危险的工作。通常情况下，高技能的绳索检修技术人员必须缩小叶片的尺寸来进行前缘维修。该项目旨在迈出开发机器人设备的第一步，该设备可以对叶片的前缘进行大量的详细检查和重复维修，从而节省熟练的绳索检修技术人员的时间，使他们能够对叶片进行专业维修或升级。这将使更多的叶片能够被检查和处理，最大限度地提高涡轮机的电力输出，从而使业主受益，增加收入，最大限度地减少二氧化碳的排放，使每个人都受益，并为最终用户增加电力供应的安全性。

Offshore wind turbines operate in harsh and extreme environments such as the North Sea. As blades continue getting larger, their tip speeds can exceed 100m/s. At these speeds, any particulates in the air such as rain, dust, salt, inspects etc. can wear away the surface of the blade's leading edge, a phenomenon known as leading edge erosion. This, in turn, alters the aerodynamic shape of the blade, affecting the efficiency AND potentially exposing the blade to further and more serious damage, thereby reducing the life of the blade. Whilst the mechanisms that cause leading edge erosion are not yet fully understood, it can be said that at some point, ALL wind turbine blades will suffer from some form or degree of leading edge erosion during their life, which will need to be addressed.Maintaining blades in the offshore wind sector is an expensive and dangerous job. Typically, highly skilled rope access technicians have to scale down the blades to carry out leading edge repairs.This project aims to take the first steps of developing a robotic device to carry out a number of these detailed inspections and repetitive repairs on the leading edges of blades, freeing up the time of the skilled rope access technicians, enabling them to perform specialist repairs or upgrades to blades only they can do. This would enable more blades to be inspected and treated, maximising the electrical output of the turbines that in turn benefit the owner with increased revenues, maximise the CO2 savings that everybody benefit from and increasing the security of electrical supply for the end users.