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Originally, rotor blade inspections were mostly performed using a cherry picker, a service platform or a hydraulic crane; today, the most common way of performing these inspections effectively seems to be by rope descent (abseiling). Although the cost-effectiveness has improved significantly there is still room for improvement, and the safety factor remains an issue. Someone still has to climb the turbine and descend by rope on the exterior of the rotor blades. Due to the fact that the inspectors need to climb the turbine three times (for three rotor blades) it still remains a time-consuming method. The average time for an inspection by rope descent is about 3 to 4 hours. This means that an experienced inspection team can deal with no more than three turbines per day. With that in mind Availon started to look for a more cost-effective, and even more importantly a safer way to carry out time-effective rotor blade inspections.
