We are thrilled to be speaking with Martin Kristelijn, the brilliant mind behind the game-changing technology company, IntoMachines. This innovative company has developed a range of cutting-edge products that are set to revolutionize the way wind turbine technicians work, starting with reducing the fatigue of technicians while working on bolted connections. From the torque tool trolley, which is set to make moving heavy equipment a thing of the past, to their advanced dual torque tool robot, IntoMachines is on a mission to make a significant impact on the lives of technicians worldwide.
Visit Pardalote Consulting at https://www.pardaloteconsulting.com
Wind Power Lab - https://windpowerlab.com
Weather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.com
Intelstor - https://www.intelstor.com
IntoMachines - https://intomachines.com
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
Bonus: IntoMachines
Allen Hall: Welcome to this bonus edition of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Hall, president of Weather Guard Lightning Tech. In today's wind, turbines, as we all know, have several hundred bolts that are subjected to massive loads and stresses. Worldwide, there are more than 20 million wind turbine tower and foundation bolts.
That's a lot. Keeping these bolts tightened is a monumental task, and as we know, technicians are in high. So in order to keep up, we need to provide technicians with the tools and resources to torque bolts faster and more reliably. That brings us to our guest, Martin Crystalin. Of Into Machines. Into Machines is a relatively new company based in the Netherlands, which focuses on making technicians more efficient with tools to make torquing easier.
Martin, welcome to the Uptime Win Energy Podcast.
Martin Kristelijn: Thank you very much for the invite. Very happy to be here.
Allen Hall: Well, as we know, as wind turbines have grown, there's been more bolts and it takes longer to assemble and maintain those bolted connections. It's a big problem, right? As we have seen, we're just not able to keep up with the demand for technicians.
We're kind of stuck right now on.
Martin Kristelijn: Yeah, it's absolutely. We we saw this problem already three years ago. And our goal was to, to focus on optimizing the bolting procedure in wind turbines, both offshore and offshore. And we're trying to do that for both both tensioning and both torquing.
And our solution is to provide very lightweight, easy to operate trolley solutions. As well as fully autonomous robots, which can help the operators in speeding up the process. And getting less fatigued by handling all the heavy bolting equipment in the towers.
Allen Hall: So that's, that's one of the issues Martin we're seeing is as these equipment gets heavier and the bolts get bigger, it becomes more of an effort by a technician to actually tighten bolts.
And I, I, it sounds like we're seeing some injuries from that. Is, are you hearing the same thing?
Martin Kristelijn: Yeah, exactly. We we talk a lot with technicians. So we go to wind turbines ourselves to try out a product. And yeah, the most hurt feedback we get is that the back starts to hurt after a couple of hours working with a tool weighing 40 kilograms or 50 or 60 even.
And that they like to have a trolley in order to help them lift the tool and transport it from one boat to the other. And yeah, we're trying to, to provide those tooling to the technicians, to to make, make their lives much easier.
Allen Hall: Yeah. Because the issue right now,