The innovation project has shown great potential for drone inspection – and created an entirely new SME

Challenge

Offshore wind turbines are placed on a foundation, which is produced by subcontractors to the wind turbine industry. It is crucial that the foundation meets the specified requirements from the wind turbine manufacturers and operators. During production and transportation of the foundation to the location where it will be installed, the manufacturer inspects that the foundation meets the specified quality. The inspection is carried out manually and is financially burdensome, time-consuming, and also risky for the involved workers, who, among other tasks, must climb on the foundation to conduct the inspection.

Solution

The Quali-Drone project worked on an automated drone inspection of surface damage on turbine foundations via artificial intelligence and digital twins. The partners of the Quali-Drone project developed an autonomous drone inspection solution that can be used to photograph, scan, and analyze the condition of the wind turbine foundation from production to shipment and arrival at the offshore wind farm where the foundation is to be installed.

Result

The partners have developed an automated drone inspection for large objects in the energy industry, which has the potential to save time and money while significantly improving safety. Thus, an alternative to the manual, costly, and time-consuming inspection, which was also risky for the involved workers, has been developed.

The project has also created a startup company. Several other industries and sectors have recognized the potential in Quali-Drone's drone inspection, as noted by Jesper Smit, who has turned the combination of drone photography, scanning, and analysis into the company Quali-Drone, which he owns.