CompositesWorld

MAR 2017

CompositesWorld

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TRENDS MARCH 2017 22 CompositesWorld A company with a big vision for tracking the health of composite structures, Fibersail (Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Leça de Palmeira, Portugal), says it has developed a system to monitor and analyze the behavior of wind turbine blades in terms of shape, in real time. The reportedly user- friendly system provides data to help operators avoid blade failures and reduce overall wind farm maintenance costs. CEO and company co-founder Pedro Pinto spoke to CW recently to describe the Fibersail system and its benefits. Several fiber-optic cables, fitted with multiple Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors, are applied to a flat composite batten. The sensors are "related" to each other by the company's proprietary algorithms and software, which allow monitoring of both flapwise and edgewise move- ments for documentation of three-dimensional structural deformation. The batten or measurement tool is not intended to be embedded within a composite laminate, but rather to be adhered on the interior or exterior surface of the structure to be measured (e.g., wind turbine blade), preferably in a pre-fabricated slot, but in theory anywhere appropriate for that structure, says Pinto: "Imagine a ruler that you use to measure. We consider our sensor like a digital ruler, which the client can simply attach and start measuring. It could be placed inside the wind blade for monitoring in the real environment, or on the outer surface in testing facilities." Fibersail doesn't require specialist operators for appli- cation purposes, but rather allows engineers access to a machine learning-based user interface in a tablet-readable system, says Pinto: "We ship a ready-to-use system that requires no special interpretation." He points out that if an embedded FBG system (within a lami- nate) has a problem or stops working, that structure can no longer be moni- tored without disassembly access. The company's goal is a simpler, efficient method of critical struc- tures monitoring, one that elimi- nates time-consuming manual visual inspections of turbine blades by climbers. Reducing these inspections can significantly reduce wind farm costs. Plus, the real-time monitor- ing can alert operators to impend- ing catastrophic blade failures, and allow targeted maintenance only where needed. Pinto says a test will be undertaken this spring in Europe in collaboration with a well-known blade producer to verify the Fibersail system in an installed wind farm. "We offer a technology that can reduce costs compared to older monitoring strategies, and yet give precise and accurate information for operators," concludes Pinto. Visit the company's Web site for more information or contact the group online | www.fibersail.com See CW's story on structural health monitoring in aerospace online | short.compositesworld.com/SHMupdate Structural health monitoring startup offers user-friendly system ENERGY Source | Fibersail

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