Engineering Leaders in Wind Turbine Blade Maintenance

Wind Turbine Blades

Wind Turbine blades continue to evolve in size and design as the industry matures.?Since starting with smaller wooden blades, composites became the clear materials of choice for economic and engineering benefits.?

Despite the benefits, the construction and fabrication of wind turbine composite blades is technically advanced.??Blade design types vary slightly, but most share common characteristics and require advanced engineering.?The engineering required spans from aerodynamic design to the combination of epoxies, plastics, and woods, to lightening and grounding systems.??

During manufacturing many variables factor into the reliability of the blades including methods and and human factors.?During operation, other factors such as loads, precipitation and lightening impact reliability as well.?Even with improved modern designs, the aging operating fleet blade repair and replacement market is estimated at over $500M annually and growing. The need for blade services in the wind industry will compound exponentially as growth continues.

The Importance of Engineering in Blade Services

Due to the variability in blade manufacturing and operating conditions, technical sophistication is critical in blade operations and maintenance.??

Owner operators must establish a condition assessment baseline and monitor for changes year over year to find the optimal economic balance between operating with damage vs shutting down for repair or replacement.?An abundance of inspection and work management tools improve the ability to track vast amounts of photographic or other evidence to aid in the optimal business decisions. And, behind the business decision making is a plethora of tools including drones, robots, sensors, photos, AI annotation and more.?

Nothing however is as critical to making optimal business decisions as the blade engineer.?Typically, the blade engineer is a mechanical, structural composite, and/or aerodynamic specialist.?They are familiar with the specific construction and fabrication process and have worked in or around the blade factory setting.?The blade engineer bridges the gap between the general blade design and a specific blade drawing to enable analysis and decision making in blade maintenance. ???

It is especially critical when making repairs that field personnel are led either by highly trained composite technicians, or that technicians have distance support from a qualified blade engineer (ideally both). The repairs on composite blades may indeed be superficial in some cases where the surface ‘glass’ is required to be restored, for instance.?But after a certain number of layers into the blade design, the repair technician is venturing into areas that cannot be seen from the surface and must be removed or worked down carefully and at the right location to ensure the proper repair technique.?Some repairs involve both fiberglass, core material and more.?Some are superficial while others are structural. If this is misinterpreted or repaired poorly,?more damage can actually ensue from too much or too little repair at the risk of rework and increased costs to the businesses.

The ability to interpret the right level of composite work is a fine art form which takes years for technicians to master, or which is critical to be supported by a trained eye.?The blade engineer can make or break the ability for a team to adequately conduct composite repairs and is a critical distinction when building a team or evaluating a partner to ensure the right level of expertise to deliver required analysis and services.

The WindCom & AdCom Partnership

What may be one of the most unique arrangements in the Americas’ wind operation and maintenance market is the long-standing relationship between Houston-based Wind Composite Services “WindCom,” and Sao Paolo-based “Advanced Composite Service “AdCom;” each composite leaders in their respective hemispheres.

Due to the seasonality offsets, the two companies are able to support business strategies that compliment demands during different times of the year.?Furthermore, the partnership shares the same pedigree from the TECSIS blade engineering family which is able to back technical efforts with vast knowledge and materials from a broad range of composite design and fabrication methods.?

Phillips A da Costa Lemos

The partnership is led by a legend within the industry, composite repair engineer, Phillips A. da Costa Lemos.??Phillips was responsible for producing more than 55,000 blades in the past 20 years including the design and development of the manufacturing processes.?Prior to cofounding Windcom Services (USA) in 2006, he led at aerospace and aeronautics in DEBRA and with companies such as Embraer, Tacke, and Enercon. ??Further engineering was involved in industrial fans for power generation, petro-chemical cooling towers.

Phillips directs a team of engineers at WindCom and AdCom who directly support the wind technicians analyzing and repairing blades and other composite needs to deliver the highest level of factory-level engineering support to customers’ assets repair.?The team includes Rogerio Marques Granda Mier, Paschoal Lousan?and?Thiago Baumgardtm.