Nondestructive acoustic doppler testing of wind turbine blades from the ground during operation

摘要

A wind turbine blade inspection system includes a sensitive microphone positioned near the base of the turbine tower to receive acoustic signals emanating from anomalies in a rotating turbine blades and a signal analysis system configured to analyze the acoustic signals including Doppler analysis. The data may be centrally monitored and recorded for wind power asset management.

主权项

1. An apparatus for inspecting rotating wind turbine blades, comprising:
a microphone positioned approximately in a plane of a turbine disk at a point under a lowest level of a blade tip as its rotates, so as to receive acoustic signals emanating from air escaping through breaches in a blade outer mold line from an interior or subsurface defect in the blade; and a computer for analyzing the received acoustic signals to detect the presence and location of a potential defect, relative to a root end of the blade, based at least in part on a difference between maximum and minimum defect Doppler shifted frequencies of the received acoustic signals.