IInnovBot/CCNY Team Is Selected to Receive PowerBridgeNY Grant
The Wind-Rider team has been selected to receive a PowerBridgeNY grant for $150,000 to conduct R&D and commercialization tasks on project “Wind-Rider: blade inspection robots for wind-farm owners and OEM directors-of-operations to reduce blade replacement costs”. The Wind-Rider team consists of InnovBot engineers and researchers at CCNY Robotics Lab of The City College of New York (CUNY City College).
The team is conducting market research and developing a wind turbine blade inspection robot (named as Wind-Rider) to provide visual and contact-based inspection services using non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technologies. The Wind-Rider robot carries a RGB-D camera and impact sounding device, offering a solution to automate blade inspection and data collection process. Close-up images/videos would display surface flaws such as cracks and blade edge damages, and the impact sounding data would reveal the subsurface defects such as blade delamination, voids. The Wind-Rider has vertical mobility that allows movement on curved surfaces of a wind turbine blade. Wind Rider can fit in blade’s narrowest gaps otherwise not accessible by human operators (i.e. the ⅔ of the blade interior starting from the tip). Together with image/acoustic data processing, 3D mapping and localization software, Wind-Rider provides a tool for in-service inspections as well as quality control during manufacturing.
About the PowerBridgeNY:
PowerBridgeNY was designed for scientists and entrepreneurs seeking to accelerate the commercialization of their cleantech. PowerBridgeNY provides support to University-based project teams to help commercialize promising clean energy technologies, either via the formation of a start-up or by licensing the technology to an existing company. This support may include providing funding of up to $150K for research validation and prototype development; active mentoring from industry veterans and venture investors; project management assistance; competitive landscaping; business plan development; and more.
To learn more about PoweBridgeNY
visit: https://labtomarket.columbia.edu/-pbny
