Examining Fiberglass and Blade During Construction and Operation

Wind Energy Initiative

Examining Fiberglass and Blade During Construction and Operation

This research project aims at developing a large-scale flexible membrane that can be deployed onto monitored surfaces, while also behaving like a matrix of capacitance-based strain gauges. The proposed method is analogous to biological skin, in the sense that it is capable of global monitoring by deploying sensors over large regions. Each strain gauge is a soft capacitors, which is fabricated using a highly sensitive elastomer sandwiched between electrodes. Changes in the material geometry correspond to changes in the material capacitance, which are directly related to local deformations.

Research partners:

Heartland Energy Solutions (IA).

Collaboration:

University of Potsdam.