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

海上风力涡轮机在北海等恶劣和极端的环境中运行。随着叶片不断变大，其尖端速度可以超过100米/S。在这种速度下，空气中的任何颗粒，如雨、尘、盐、检查等，都会磨损叶片前缘的表面，这种现象被称为前缘侵蚀。这反过来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，在某个时候，所有的风力涡轮机叶片在其生命周期中都会遭受不同形式或程度的前缘侵蚀，这将需要解决。在海上风电领域维护叶片是一项昂贵而危险的工作。通常，高技能的绳索接入技术人员必须按比例缩小刀片以进行前沿维修。该项目旨在采取第一步开发一种机器人设备，对刀片前沿进行多次详细检查和重复维修，解放熟练的绳索接入技术人员的时间，使他们能够对只有他们自己能做的刀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，从而使所有者受益于增加的收入，最大限度地节省二氧化碳，每个人都从中受益，并提高最终用户的电力供应安全性。

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.