In-service X-ray radiography of offshore wind blades (RADBLAD)

“英国的政策目标是到2020年绿色发电达到15%，到2030年二氧化碳排放量减少57%。这导致了过去十年风电装机容量的显著增长（尤其是英国的海上风电），英国达到18.9吉瓦，全球达到539吉瓦。英国市场增长了10倍，2016年占英国用电量的5.4%。涡轮叶片承受阵风荷载，导致叶片结构疲劳损伤积累，导致失效。每年大约有3800个叶片故障是由于维护不善造成的。每3-4个月进行一次预防性检查，每6个月进行一次维护，每项费用在7万至70万英镑之间。事故和死亡人数也相当普遍：截至2018年6月，共发生2265起事故，死亡人数占6%，受伤人数占7%。第二阶段进一步开发了RADBLAD，这是同类中第一个磁性附着爬墙机器人，其操纵臂可以在叶片周围部署x射线系统。末端执行器将源和检测器固定在叶片上，因此它们在叶片三维振动的情况下随叶片移动。RADBLAD的一个重要和新颖的扩展在于使用射线照相系统进行检查，并提供一个集成的解决方案，提供高质量，高效的检查方法，这是人类安全的。与x射线照相不同，RADBLAD不需要昂贵、耗时的陆上拆卸叶片、运输到车间、在x射线舱检查、返回和重新组装，大约需要10天的时间，在此期间，由于停机而损失了收入。接触式方法，如超声体积检测，对多层复合材料结构的检测效果较差，且较难在现场进行。RADBLAD也比陆上检查更快、更便宜（不包括涡轮机停机造成的收入损失）。为了成功实现这一目标，该项目财团具有相关的专业知识，包括机器人开发和制造、放射学开发和人工智能算法软件开发。我们最初的目标市场是海上风力发电机的运行和维护市场，目标用户是风电场资产运营商。该项目代表了英国海上风力发电行业的明显技术创新，也是中小企业供应链联盟的主要增长机会。”

"UK policy targets 15% green power generation by 2020 and 57% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030\. This has led to a significant growth in installed wind power capacity within the last decade (especially in offshore wind power in the UK) to 18.9 GW in the UK and 539 GW globally. The UK market has multiplied 10-fold, supplying 5.4% of the UK's electricity consumption in 2016\.Turbine blades are subjected to gusting wind loads, driving the accumulation of fatigue damage in the blade structures, leading to failures. Around 3,800 blade failures a year are attributed to poor maintenance. Preventative inspection every 3-4 months and maintenance every 6 months is necessary, costing between £70,000 and £700,000 each. Accidents and fatalities are also quite prevalent: 2,265 accidents to June 2018, with fatalities accounting for 6% and injuries 7%.This phase 2 further develops RADBLAD, a first-of-its-kind magnetically-adhering wall-climbing robot, with manipulator arm that deploys the x-ray system around a blade. An end effector holds the source and detector against the blade, so they move with the blade in the presence of 3-D blade vibrations. A crucial and novel extension of RADBLAD lies in the use of a radiographic system for inspection and in providing an integrated solution that offers high-quality, efficient inspection method, which is human safe. Unlike radiography, RADBLAD does not require costly, time-consuming onshore dismantling of blades and transportation to workshop, inspection in x-ray bays and return and reassembly, taking around 10-days during which revenue is lost due to generating downtime. Contact methods, e.g. ultrasound volume inspection, are less effective on multi-layered composite structures, and more difficult to perform on-site. RADBLAD is also faster and cheaper than onshore inspection (not counting loss of revenue due to turbine downtime).To successfully achieve this, the project consortium features the relevant expertise, including robotic development and manufacture, radiography development, and AI algorithm software development.Our initial target market is the offshore wind turbine operation and maintenance market, with wind farm asset operators the target users. This project represents a clear technological innovation for the UK offshore wind generation industry, and major growth opportunity for the SME supply chain consortium."