Operations & maintenance
present their own challenges – mainly that they’re expensive and can’t be accessed from above using scaffolding or rope access. Amphibian, on the hand, allows operators to come from the air and work downwards from the top of the transition piece, inspecting as it goes down the monopile, and provides full access to the foundation. “We can do all sorts of visual inspections, but also more advanced non-destructive testing as well,” says Corsar. “And we can do cleaning. Monopiles are subjected to a lot of biofouling, which adds a lot of weight to the foundation due to the build up of marine growth.” This can result in a reduced lifespan. Looking to address this issue, Amphibian provides a dual- purpose service by cleaning the monopile foundations before inspecting for faults. Innvotek has classed the Amphibian as an ‘operator aid’ that looks to reduce cognitive load as, typically, it will be operated for long durations. In this sense, anything that the robot can do without human input is a benefit. As a result, it has an automatic heading control – once it’s set off in one direction, it will keep going until it’s told to stop. “Once you’re in position, you might have to deploy [the Amphibian] from the top side on a transition piece, and you’ve got to navigate down to the waterline,” says Corsar. “You can then input the automated scanning plan, and it’ll go off and clean and inspect automatically as well.”
Beyond Firefly Inspect and Amphibian, Innvotek is involved in what Corsar describes as “a very interesting proof of concept” in collaboration with a wind turbine OEM. The application is around the automated tensioning of generator bolts in service – looking directly at maintenance rather than inspection. “Bolt tensioning is a massive issue for maintenance teams,” says Corsar. “Typical wind turbines might have 6,000 critical bolts, and in service, they can come loose.” It’s a maintenance item that has to be dealt with on a regular interval, typically two to three years. The robot that Innvotek is developing will be able to inspect and then torque up a wind turbine’s generator bolts.
The cost of innovation
In the meantime, the main challenge that Innvotek faces is one that many in the industry will be able to relate to – getting the funding together to bring their projects to fruition. Even after all the testing and R&D is carried out, and a proof of concept is developed, there’s a big step change and budget requirement in order to test these technologies offshore. And that’s not even taking into account the challenges presented by offshore testing itself – for example, finding a suitable weather window in which to carry out testing. When a good weather window is available, offshore operators will typically be looking to conduct their own maintenance work, rather than making their turbines available for testing.
World Wind Technology /
www.worldwind-technology.com
Corsar notes the importance of not viewing the industry as a monolith – within OEM teams and elsewhere, everyone has their own motivations, which can frequently hinder innovation and progress. “But there’s definitely a lot of champions for our type of technology in the wind industry,” he adds. “And I think, along with a lot of contemporaries and other companies who are now in this space, there’s a general consensus that we’re getting there – but it’s definitely slow.” Part of that issue, ironically, is that Innvotek has found considerably more traction among the oil and gas industry, which in turn has enabled it to leapfrog into offshore wind, though this system would seem at odds with the wind power mentality.
This is due, in part, to the relative youth of offshore wind, which doesn’t have the same history of asset fabric maintenance and integrity management that those in oil and gas do. “It’s a question of that maturing, and therefore having a baseline industry standards as to what is acceptable technology and what’s still to be proven,” says Corsar. Looking ahead to the future, Innvotek’s work in the area of automation in wind turbine inspection and maintenance is beginning to turn to resident robotics and how to control these systems from the shore. “We’re starting to work with other companies on an ecosystem of robotics, which can plug into a satellite communication system that can then allow control from an onshore control room – actually real-time control of robots offshore,” he says. This would extend to drones and other mobile platforms as well. While still in its nascency, the potential around being able to conduct inspections completely remotely is huge, and Corsar sees that capability as the ultimate goal for the company in the next five to ten years. With many offshore wind operators today now turning to autonomous and semi- autonomous drone systems to carry out the inspection of their turbines, this long-distance control could well see the same interest by the end of this decade. Only time will tell. ●
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Innvotek’s Amphibian project, a tethered crawler that uses powerful magnets to crawl on the surface of monopiles and inspect them for faults.
Innvotek
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