Professor Gui Yun Tian obtained his B.Sc. in metrology and instrumentation and M.Sc. in precision engineering at the University of Sichuan (Chengdu, PR China) in 1985 and 1988, respectively. Currently, he is Chair professor in Sensor Technologies in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Newcastle University. He has a joint background in engineering and computer science with research interests broadly in the areas of sensor and instrumentation, signal processing, electromagnetic non-destructive evaluation and structural health monitoring and has published over 150 papers and book chapters in English and Chinese in these areas. He is a regular reviewer for international journals and conferences. He coordinates several national and international research programs funded by the EPSRC, Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering and FP7. He is also on several international advisory boards for international conferences and international steering committees including Chinese Society for NDT.

Abstract

WIND TURBINE INSPECTION AND HEALTH MONITORING OF OFFSHORE WIND FARMS

The maintenance and health monitoring of offshore wind farms are major challenges for the renewable energy sector, due to factors such as large scale, high cost and hostile environments. The development of faults in the tower or blades can cause serious secondary damage if prompt maintenance is not performed, leading to catastrophic failures. Although numerous techniques are being developed worldwide to monitor changes in specific elements of the wind turbine system, the wide variety of construction materials and monitoring techniques involved means that skills and expertise are spread over a number of different fields. In recent years, many innovative non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques have been developed for these applications, some of which will be discussed in this session. However, the nature of academic research means that these innovations tend to be disparate and to some degree disconnected, consequently there is a real and urgent need to bring together researchers in this field to develop a more “joined up” approach to solve these problems. We are aiming to fulfil this need through our current collaborative research projects in this area, an EPSRC funded project on “Future reliable renewable energy conversion systems & networks: A collaborative UK-China project” and a European FP7 project: “HEMOW - health monitoring of offshore wind farms”.

This talk will give an overview of current challenges and opportunities faced by NDE and SHM to ensure and improve the reliability of wind power systems including the structural, electrical and mechanical systems, through condition based maintenance methods. Current research progress in the Sensor Technology Team at Newcastle University on electromagnetic NDE methods for wind turbine inspection and corrosion monitoring will be reported as well as research progress on the previously mentioned EPSRC and FP7 research projects.