Traditional wind turbine blade inspections are being replaced by faster, safer, and more cost-effective solution—autonomous drones. This allows for more accurate assessment of blade health and helps to plan repair tasks.
Completed
Description
Problem
While drone-based inspections are rapidly becoming the norm, traditional damage reports are not sufficient enough to fully assess blade health. Today’s operations and maintenance (O&M) teams need advanced diagnostic tools that go beyond surface-level observations—providing deeper insights into blade condition, tracking degradation over time, and enabling smarter, data-driven maintenance decisions.
Solution
Software platforms like 3DX Blade provide detailed 3D visualizations of turbine blades, offering a more precise assessment of damage and a clearer view of overall blade health. These solutions support historical tracking, suggest repair strategies, and lay the foundation for predictive maintenance. By combining AI damage detection with expert analysis, they deliver more accurate diagnostics—helping to lower repair costs, extend blade lifespan, and boost turbine performance over time.
Status and progress
Drone inspections were conducted at two separate sites to assess the blade condition of turbines from different manufacturers and of varying ages. The tested platform, due to its ease of use and functionality, proved to be an effective tool for internal teams to quickly and reliably evaluate asset condition. Initial insights suggest that older turbines may require more frequent inspections due to the potential for high-category damage to develop within a short period of time.