Research on the design of key mechanisms for wind turbine blade defect inspection platforms

To improve the service life of wind turbine blades and reduce the cost of blade inspection and maintenance, this paper comprehensively designs a rail-based actuator for defect inspection of in-service wind turbine blades. By rigidly connecting with the leading-edge walking platform of the blade, the actuator achieves defect and damage detection. Based on the blade parameters, the overall dimensions of the actuator were determined, and a 3D model was established using SolidWorks software. Static analysis and topology optimization were performed on the key component of the actuator, the cantilever beam. It was ultimately determined that when the lifting point of the cantilever beam is 1.4 m from the fixed end, the safety factor of the cantilever beam is 2.6, and the maximum displacement is only 3.997 mm, which is far below the allowable deformation limit, meeting the rigidity and strength requirements. After topology optimization, the mass of the cantilever truss is reduced by 30%.