Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering (한국정밀공학회지)

Korean Society for Precision Engineering (한국정밀공학회)
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A Surface Adaptive Moving Mechanism for Wind Turbine Blade Maintenance Robot

풍력발전기 유지보수로봇을 위한 표면 적응 이동 시스템

  • Kim, Byunggon (Graduate School of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.) ;
  • Park, Sora (Graduate School of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.) ;
  • Jun, Minsoek (Graduate School of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.) ;
  • Jun, Kyungtae (Graduate School of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.) ;
  • Hong, Daehie (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Univ.)
  • 김병곤 (고려대학교 기계공학과 대학원) ;
  • 박소라 (고려대학교 기계공학과 대학원) ;
  • 전민석 (고려대학교 기계공학과 대학원) ;
  • 전경태 (고려대학교 기계공학과 대학원) ;
  • 홍대희 (고려대학교 기계공학과)
  • Received : 2013.03.14
  • Accepted : 2013.08.18
  • Published : 2013.09.01
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Abstract

As energy shortage is getting more serious, wind energy source is more promoted around the world. Blade is a key component of wind turbine. Local breakages and/or contamination in the blade bring degradation in aerodynamic efficiency and life-time. However, it is not easy and even dangerous for human workers to access the blade for inspection and maintenance since its size is huge and located at high mountains and rough sea, which are windy places. This paper deals with a novel moving mechanism that efficiently carries human workers or robots to the wind turbine blade. The proposed mechanism utilizes flexible tube with pressurized air that rolls and climbs over the blade surface. So, the tube naturally adapts the changing surface of the blade and acts no harm to it. This paper discusses about its concept, detail design, and advantages. The feasibility of the proposed mechanism is proved through experiments prototype.

Keywords

References

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