The inspection of damaged offshore wind turbines is time-consuming, hazardous to human engineers and expensive.
4Ax Technologies, as in x,y,z + time = 4 axes, has responded to this industry challenge by developing a remotely controllable method of inspection, which has the capability to enter the interior of a wind turbine blade even further than the extent of human access. Using pre-patented technology, the robot uses artificial intelligence to examine real-time images before labelling them as either ‘damaged’ or ‘healthy’.
With 4Ax Technologies, safety and efficiency are paramount. By utilising 4Ax’s exclusive AI inspection technology, the wind turbine technician does not have the highly dangerous role of being inside the blade during the inspection.
4Ax’s technology is derived from the motion picture industry and provides high-quality and clean data with an immediate ‘healthy’/’damage’ alert. This means the inspection is significantly faster than competitive technologies as the data requires no post-processing and can be sent to an inspection technician straight away for analysis. The ultra-high resolution of the data also gives the product a significant OPEX advantage.
4Ax’s ultimate goal is to install its system within a live offshore wind turbine and demonstrate the technology in an offshore field trial. The team hope that with continued networking, made possible by Launch Academy, their goal to ultimately commercialise will be realised.
During a recent trial at Blyth in 2021, the AI employed within the device’s processor was tested inside a blade for the very first time, with remarkable results. The performance and accuracy of the network’s analysis improves with each round of testing. At the start of Launch Academy, the validation accuracy was 70.69%. 4Ax now hopes to achieve 75%+ accuracy in the near future through retraining the neural network for Object Detection to enhance the recognition of damage.
ORE Catapult’s Launch Academy provided 4Ax with the unique opportunity of meeting with one of the sponsors of the programme, bp. They were then able to present bp with an in-depth illustration of their system. 4Ax has also collaborated with another member of the Launch Academy 2022 cohort with the possibility of a future partnership.
