Inspecting wind turbines can be a dangerous business. Between the height, the winds, and of course the enormous spinning blades, it’s not a job for the faint of heart – and that’s where GE’s newest employee comes in.
Engineers at the company’s Global Research Center have partnered with robotics company International Climbing Machines to develop a remote-controlled, camera-carrying robot capable of scaling 300-foot high turbine poles in just minutes. Once it arrives at the top, it uses its high-definition video camera to photograph the turbines, instantaneously sending the images back to headquarters for review.
Utilizing a vacuum pump built into the its undercarriage, the 30-pound robot is able to stick to the vertical pole without slipping off and its rubberized tracks help it climb over any rough surface it faces on the way up. The seal is so strong that the robot could pull 225 more pounds up with it, and engineers are planning on taking advantage of that extra carrying capacity. They plan on putting a microwave sensor onto its back that can see inside the blades, looking for structural breakdowns before they show on the outside.
“We could see smaller defects a lot earlier inside the blade, before they break to the surface and cause problems,” said Waseem Faidi, a manager at the Center.
It can take a human inspector up to 4 hours to check a single wind turbine for problems, as they have to stop the turbine, climb the tower, manually spin and inspect each blade, and photograph any issues through a telescope. That information then has to be brought in for review. Utilizing robots to do the job would enable more inspections to get done in the same amount of time, leading to safer turbines and less danger for the humans climbing up and down those monstrous turbine poles.
Image Credit: GE Reports