Towards Multimodal Robot Design for Wind Turbine Inspections

With the rise of renewable energy installations, in-line with the worldwide goals for sustainable energy, inspection became a crucial factor for the longevity of these systems. This is especially true for wind turbines where the system performance is impacted by the condition of the system’s components, particularly the blades. However, human inspections are dangerous and costly, suggesting that robots can enhance such operations. That said, the need for multiple robots to undertake several types of inspection creates other issues such as drone swarm communications and additional costs. As such, this work aims to introduce a multi-modal design for a robot capable of inspecting multiple areas on the wind turbine independently. The design was tested using Solidworks simulations for stress analysis, demonstrating sufficient robustness and maintaining its overall form under different robotic configurations. The paper also highlights the aerodynamic modelling of the robot using Ansys Fluent at high-speed conditions expected in wind farms. Finally, we highlight the different mechanisms and locomotion methods required for convenient operation of the robot while testing them within a simulated environment, illustrating their feasibility in the required environment.