Solving the Triple Constraints of Quality, Time and CostsThermal cameras with very high focal length were previously exclusively developed for space and defence applications. Now they are available for the civil market and bring to the wind energy sector higher quality and performance, lower Health, Safety and Environment risks and similar competitive prices to existing solutions. Based on the research work of institutes like the Sandia National Laboratories, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Fraunhofer and private companies, the optical and thermographic inspection of wind blades becomes state of the art, so that certification bodies accept the ground-based thermographic inspection method as equivalent to the standard rope access method.
By Fabianna Tenorio and Jürgen Austen, Hensoldt, Germany