A SPECIALIST business has provided a wireless method to weigh 262ft long wind turbine blades on the shores of Southampton Water. MHI Vestas needed an accurate means of weighing 80metre long blades – the length of nine London buses – at the root and tip after painting them. The blades are made on the Isle of Wight and transported to MHI Vestas on the site of the former Fawley Power Station. Dynamic Load Monitoring (UK) Ltd (DLM), of Nursling, Southampton, specialises in designing and making load cells and load monitoring equipment used in the renewable energy supply chain. It provided a 25-tonne Telemetry Tensile Link and a 20ft capacity S-sell Load Cell, both from its standard range.
MHI Vestas needed an accurate way of measuring the weight of its 80m-long turbine blades (the length of nine London buses back-to-back) at both the root and the tip upon completion of the painting process. The blades are actually made on the Isle of Wight before being transported to Fawley for painting and weighing.
Accuracy is critical, as once the blades are weighed they are classified as light, medium and heavy for use on each turbine. Once the total weight of the blade is determined, the manufacturer is able to calculate how much ballast is applied to each blade to create the sets of three to make up a turbine. One rotation of a turbine (three blades) can power a typical home for up to 29 hours.