Optical Methods for Measuring Icing of Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

The development of wind-power engineering in the Arctic has led to increasing wind turbines in cold climatic zones. A problem operating wind turbines in cold conditions is the icing of blades. The icing of the blades leads to a change in rotor aerodynamics, a decrease in energy production, the additional weight of blades, and load on the rotor, which increase wear and reduce the lifetime of the turbines. The growth of icing on the blades threatens the uncontrollable separation of ice pieces from the blade edges, and the operation is unsafe. Non-contact methods for detecting icing on the blades need to prevent critical operating modes with ice formation on the blades. This review analyzes methods for detecting icing. The advantages and disadvantages of various optical methods are presented to give valuable insights on ice prevention for wind turbines operating in cold regions.

Keywords

• wind energy
• icing
• optical methods
• total internal reflection
• a method based on structured lighting