BladeBUG Leading Edge Repair Tool

在过去的十年中，英国的海上风力涡轮机数量翻了一番，达到2,000多台，每年节省29兆吨二氧化碳，并产生10.4GW的电力。英国的目标是到2030年将其提高到40GW。随着电力需求的增加，涡轮机的尺寸和它们离海岸的距离也增加，从而导致更高的风险和维护成本。目前的风力涡轮机的叶片长度可能超过80 m，甚至更大的风力涡轮机正在开发中。风力涡轮机面临的主要问题之一是由于叶片尖端的高速而导致叶片前缘的侵蚀。随着风力涡轮机变大，叶片尖端速度增加，侵蚀加剧。使用绳索进入设备的技术人员被派去修复由此造成的损坏边缘，通过打磨和应用前缘保护材料。然而，远离海岸和大型涡轮机的更危险的环境将导致这些技术人员面临更大的风险。这也将导致更长的涡轮机停机时间和更昂贵的维修费用，减少绿色能源生产。BladeBUG等机器人维修解决方案可以通过将人类从这种危险环境中移除来提高安全性。此外，机器人和自动化的使用可以降低早期维修的成本，并且可以通过在损坏影响性能之前进行先发制人的维护来提高生产率。这还减少了涡轮机的停机时间，因为需要的大规模维修较少。可重复、精确的机器人动作也将提高维修效率。该项目旨在开发一种用于打磨涡轮机叶片前缘的模块化工具架和工具，使之前开发的BladeBUG机器人能够执行前缘修复程序。由于生产力和效率的提高，单个涡轮机在其整个寿命期间将产生更多的能量，减少英国对化石燃料作为能源来源的依赖。随着英国风电行业的计划增长，这将在未来产生更大的影响。

In the last decade, the number of offshore wind turbines in the UK has doubled to over 2,000 active turbines, saving 29 megatonnes of CO2 every year, and producing 10.4GW of power combined. The UK is aiming to raise this to 40GW by 2030\. As power requirements increase, so does the size of turbines and their distance from shore resulting in higher risk and cost of maintenance. Current wind turbines may have blades over 80 m long, and even larger wind turbines are in development.One of the primary issues that wind turbines face is erosion of the leading edge of the blade, due to high speeds at the tip of the blade. As wind turbines get larger, the blade tip speed increases, escalating erosion. Technicians using rope-access equipment are sent out to repair the damaged edges caused by this, by sanding and applying leading edge protection materials. However, more hazardous environments further from shore and on larger turbines will lead to greater risks to these technicians. This will also result in longer turbine downtime, and more costly repairs, reducing green energy production.Robotic repair solutions such as BladeBUG can improve safety by removing humans from this hazardous environment. In addition, use of robots and automation can reduce the cost of earlier stage repairs and productivity can be increased via preemptive maintenance before damage impacts performance. This also reduces turbine downtime, as fewer large scale repairs are needed. Repeatable, precise robotic actions will also improve repair efficiency. This project aims to develop a modular tool carrier and tool for sanding the leading edge of turbine blades, enabling the previously developed BladeBUG robot to carry out leading edge repair procedures.As a result of productivity and efficiency improvements, individual turbines will produce more energy throughout their lifetime, reducing the UK's reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy. With the planned growth of the UK's wind sector, this will have an even greater effect in the future.