HUSUM Wind 2017

•••2••• Innovationen With greater accuracy Radar scanner detects defects of rotor blades The rotors, which are usually equipped with three blades, are the central component of all wind turbines. They convert wind into rotational energy, and then into electricity. Much like the wings on an aircraft, the blades are subjected to enor- mous external loads and there- fore must be designed to be ex- tremely robust. Modern wind turbine blades are mainly constructed from glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP / CFRP), so that they can elastically absorb the wind energy from strong gusts without breaking. For a single blade, up to 100 sheets of glass fiber webbing are layered on top of each other, shaped and then glued together with epoxy resin. Quality control is essential at this stage in production: “The difficulty lies in layering the glass fiber sheets flat before they are glued, without creating undula- tions and folds, and avoiding the formation of lumps of resin or sections of laminate which don’t set when applying the epoxy,” explains Dr. Axel Hülsmann, co- ordinator of the radar project and group manager of sensor systems at the Fraunhofer IAF. Infrared thermography These kinds of defects, as well as delaminations or fractures, can be identified on a large-scale using infrared thermography. “Our material scanner enables defects to be identified with even greater accuracy, as depth resolution is also possible with radar technology – even in plac- es where ultrasound methods fail,” says Hülsmann. At the core of the material scanner is a high frequency radar, which operates in the W band between 85 and 100 GHz with only very few watts of transmitting power. Specialized software is then used to process the transmitter and receiver signals and visualize the measurement results. “This enables us to generate a cross-sectional view of the blade, in which defects can be identified in the millimeter range, and makes our material scanner significantly more accurate than conventional methods,” notes Hülsmann. The radar module is based on indium gallium arsenide semiconduc- tor technology. It is extremely light and compact thanks to its monolithically integrated con- struction, in which different components and functions are integrated into a single chip. Measuring 42 x 28 x 79 mm, it is approximately the size of a pack of cigarettes and weighs a mere 160 grams. It has a low power consumption of approximate- ly five watts and is fitted with an integrated microcontroller which emits measurement sig- nals via an internet interface. The radar module is based on indium gallium arsenide semi- conductor technology. Photo: Fraunhofer IAF Continued from page 1 N.C. Nielsen and a world first N.C. Nielsen presents a genuine world first at this year’s HUSUM WIND fair. The world’s largest reachstacker will be rolling out from the factory in Balling. This is a bespoke and modified Konecra- nes reachstacker with a lifting capacity of no less than 152 tons from its hook. The machine has been cus- tomised for the wind turbine industry and other industries and is capable of mobile lifts of the nacelles, towers and wings used for the vast wind turbines. N.C. Nielsen joins the HUSUM WIND fair as part of the ”Pavilion of Denmark” in collaboration with the Danish Wind Export Association (DWEA). To N.C. Nielsen, the object is to profile the world’s largest reachstacker to the wind turbine industry together with other special heavy-duty vehicles, e.g. a 100 tons reachstacker, a 85 tons reachstacker for wind turbine towers, the compact NCN 6500 with up to 6.5 tons traction and Gantry cranes from Combilift that can be controlled remotely to turn goods manoeuvrably. - We look forward to presenting the latest heavy-duty solutions to the wind turbine industry. We have established many years of expertise in the area and continuously raise the bar of these machines’ capacities. The parts for the large wind turbines keep getting larger, and the rolling stock must be able to keep up. N.C. Nielsen has various options capable of handling these tasks, says product manager Bo Nørgaard of N.C. Nielsen. N.C. Nielsen nimmt an der diesjährigen HUSUM-WIND-Messe mit einer was- chechten Weltneuheit teil. Denn im Laufe des Herbsts rollt der größte Reachstacker der Welt aus der Fabrik in Balling. Es handelt sich um einen speziell angepas- sten und umgebauten Konecrane-Reach- stacker mit einer Hebeleistung von nicht weniger als 152 Tonnen am Haken. Die Maschine ist u. a. für die Windkraftbran- che maßgeschneidert und kann Gondeln, Türme und Rotoren der gigantischen Windkraftanlagen heben. N.C. Nielsen stellt in Zusammenarbeit mit der Danish Wind Export Association (DWEA) als Teil des „Pavilion of Denmark“ auf der HUSUM-WIND-Messe aus. www.nc-nielsen.dk z Denmark nc nielsen Meet us at Stand 3B20N or call us at +45 99 83 83 83 Anzeige