Development of a Wind Turbine Blade Surface Coating to Reduce Damage due to Lightning
- Arctura, Inc
- Arctura, Inc.
Lightning damage is one of the top two causes of turbine downtime and repair costs for wind farm owners and operators. The key issue is that while existing lightning protection systems often prevent catastrophic damage, they are not fully effective at preventing all types of lightning damage leading to added unplanned maintenance costs and downtime. Without advances in lightning protection systems, this pain point will grow worse as turbines become taller and larger, as more sensitive equipment is installed in the blades, and with a predicted increase in overall lightning activity in the coming decades. Lightning damage will also critically impact offshore wind energy development where operations and maintenance (O&M) costs are higher, and accessibility is more difficult. Owner-operators need improved lightning protection systems to reduce their O&M costs and downtime, while manufacturers need to satisfy the revised IEC wind turbine lightning standard now in effect. In this DOE Phase II SBIR project, we conducted successful proof-of-principle tests of a coating-based enhanced lightning protection system that shows promise for reducing lightning damage to wind turbine blades. We completed experimental lightning testing for increasingly realistic geometries in large-scale high-voltage and high-current testing, including tests that conform to the IEC wind turbine lightning standard. The coating system will augment existing lightning protection systems, chiefly composed of surface-mounted receptors and down conductors. The coating system works by locally increasing the electric field near the surface of the blade, thus promoting surface flashover during direct lightning strikes. In a surface flashover, the electrical and thermal energy in the lightning strike is conducted in an ionized channel through the air adjacent to the blade’s surface to the lightning receptors. This flashover behavior will decrease the chances of punctures that otherwise occur through the blade’s surface to internal conductive components. The coating system is integrated with the blade’s topcoat, a significant advance over existing alternatives, because this placement eliminates aerodynamic drag penalties and erosion concerns. The new coating system offers all of the existing advantages of today’s advanced topcoats, such as UV resistance, high erosion resistance, and easy application, with the added benefit of improving the wind turbine’s lightning protection system. The proposed solution also uses less expensive materials and manufacturing methods compared with existing after-market lightning protection alternatives, thereby improving chances for industry adoption.
- Research Organization:
- Arctura, Inc. (formerly known as Aquanis, Inc.)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0018885
- OSTI ID:
- 1821474
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase II)
- Report Number(s):
- Phase 2 Final Report DOE-Arctura-SC0018885
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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