Using tethered drones to investigate ESD in wind turbine blades during fair and thunderstorm weather

Montanyà, Joan; López, Jesús A.; Fontanes, Pol; Urbani, Michele; Velde, Oscar van der; Romero, David A.

doi:10.1109/iclp.2018.8503283

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Nowadays, multirotor drones allow vertical flight and hover (fixed-position) flight. The first experiments deploying vertical wires by multirotor drones were reported in [20], where we experimentally demonstrated that ESD on wind turbines could be energetic enough to damage electrical systems in wind turbine blades and nacelles. Those experiments revealed the potential, and relative simplicity, of the method to further study the electrification of wind turbines under different weather conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

On the Induced Currents to Wind Turbines by the Earth’s Atmospheric Electric Potential: Experiments With Drones

Fontanes¹,

Montanyà²,

Arcanjo³

et al. 2022

IEEE Access

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We live in an electrified atmosphere where a potential difference of about 250 kV is established between the ground and the ionosphere. The resulting potential gradient induces electric charges on the objects immersed in the atmosphere, which are more significant in tall objects. Several works have identified interferences to sensors in wind turbine rotor blades being attributed to electrostatic charging of blades. This paper presents a novel experiment using vertical wires lifted by a drone to study the currents resulting under fair-weather atmospheric conditions. Two current components are identified, one resulting in point/corona discharge and the other related to the movement. Based on the experimental results, a model for predicting induced currents on wind turbines is proposed, and estimates for thunderstorm conditions are made. The results presented in this paper are important for designing the electromagnetic compatibility measures to ensure the reliability of multi-megawatt wind turbines with blades equipped with active control systems and higher use of sensors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

On the Induced Currents to Wind Turbines by the Earth’s Atmospheric Electric Potential: Experiments With Drones

Fontanes¹,

Montanyà²,

Arcanjo³

et al. 2022

IEEE Access

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“…Transportation Control and Navigation Meteorology [144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154] Wind Energy Generation [155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167] Telecommunications [168][169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176][177][178] Power Module Design [8,[179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186] Image Processing [187][188][189][190][191][192] Other…”

Section: Scope Referencesunclassified

Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles—A Systematic Review

et al. 2023

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In recent years, there has been a remarkable surge in the development and research of tethered aerial systems, thus reflecting a growing interest in their diverse applications. Long-term missions involving aerial vehicles present significant challenges due to the limitations of current battery solutions. Tethered vehicles can circumvent such restrictions by receiving their power from an element on the ground such as a ground station or a mobile terrestrial platform. Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can also be applied to load transportation achieved by a single or multiple UAVs. This paper presents a comprehensive systematic literature review, with a special focus on solutions published in the last five years (2017–2022). It emphasizes the key characteristics that are capable of grouping publications by application scope, propulsion method, energy transfer solution, perception sensors, and control techniques adopted. The search was performed in six different databases, thereby resulting in 1172 unique publications, from which 182 were considered for inclusion in the data extraction phase of this review. Among the various aircraft types, multirotors emerged as the most widely used category. We also identified significant variations in the application scope of tethered UAVs, thus leading to tailored approaches for each use case, such as the fixed-wing model being predominant in the wind generation application and the lighter-than-air aircraft in the meteorology field. Notably, the classical Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) control scheme emerged as the predominant control methodology across the surveyed publications. Regarding energy transfer techniques, most publications did not explicitly describe their approach. However, among those that did, high-voltage DC energy transfer emerged as the preferred solution. In summary, this systematic literature review provides valuable insights into the current state of tethered aerial systems, thereby showcasing their potential as a robust and sustainable alternative to address the challenges associated with long-duration aerial missions and load transportation.

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“…There were however, a few challenges that were identified, most importantly with the weather. Even though there are drones designed specifically for weather and other climate studies [42,43], the ones used for sample transport were not equipped with such technology. It is known that such Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAVs) have limited access to weather information especially that related to visibility, winds and even rains which can lead to the destruction of the electrical systems, drones being blown off-course or even crashed.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa

Sylverken

Owusu²,

Agbavor³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Background The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 2020, by the World Health Organisation prompted the need for a sustained and a rapid international response. In a swift response, the Government of Ghana, in partnership with Zipline company, launched the use of Unmanned Automated Vehicles (UAV) to transport suspected samples from selected districts to two foremost testing centres in the country. Here, we present the experiences of employing this technology and its impact on the transport time to the second largest testing centre, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) in Kumasi, Ghana. Methods Swab samples collected from suspected COVID-19 patients were transported to the Zipline office by health workers. Information on the samples were sent to laboratory personnel located at KCCR through a WhatsApp platform to get them ready to receive the suspected COVID-19 samples while Zipline repackaged samples and transported them via drone. Time of take-off was reported as well as time of drop-off. Results A total of 2537 COVID-19 suspected samples were received via drone transport from 10 districts between April 2020 to June 2021 in 440 deliveries. Ejura-Sekyedumase District Health Directorate delivered the highest number of samples (765; 30%). The farthest district to use the drone was Pru East, located 270 km away from KCCR in Kumasi and 173 km to the Zipline office in Mampong. Here, significantly, it took on the average 39 minutes for drones to deliver samples compared to 117 minutes spent in transporting samples by road (p<0.001). Conclusion The use of drones for sample transport during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the travel time taken for samples to be transported by road to the testing site. This has enhanced innovative measures to fight the pandemic using technology.

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Using tethered drones to investigate ESD in wind turbine blades during fair and thunderstorm weather

Cited by 10 publications

References 8 publications

On the Induced Currents to Wind Turbines by the Earth’s Atmospheric Electric Potential: Experiments With Drones

On the Induced Currents to Wind Turbines by the Earth’s Atmospheric Electric Potential: Experiments With Drones

Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles—A Systematic Review

Using drones to transport suspected COVID-19 samples; experiences from the second largest testing centre in Ghana, West Africa

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