Enel Green Power has contracted Perceptual Robotics to process future inspections blade data from across its whole fleet of wind turbines.
Enel Green Power will use the UK-based technology company’s Dhalion system, which analyses wind turbine inspection data to identify potential faults before they occur.
The analysis will equip Enel Green Power engineers for preventive maintenance, reducing downtime and operations costs.
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Matteo Cantù, head of Innovation industries 4.0 at Enel Green Power, says: “There is no doubt that the technology can have a relevant impact on the future cost of turbine blade repairs. Perceptual Robotics was able to work with us to develop and finalize a proof of concept (POC) which is currently being implemented in the wind farm fleet.”
Previously, Perceptual Robotics worked with Enel Global Services to test the business impact of artificial intelligence on analysing wind turbine blade data. According to the results, AI is already overtaking the capabilities of blade experts.
Kostas Karachalios, CEO of Perceptual Robotics, said: “The task of inspecting and maintaining these structures is becoming ever more challenging, as the industry is increasingly recognising. There is a clear need for faster, safer inspections that produce high-quality data in order to conduct preventive maintenance and reduce the need for technicians to attend to turbines…”
Karachalios explained in a statement that their solution provides granular information about turbine blade defects and can detect faults within hours due to the use of AI. Their solution also allows for optimal transparency and security and works with all types of source data.
“Dhalion’s basic principle is the complete automation of the wind turbines inspection process. With the use of a tablet device, the operator commands the drone to take off, and the drone records images of the entire wind turbine automatically,” Kostas explains. “After landing, a cloud-based artificial intelligence system processes the images to detect any damages.”
