Reporter | Xi Jinghua Edit |
A six-legged robot inspired by bugs will play an important role in offshore wind operation and maintenance.
A six-legged crawling robot developed by London-based robotics startup Bladebug completed the world's first walking test on a 7 MW offshore wind turbine blade at an offshore wind farm in Scotland.
This six-legged crawling robot is an intelligent operation and maintenance robot specially designed for maintaining and inspecting offshore wind turbine blades. A vacuum bonding device is installed at the end of each foot, which can be firmly attached to the surface of the fan blade and crawl flexibly on the blade.
By scanning the surface for cracks and deformations, and passing on scan data and video signals to ground technicians, the bladebug crawling robot completes the fully automated inspection and repair of the offshore wind turbine.
Bladebug's official website shows that the robot has previously completed testing in the vertical training tower and the blade part on land. It is expected that in mid-2021, the robot will also clean and polish the fan blades with operations vessels, drones and robotic arms.
Using robots instead of manpower for O&M operations can reduce the risk of O&M accidents, improve detection efficiency and accuracy, and save maintenance costs.
Bladebug founder Chris Cieslak believes that robotics can transform the operation of offshore wind farms, reduce costs, and maximize the life of wind turbines.
According to the company's estimates, the bladebug six-legged crawling robot can reduce the cost of fan inspection by 30%.
According to offshore engineer magazine, this blade walking test also verified the role of "auxiliary tether", which can extend the robot's working time at sea and can be quickly arranged and recovered on the blades.
The robot also joins multi-platform inspection, maintenance and repair programs (mimree) in extreme environments.
The mimree project was launched by a European wind developer in conjunction with the UK Offshore Renewable Energy Incubator with a £4 million investment.
Bringing together robotics, NDT, artificial intelligence, space mission planning, marine and aeronautical engineering and nanobiotechnology, the project aims to develop a holistic digital and robotic system that will enable each offshore wind farm to save £26 million in operational costs over its lifetime.
Offshore wind turbines endure storms, extreme temperatures, and strong winds over their 25-year lifespan. The harsh marine environment has brought many inconveniences to offshore wind power operations.
In December 2020, a research document published by the School of Marine Engineering and Technology of Sun Yat-sen University showed that more complex natural conditions pose challenges to offshore wind operation and maintenance, and the failure rate of offshore wind turbines is significantly higher than that of onshore wind power.
The above-mentioned research shows that the existing operation and maintenance data show that under the same installed capacity, the operation and maintenance cost of offshore wind power is more than twice that of onshore wind power, and the operation and maintenance cost of offshore wind power accounts for more than 1/4 of its kWh cost.
At present, the inspection and maintenance of traditional offshore wind blades is usually carried out by technicians using ropes, and can only be operated and maintained during good weather. This results in long downtime and serious power losses. In addition, the cost of operating and maintaining vessels also accounts for a large proportion of the operating and maintenance costs of offshore wind farms.
In order to improve the convenience of operation and maintenance and reduce the security risk of operation and maintenance personnel, equipment such as robots and drones can be applied.
Similar to the blade bugg robot, researchers at Sandia National Laboratory in the United States have tested a crawling robot that detects damage to wind turbine blades, according to a January 27 report by China Water Transport News.
This self-service robotic device, which can climb up a wind turbine tower and crawl on the blades, is safer and more careful than manual maintenance. At the same time, you can also carry detection tools, such as cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence devices, etc.
In China, Jiangsu Fengyang Wind Power Technology Engineering Co., Ltd. has also developed a wind power tower maintenance robot, which can clean, rust, paint and other operations on the outer wall of the wind turbine tower in an all-round way to prevent the collapse accident caused by the rust of the wind turbine tower.
According to the company's official website, the wind power tower maintenance robot is a smart device that can be freely lifted and lowered, and can crawl up and down on the tower. The working platform is equipped with three construction platforms with a rotation of 120 degrees, the installation of noisy and painted nozzles, intelligent control of the power and speed of the operation, you can achieve unmanned operation at height.