Development and Evaluation of a Drone-Deployed Wind Turbine Blade Nondestructive Inspection System
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Transportation Safeguards and Surety Organization
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Experimental Mechanics and Dynamics
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Wind Energy Technologies
Wind energy is quickly becoming a significant contributor to the United States' overall energy portfolio. Wind turbine blades pose a unique set of inspection challenges that span from very thick and attenuative spar cap structures to porous bond lines, varying core material and a multitude of manufacturing defects of interest. The need for viable, accurate nondestructive inspection (NDI) technology becomes more important as the cost per blade, and lost revenue from downtime, grows. To address this growing need, Sandia and SkySpecs collaborated to evaluate NDI methods that are suitable for integration on an autonomous drone inspection platform. A trade study of these NDI methods was performed, and thermography was selected as the primary technique for further evaluation. Based on the capabilities of SkySpecs' custom inspection drone, a miniature microbolometer IR camera was successfully selected and tested in a benchtop setting. After identifying key operating parameters for inspecting wind blade materials, hardware and software integration of the IR camera was performed, and Sandia and SkySpecs conducted initial field testing. Finally, recommendations for a path forward for drone-deployed thermography inspections were provided.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Technology Development (EE-20); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
- OSTI ID:
- 1528806
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--2018-3116; 663784
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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