Most economies around the world are facing unprecedented energy crisis in recent years caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and the shortage of fossil fuels. With global energy demand increasing rapidly, more and more countries are turning to clean energy. As one of the main sources of clean energy, wind power has been widely used to produce electricity. Wind turbines use blades to convert the wind’s kinetic energy into the electricity we use to power our homes. Nowadays, to generate more cost-effective wind energy, the size of wind turbines has grown, both in height and blade lengths, which also poses new challenges to the manufacturing, quality control, and operation of wind turbine blades. Therefore, to optimize the work performance of large-scale wind turbine blades, 3D laser scanners have become the smart measurement solutions to overcome these obstacles.

The challenges encountered using traditional measurements for the inspection of wind turbine blade molds.

The accuracy of blade molds plays a vital role in ensuring the product quality of wind turbine blades, and it has direct impact on the electricity generation efficiency of wind power. When using the traditional inspection method, our client finds it is difficult to carry out high-precision inspection on curved surfaces with the increase in mold lengths. Additionally, the conventional manual inspection method cannot adapt to different working environments when measuring large-scale wind turbine blade molds.

• Accuracy

As the length of the mold increases, it is difficult to obtain high-precision inspection results due to the long inspection time and large distance when using traditional inspection methods. When measuring large-sized workpieces with complex structures, it is difficult to use traditional contact-based methods to capture detailed information on hard-to-reach areas, which may lead to dimensional deviation of the measurement results.

• Low Portability

When utilizing traditional measurement methods to conduct inspection work, the target workpiece needs to be moved during the inspection, which is not feasible when measuring large-scale workpieces.

• High Cost

Manufacturers need to ensure that the workforce is enough to cope with the needs of the traditional inspection, which requires a large amount of money invested in the skills training for employees. In addition, the time-consuming inspection process will also lead to the increase of the cost.

ZG’s complete 3D scanning solution for the inspection of wind turbine blades

ZG offers professional 3D laser scanners and services that are ideal for the inspection of wind turbine blades, including PhotoShot and HyperScan. With the features of high accuracy, high efficiency and high flexibility, ZG’s complete 3D scanning solution can help manufacturers tackle challenges with great effectiveness.

l  High Accuracy

First, to ensure the accuracy of 3D scanned data, PhotoShot, the portable photogrammetry system embedded with a wireless module, is used to provide overall framework for the entire scanning project, leading to the precise positioning of the following scanning process. Moreover, with the feature of large-range photogrammetry, it can greatly reduce cumulative errors and improve volumetric accuracy.

l  High Efficiency

After completing the overall positioning, we choose HyperScan to conduct the scanning work. It adopts blue laser technology with multiple working modes that feature different scanning situations. Before compressing the top part and bottom parts of the blade molds, in open environment, the standard dynamic tracking mode is used to conduct the scanning work. In the workshop condition, the scanner can achieve high-precision dynamic measuring with the cooperation of optical tracker ZG-Track.

The marker-free scanning mode of HyperScan is especially suitable for the inspection of large-scale wind turbine blade molds, which can precisely measure the surfaces, leading edges and trailing edges of the molds. Moreover, with a scanning speed up to 210,0000 measurements per second, HyperScan can greatly improve inspection efficiency for manufacturers.

• High Flexibility

After compressing the top half and bottom half of the blade molds, the inspection has to be carried out from inside of it. Since confined space is not suitable for the placement of an optical tracker, we adopt the marker mode of HyperScan, which is easy to use with one-hand operation and not restricted by light and space conditions, greatly increasing the accuracy and efficiency of installing wind turbine blade molds.

After completing the scanning work, 3D data is imported into the inline software to create an intuitive visual inspection report that is key to the following maintenance and optimization of products.

About ZG

ZG Technology is a professional metrology-grade 3D scanner solution provider in China based on independent intellectual property right, cutting-edge technologies and achievements from Wuhan University, which develops advanced 3D portable measurement technologies and provides complete engineering services. Our products and services include high-precision 3D laser scanners and complete 3D scanning solutions, which are widely applied in the fields of automotive manufacturing, aerospace, military, 3D printing, cultural relics conservation and etc.