Project Partners:
TWI

BCF Designs

Ericsson

Fugro Structural
Monitoring

I.D.E.A.S.
Novalia

Physical Acoustics

RWE npower

Solent Composite
Systems

Spree Engineering

TUV NEL

University of Warwick

Zettlex Ltd

Project website:
www.insightproject.com

 IN-SITU WIRELESS MONITORING OF
OFFSHORE WIND TURBINE TOWERS AND BLADES

We are Members of this INSIGHT Consortium, funded by the Technology Science Board.

The INSIGHT project aims to develop novel measurement technology
that will continuously monitor the structural integrity of wind turbine towers
and blades. Non-intrusive measurement techniques will be developed
to provide a complete analysis of the wind turbines’ structural health.
Wireless communications will be used to control the monitoring system
and transmit the measurement data to an onshore base.

Project Aims

• Develop monitoring techniques for wind
turbine blades, using non-contact
inductive displacement sensors.
• Develop a permanently mounted system
that will use a combination of long range
ultrasonic and acoustic emission techniques to continuously
monitor the structural health of wind turbine towers.
• Develop advanced signal processingmethods for data analysis.
• Develop a communications system to
transmit the measurement data onshore
and control the monitoring system remotely.

Benefits

• Reduction in costs for offshore structure inspections
• Lower costs for blade and tower inspections
• Early detection of structural defects
• Minimisation of downtime and production loss for inspections
• Reduced risk to human life during the inspection of offshore assets
• Evidence to support the life extension of offshore structures
• Increased confidence in offshore wind turbine safety

Applications

While the INSIGHT project is initially being developed for monitoring wind turbine
structures, the system lends itself to many other applications where structural
integrity is of the utmost importance. Some example applications are:

• Renewable energy devices
• Offshore platforms
• Marine power devices
• Power plants

Warwick/AIM Lab Contribution

Wireless communications, sensor design, signal processing, imaging.