A condition monitoring system for offshore wind turbines

CleanWinTur: An ultrasonic system for anti-fouling and condition monitoring of offshore wind turbines

Background

Offshore wind is a significant part of UK energy generation, with UK installed capacity forecast to rise from 8GW in 2018 to 30GW by 2030 (BEIS). The global offshore wind power market size has an installed capacity of more than 22 GW and is projected to reach approximately 94 GW by the end of 2026 (Fortune Business Insights, Market Research Report, June 2019.).

Recent reports, by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (OREC) highlighted problems associated with marine growth on offshore wind turbine structures. CWT aims to address these problems by introducing an ultrasonic antifouling system. The validity of the approach will be demonstrated through trials, environmental and durability testing, staged in a manner to minimise risks.

A permanently-installed system that uses relatively high-power ultrasound to prevent marine growth on the access ladders will eliminate the need for manual inspection and cleaning of the access ladders – for example by pressure washing - prior to any maintenance activity on the OWT, reducing costs and improving safety.

Objective

CleanWinTur will combine cutting-edge innovative ultrasonic technologies to improve OWT resilience and lower overall lifetime costs. The aim is to further develop and demonstrate the novel anti-fouling system that remains effective in marine environments, targeting an operational lifetime of at least 10 years. The technical approach consists of permanently attached ultrasonic transducers, placed on the surface of the access ladders, which emit ultrasonic waves in the range 20kHz to 40 kHz for eliminating marine growth.) preventing micro-organisms growth by creating acoustic cavitation on the outer surface of the substructure.

Benefits

• An autonomous system drawing power directly from the OWT using custom-made electronics for low cost and low power consumption.
• A non-toxic (in contrast to coatings) solution for bio-fouling prevention. Crucially, the ultrasound operating modes are non-destructive.

Brunel Innovation Centre's Role

• To develop cutting edge custom-made electronics for low cost and low power consumption with enclosure.
• Finite Element modelling, designing and lab/field demonstration of the ultrasonic cleaning of the biofouling.

Project Partners

3Sci Limited

EMEC (The European Marine Energy Centre Limited)

OREC (Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Limited)

InnotecUK, 

Brunel University London

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Professor Tat-Hean Gan - Professional Qualifications CEng. IntPE (UK), Eur Ing BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engg (Uni of Nottingham) MSc in Advanced Mechanical Engineering (University of Warwick) MBA in International Business (University of Birmingham) PhD in Engineering (University of Warwick) Languages English, Malaysian, Mandarin, Cantonese Professional Bodies Fellow of the British Institute of NDT Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology Tat-Hean Gan has 10 years of experience in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Condition Monitoring of rotating machineries in various industries namely nuclear, renewable energy (eg Wind, Wave ad Tidal), Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Construction and Infrastructure, Aerospace and Automotive. He is the Director of BIC, leading activities varying from Research and development to commercialisation in the areas of novel technique development, sensor applications, signal and image processing, numerical modelling and electronics hardware. His experience is also in Collaborative funding (EC FP7 and UK TSB), project management and technology commercialisation.

Related Research Group(s)

Brunel Innovation Centre - A world-class research and technology centre that sits between the knowledge base and industry.

Project last modified 12/10/2023