Oetwil am See ZH – Sulzer Schmid presents a new autonomous control system for inspecting rotor blades with drones. With the 3DX system, the company aims to provide even more precise images for the safe inspection of wind turbines.
The Sulzer & Schmid Laboratories AG, a provider of innovative inspection technologies for rotor blade inspections with autonomous drones based in the canton of Zurich, presents a new inspection system. According to a press release, the 3DX AutoPilot will deliver significantly more brilliant, high-resolution images of the rotor blades to be inspected. The camera system mounted on a Matrice M350 Enterprise drone from the manufacturer DJI delivers images with a resolution of up to 61 megapixels. ISO settings, aperture and shutter speed can be set individually for each image. The improved sharpness of the images, image density and an improved dynamic range make it possible to detect and identify damage to rotor blades more accurately. For example, hairline cracks, which can be a sign of serious damage, can be detected earlier so that early and less costly maintenance can be carried out.
"Our ambition to push the boundaries of innovation in the wind energy sector is vividly realized in our latest inspection solution," Tom Sulzer, co-founder and CEO of Sulzer Schmid, is quoted as saying in the press release. "It's not just an upgrade, it's a revolution in terms of precision and the way we approach blade inspection: a fast and reliable inspection process, first-class image quality and powerful analytics, all wrapped up in an intuitive digital inspection platform supported by AI and machine learning." ce/ww