ABJ WindVue©: A Proprietary Technology for Drone Wind Turbine Blade Inspections
Our internal & external blade inspection identifies issues as small as 3 – 4mm.
Regular preventative maintenance can significantly extend the viable lifespan of turbines and ensure that they output maximum power in all conditions. Inspecting them presents a challenge, however, as they are tall structures and the internal structure of the blades can develop structural problems that may not be invisible from the outside.
Drone thermal & optical inspection in 45 minutes or less per turbine
We inspect issues 3 – 4mm small within a wind turbine blade
Intelligent Data with Comprehensive Reporting, Analytics & AI
Innovative & Global Team with Years of Experience and R&D
Our Clients
Intelligent Blade Inspection Technology
The ABJ WindVue© system utilizes the fact that the internal structure of a wind turbine blade heats and cools at different rates. By measuring these small differences using a highly sophisticated, specially calibrated infrared camera on our special drones, we can gather this information rapidly, needing the turbine to be stopped for only minutes instead of hours.
Insights into our Wind Turbine Inspections:
Inspecting Majority of Issues:
Internal damages
Delamination
Bad bonding
Resin gaps
Core defects
Lightning Strike / Flashover
Balancing material problems
Next Level Reporting:
Ability to see further
Clarity on sub-structural defects
Direct comparison with optical image
Actionable repairs can be visualized
Advantages of our
Wind Turbine Inspections
Higher-resolution visual inspections with our drone technology & process
Thermal imaging can be used to aid in inspecting and monitoring wind turbines
A fraction of the cost with better data, faster speed and increased effectiveness
Onshore and offshore wind farm remains functional during inspection
Smarter data sets and actionable insight: Drones collect the needed data for identifying and mitigating risks, and increasing revenue
Greatly reduce man hours and costs with effective drone inspections
Increase efficiency due to data accuracy and reliability
Safety of personnel – no need for them to ascend to height
Real-time images and video feed can be transmitted to ground control station
Disadvantages of
Traditional Inspections
The traditional way to do a wind turbine inspection was to stop the turbine with a blade in the six o’clock position, then operatives were lowered down the blade from the top on ropes or cables and they would knock on the blade to estimate the soundness of the material.
It takes a long time to repeat this for all three blades
The knocking system is very subjective and prone to error
Often, wind noise makes it hard to estimate the condition of the blade
The turbine is out of use for hours, and valuable income is lost
Operatives are put at unnecessary risk by being forced to work at height
Faulty and damaged wind turbines can be catastrophic in terms of financial loss, but also in respect to the safety of personnel and the public
ABJ Drones Stays Ahead of The Drone Market for Wind Turbine Blade Inspections
We have many years of R&D and experience with drone wind turbine inspections. Our unique process allows for a non-contact internal and external wind turbine blade inspection for onshore and offshore wind farms. When looking at a wind turbine visually, no errors or problems can be detected in the turbine blade from the naked eye. But, a thermal imaging camera reveals the internal structure of an intact blade which shows crucial details about the blades. ABJ Drones has effective thermal imaging technology and techniques to capture engineering-grade levels of accuracy for use in detailed point clouds and analytics. Including, geo-tagging to localize specific area of inspection (AOI) and a proprietary back end processing solution to enable companies with instant sourcing and identification.
ABJ’s Proprietary Technology
- The ABJ WindVue© system utilises the fact that the internal structure of a wind turbine blade heats and cools at different rates. By measuring these small differences using a highly sophisticated, specially calibrated infrared camera on our special drones, we can gather this information rapidly, needing the turbine to be stopped for only minutes instead of hours.
- Identify issues as small as 3 – 4mm
- Using thermal energy from wind friction to allow for high resolution thermography
- Visualizing layers of lamination and beam structure inside the wind turbine blade for in-depth inspection of blade structure
- With our proprietary drone technology we have the capability to look for bad bonding, delamination, lightning strikes, damages, and structural defects.
- A unique and proven technology for enhanced wind turbine inspections for onshore and offshore wind farms
