Visually inspecting inside wind turbine blades

Clobotics Wind Services’ Clobotics Crawler (code named KIWI) robot is a device built for safely, rapidly, and cost-effectively documenting the internal condition of wind turbine blades. The device features two high resolution, high dynamic range (HDR) cameras, LED lighting, and a tethered line for retrieval. The robot weighs approximately 6kg and is 20" x 9" x 11" (50cm x 23cm x 28cm). By gathering and analyzing image data from both the inside of blades, with the Clobotics Crawler, and outside of blades, with the Clobotics IBIS drone inspection system, operations and maintenance managers can make informed decisions about where to focus attention and allocate resources for further investigation and follow-up action using the Clobotics IRIS cloud data platform. The basic steps of an internal inspection using the Crawler include data collection from the site and upload to the cloud with a focus on low cost, high quality, and maximum safety. Once in the Cloud, IRIS labels points of interest or defects seen in the images and analyzes statistical trends, generates reports, and develops action steps, while securely connecting to the Clobotics IRIS platform. Safety is enhanced as the robot can be positioned in the blade and conduct the inspection without requiring a technician to physically enter the blade. Quality is achieved by using industrial cameras configured to capture every surface with a novel lighting approach and 26 megapixels of resolution, and 100% image coverage of up to 2/3 of the blade length, as well as identifying the distance from the blade root of images and points of interest to within 7.9" (20cm) of ground truth. Using the Clobotics Crawler, a team of two technicians can expect to safely inspect two entire wind turbines in a single day.

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