Maintaining wind turbines and identifying potential vulnerabilities is expensive and time-consuming, especially when they are located offshore. As a result, rotor blades are often simply replaced, a costly process when damage is merely suspected. The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, working in concert with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, has developed a solution that can be used to identify cracks and breakage inside the blades remotely at an early stage.
Remote detection system developed for wind turbine blade damage
