Two UK innovators have joined forces to develop a robotic solution to ensure the integrity of millions of bolts that hold wind turbines together
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult said the project brings together a six-legged robot, the BladeBUG inspect-and-repair robot for turbine blades and EchoBolt’s ultrasonic bolt inspection device.
Funded by Innovate UK, the project will expand BladeBUG’s capabilities, allowing the robot to crawl across turbine structures and test bolt integrity using ultrasonics.
GE Renewable Energy, which is an advisor on the project, estimates the companies’ technology could unlock cost savings of 75% in bolt maintenance and repair bills.
The technology at the heart of the project was developed under previous projects funded by Innovate UK and in collaboration with ORE Catapult. BladeBUG’s crawling robot inspects and repairs blade surfaces, a task that currently requires technicians to scour every inch of their surfaces. EchoBolt’s device can detect bolt tension using ultrasonics without the need for labourious loosening and retightening with hydraulic tools.
There are more than 30,000 blades and more than 10M bolts in the UK wind sector that require this level of maintenance. To meet the UK’s net-zero target of 75 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050, technicians of the future would need to cover almost a quarter of a million blades and 79M bolts. However, without using robotics and smart technologies, this scale of expansion will simply not be technically or financially feasible, according to ORE Catapult.
BladeBUG has previously proven its ability to walk along and inspect blades at ORE Catapult’s Levenmouth demonstration turbine.
EchoBolt technology has been validated through trials at the same test turbine and on GE’s Haliade-X, the world’s biggest offshore wind turbine nacelle.
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