The device is a long fiber-optic cable placed inside a wind turbine blade and connected to a digital recorder. The role of sensors is performed by the so-called Bragg Gratings, layered structures located in the fiber core and responding to cable shape changes. The sensor installed inside the blade makes possible online tracking of the wind generator blade deviation from the norm. The system also allows making assessment of the load on the wind turbine rotor, and thus, preventing its premature failure.
The key advantage of the development is reduction of the wind turbine operation costs: in case one or two blades fail, the wind farm operator will not have to stop all the other power units because it will be enough only to monitor their condition with sensors. The innovation can spread as the average capacity of turbines increases, which is achieved by expanding the rotor diameter and lengthening the aerodynamic blades. The turbine capacity varies greatly across Europe: it averaged 2.6 megawatts (MW) among the new onshore wind turbines in Greece in 2021, but it was 3.6 MW in Denmark, and 4.3 MW and 4.8 MW in Austria and Finland, respectively, according to the data of industry association Wind Europe.
