The Project

Project

Rope Robotics (RR) and FORCE Technology (FT) will in close cooperation with DTU Wind Energy (DTU) aim to be one the first in the world to conduct contact Non Destructive Testing (NDT)  inspections and analysis of Wind Turbine Blades (WTB) on operational Wind Turbines (WT) using RR’s patented remote controlled robot as the facilitating vehicle for the NDT technology.

NDT is used on WTB to detect abnormalities in the blade and thereby allow for repairs in due time before they become critical thus increasing the price of repair and downtime of the WT. By using RR’s robot that has demonstrated its ability to conduct reliable, high quality, and fast leading-edge repair service on installed WTB as a vehicle for conducting NDT, the partners will be able to bring FT’s leading contact NDT service up on the installed WTB. In order to do so, FT and RR will aim to develop the optimal toolkit for attaching the NDT technology to the robot.

The aim is also to use DTU’s knowledge of blade failures and composition to detect WTB’s weak spots and use advanced technologies as artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to help distinguish between failures that will be in need of repair to expand lifetime operation of the WTB and which are of minor importance. This will allow for reduced cost of maintenance as only critical failures will be repaired again reducing downtime of the WT. By enabling this unique NDT solution, the partners will also aim to reduce the need for Rope Access Technicians (RATs) which is the most widely used inspection method today. They conduct dangerous inspections while hanging in ropes from the nacelle of the WTB.