May 2012 www.windpowerengineering.com

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INSIDE:

>> TURBINE of the month vestas v100-2.0 Page 38

>> Certification: the instructional revolution Page 42 O & M safety at height >> building a better Page 10 gearbox Page 56 20+ Trends that drive Wind Page 67 WINDWATCH

Turbine maintenance safely at height

tool dropped from about 80m, To maintain blades with sufficient the height of many turbine care and technician safety, Doogan says towers, takes four to five he prefers his team works on a blade- Aseconds to reach the ground. access platform. The modular, 360° It’s just enough time to shout “look out platform is easy to trailer by pickup truck below” before someone gets hurt. The and when partially preassembled off site, simple physics highlights the problem takes about an hour to set up and rig on of working at height. Things can happen site. He says the platform allows walking fast, and so constant training becomes around the blade regardless of turbine essential to protect life and property. or height. The platform also configures There is a lot to be done at to smaller sections to conduct tower height – especially on turbine blades, inspections and maintenance. A crew has hoisted a platform to conduct an which spend their working hours Aside from the platform, there are inspection and make repairs. The stabilaization slicing through rain, dirt, insects, and other ways of examining a blade, such frame contacts the tower and positions the temperature extremes. A 60-m blade as rope access, in which a technician work area as needed. spinning at leisurely 12 rpm has tip lowers himself in a sling to examine speeds reaching 150 mph. Despite their the blade in a controlled descent. Most hard composite nature, the leading teams maintain the skill, says Doogan. edges eventually show wear that However, he recommends working changes their aerodynamic properties from a suspended access platform to the point where power production because it is safer and more productive significantly drops. Then someone has to than hanging from a rope. And when get close enough to identify the damage compared to a crane and man-basket, or wear and plan a repair. the platform is more economical to the end user. Having to mobilize and Safety at 300 ft maintain a huge crane on site would be Companies such as Upwind Solutions expensive. often get the call for repairs. “We “Without a platform, it would be employ almost 200 technicians and necessary for rope-access technicians to field engineers to maintain everything climb the tower and ride down the rope from the ground up in a turbine,” says more often. So the time spent climbing the company’s business development the tower is generally lost and excessive manager Jon Doogan. “Crew skills range when repairing spots. The platform, on from the mechanical and electrical the other hand, need not move because sides of the turbine to composites in the everything the technician needs is right blades.” there,” Doogan says.

12 Windpower Engineering & DEVELOPMENT MAY 2012 www.windpowerengineering.com A maintenance crew has assembled a 360° platform and awaits a rigger in the nacelle to drop hoist lines. The black hoist arms on the platform guide the lift ropes away from the structure.

“What’s more, the rope access coordinators to every project. These or gearbox inspections, the owner can technician can only go down, he cannot leads sign off on customized project make claims before leaving the warranty go up,” adds Upwind’s Jason Shelby. safety and quality plans to ensure period. When the warranty expires, the “When down, that technician would have execution and accountability. The turbine owner becomes responsible for to climb the tower again with needed coordinators document and audit all all repairs. tools and descend to the point of repair.” safety and quality metrics associated with A close inspection can measure Most time outside the turbine tower the projects. each damage spot, document it with a or nacelle is spent maintaining blades, rigging plans tell the crew on site how picture, and put that and others into an composite structures with precise they will put the platform together and inspection report for the client. aerodynamic cross sections that are start rigging it to the turbine. All turbines getting longer with each new turbine are rigged in a similar manner but each The tools upgrade. Blades just short of 50m are unit dictates how the platform will be Blade repair often calls for tools such as more commonplace. However, expose secured and anchored. grinders, heaters, fiberglass and resin, anything to the weather and working and consumables that go along with speeds to 150 mph and it eventually The work the materials. Properly mixing the resin needs maintenance. Doogan says most A blade inspection with binoculars from with a catalyst and applying it to a blade blade work centers on leading-edge ground level usually precedes work requires a little work space, and making erosion, wear that also throttles turbine from the platform. Working from the a quality repair always comes off better production. Such erosion can trim 10% ground is an efficient way to spot ailing than when using other suspension off a turbine’s capacity. blades, but there is room for error in methods. A heat gun to cure or ‘kick’ doogan’s team has decided that such inspections. “It may be difficult to the resin also comes in handy when the best way to work on blades is from see things so a best inspection is done temperatures are on the cool side. The a suspended access platform that hands-on with a technician up close to platforms include 120-V service which surrounds the blade and allows lifting the blade,” says Doogan. encourages small hand tools. and lowering crews as needed. “Most Most asset owners are requesting in addition to blade maintenance, of our work involves blade cleaning, end-of-warranty inspections, those made Doogan says the company is asked to repair, and protection, and that calls for to a turbine just before the warranty improve the performance of particular careful attention that only comes from a expires. It’s now accepted as good turbines. One promising device, the platform,” says Doogan. practice to make sure the turbine is in vortex generator, has received a lot of The blade access platforms work good working condition and holding up attention. The devices are small tabs or so well that Doogan says the company to the manufacturers specs. If defects are owns six of them and stores them uncovered during blade around wind country where they are most accessible. “Depending on the site, we can tow a disassembled platform on a trailer or ship them as well – whichever is most economical,” he says. The 360° platform can convert into two smaller platforms, giving technicians access to the complete blade perimeter when needed, or a smaller area as work The 360° blade access platform can be demands. reconfigured into one of While the platforms improve safety this sort for work on the for workers at height, Doogan’s crew tower. improves it with a rigging plan. He

says UpWind assigns safety and quality

MAY 2012 Windpower Engineering & DEVELOPMENT 13 WINDWATCH

The 360° blade-access platform (top) from Spider can assemble in a couple hours. With a little more hardware, it reconfigures into either of the other three shown.

fins that attach to blade surfaces. They Training assigned a Safety Lead who signs maintain a laminar air flow across a Before even allowing new technicians off on the plans prior to deploying blade so it generates more lift. Without on a wind farm, says Shelby, they must to the site. They also assemble the the generators, the air flow separates go through two weeks of company- documentation for the day-to- or leaves the surface due to turbulence sponsored training. This includes OSHA day activities. In addition, a Quality reducing the low pressure or lift section 10 and for RC NFPA 70 training for Lead is assigned to every job that of the blade. “We are examining the electrical devices. Composite (material) oversees safety as well. device because there is more interest technicians get training to properly But does all this effort pay off? in them as a performance enhancing care for the blades, and all technicians Doogan thinks so. “Last year was a product,” says Shelby. receive fall-rescue training. “We have record business year, and recently a training tower in-house, for our we celebrated 1,000 days without Tapes and coatings own safety training, conducted by a a recordable injury or day lost to 3M and other companies make films and third party,” says Doogan. “To have the injury,” he says. He attributes this to tapes for blades. Leading-edge erosion is safest guys, we go to the experts.” the technicians. Each has over 3.5 a big topic in the wind industry because A technician’s skills dictate which years of experience on composites once this important surface erodes, the training they’ll receive. For instance, and about four years in field service. blade loses its aerodynamics and turbine blade technicians, who would use the WPE production drops off. “We are familiar access platform, learn its assembly, with the leading-edge tape and other rigging, and teardown procedures. similar products,” Doogan says. One Shelby adds that all technicians promising coating applies like paint with receive refresher training annually for a roller, which is easier than laboriously recertification in their specialty. applying tape. The polyurethane-based Once a year, about 35 field engineers coating would be applied on a blade’s head offsite to perform field service leading edge and along its length. and safety-lead training where they Eventually, blade manufacturers are likely earn a certification that designates to apply these at the factory. them as Safety Leads. Every job is

14 Windpower Engineering & DEVELOPMENT MAY 2012 www.windpowerengineering.com A closer look at the blade-access platform Cable guide

Rollers

Lift controls and motor Hand rails Work platform

Wheels roll against the tower

One design provides four Stabilization frame different configurations that allows positioning Cables position the the platform from the platform on the have custom functions for tower frame Stabilization-frame work on blades and towers.

mounts

A closer look at a suspended access platform

The wind industry has devised several ways to get a closer look 360° platform can reconfigure to make a smaller but single at blades and towers. A technician might rappel out of the nacelle point blade-access platform, or a slightly larger two-point and slowly lower himself while giving the blade an inspection. tower-access platform.“ Ground-mounted lifts carry technicians up on a platform. A rope- “For new users, the platform requires a few days of training hoisted work platform or blade-access platform also helps. This latter and tech support. An instructor will stay there as long as that device is based on modular components so it can assemble into one person is needed,” Ramberg says. OSHA requires that sites of four platforms as the job demands, says Clint Ramberg, Spider’s using power-suspended scaffolding also have a competent Director of Wind Access. The platform breaks down and easily person on site. The company also offers competent-person transports on a 16-ft utility trailer that meets DOT requirements for training. It’s up to the company using the equipment to select non-CDL transport. When partially preassembled offsite, it take about that person. an hour to set up and rig onsite. After that, it takes slightly less time, The role has strict requirements, but Ramberg says 30 to 60 minutes, to move onto the second tower. Spider training is a knowledge-based course that helps To set up, a worker in the nacelle secures haul lines to anchor employers ensure their competent person on site has all points and drop them to the ground. The haul lines then pull up of the product-specific and company compliance training heavier suspension rope. Those connect to the anchor points. From they need. The competent person completes the general there, technicians reeve the motor and lift the platforms. jobsite requirements of inspecting the platform and rigging, A minimum of two lines are used, one for each side of the evaluating the jobsite conditions and insuring proper use platform. Ramberg says that is enough to keep the platform stable of the platform, and he must have authority and ability to along with the stabilization frame, which produces a third point of eliminate or control an unsafe situation or to stop the work. contact. A standard project has a minimum of three locations to keep The company began manufacturing suspended scaffolding it balanced. The platform has a low center of gravity. This, combined in the late 1940s. As the wind market began to develop and with the angle of the ropes and the pressure of the sub-frame against mature, Ramberg says the company recognized the need for the tower, keeps the platform stable. All hoists and ropes stay on the a custom platform for the wind industry. The company rigged outside of the platform and provide a clear path around it. its first wind turbine in 1980 in a research project with Boeing, Manufacturer Spider says the modular 360° blade-access platform which was exploring the possibilities of wind power. The easily configures to one of four different blade or tower platforms company’s equipment has been used on turbines for three with minor changes to components. “The same components in the decades, with the 360° platform the latest. WPE

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www.SpiderStaging.com