We solve industry need for a condition monitoring system
Our objective is to reduce the risks related to blade failures and contribute to the growth and competitiveness of wind energy in the world’s energy markets by commercialising an innovative solution
BladeSave is a fusion between a Fibre Optic Structural Health Monitoring System (Smartscan) providing multi-sensing capability (strains, vibrations and acoustic emission), and a blade management software (WindManager) linking the data from inspection and maintenance to the SHM data offering a comprehensive solution for wind turbineblade monitoring, repair and management.
Our mission
Our system aims to increase the average annual availability per wind turbine from 95%, to 98-99% through the optimisation of maintenance routines and the maximisation of component lifetime versus unscheduled repair/replacement and breakdown.
Smartscan
The ultimate health system monitor
Smartscan is a high performance, low cost, all optical blade loads monitoring system developed by SmartFibres for wind turbines, providing dynamic measurements of rotor blades rood loading throughout their operating lifetime.
WindManager
Cloud based service
The main work of this project is to perform a unique functionality: the fusion between the SHM system Smartscan and the WindManager software in order to provide a system capable of collecting the data from monitoring, inspections, repairs and build a risk matrix evaluating the blade health on a 5 grade scale. To achieve this, the data from Smartscan multiple sensing capabilities (temperature, strain, vibrations, acoustic emission) would be preprocessed on-site, uploaded to a cloud-based computing system for a second stage processing where the damages identified feed the risk matrix.
The Smartscan system has some functionalities at TRL8 (strains, temperature, vibrations), but the acoustic emission capabilities are proven only at TRL6 and would require further validation to TRL9, 1st in controlled environment by comparing it to conventional AE sensors and then on-site by detecting wind blade cracks. The software requires finalisation, debugging and testing by end users in order to alter the user interface or to add more data. Once validated, BladeSave will be the only system capable of providing this multi-sensing capability.
Simplicity
Thanks to the fusion of the FGB sensing of Smartscan and WindManager, the System Health Monitor is completely transparent to the end user for simplicity.
The System Health Monitor results are cloud processed and the impact on blade health is evaluated feeding the risk matrix of the blade.
Robustness
The monitoring system is using FBGs which means that it is unaffected by lightening or static electricity making it the only reliable technology for blade monitoring.
Scalability
Due to the technical nature of BladeSave, the product can easily accomodate for differences in the power rating of the respective wind turbines
This straightforward scale-up feature is a clear advantage in today’s wind energy market, since power ratings typically range from 0,01 to 7 MW.
The current SmartScan system will be used in any wind turbine. The length of the smart fibres requires modifications in order to monitor wind turbines of different power output.