R&D Test Systems – Pushing the Boundaries of Test Rigs for Massive Wind Turbine Equipment

Allen Hall and Joel Saxum go in-depth with R&D Test Systems Chief Engineer Claus Beck, who reveals the innovation behind their massive test benches capable of rigorously vetting the next generation of multi-megawatt turbines. From building test rigs for machines that don't yet exist to creating 25MW powertrain test stands, R&D is enabling wind OEMs to thoroughly validate their radical new designs. You'll be blown away by how critical R&D's capabilities are for scaling up turbines. This is one episode you won't want to miss - the thrill of engineering big things to power the future! Visit https://www.rd-as.com/ to learn more! 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! Allen Hall: Pushing the boundaries of innovation often requires testing the limits of today's technologies. That's where R&D Test Systems comes in. Over 15 years, this leading test equipment developer has provided cutting edge testing technology to help wind energy companies launch the next generation of products. From their powertrain test benches to their rain erosion test facilities, R&D Test Systems has built an impressive array of testing capabilities. Their expertise allows clients to validate designs, benchmark performance, troubleshoot issues, and certify products for safety and standards compliance. On this special episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, Joel Saxum and I will be talking with Claus Beck, Chief Engineer at R&D Test Systems, about the amazing technology they have created and have in their development pipeline. Claus, welcome to the program. Claus Beck: Thanks a lot, Allen and Joel. Allen Hall: Well, the wind industry has a massive problem ahead, as I see it. As wind turbine sizes continue to scale exponentially, there appears to be limited ways to test this equipment to demonstrate lifetimes. And most recently, we've seen some OEMs announce this, that they have issues with thoroughly testing complete systems before they get placed in service. Are you seeing some of these same issues and what are you hearing from the test equipment side? Claus Beck: Yeah, so it's of course, something we hear of that there are difficulties in this field and because of the cost of, Taking a turbine down in the wind field or in a North shore let's say a platform, then that would create a lot of cost. And because of that, then you need to test. And that's also a really a focus point for all big OEMs that we are dealing with. Allen Hall: Yeah, it does seem as the offshore wind turbine sizes have grown so fast where we've gone from even during the development phases, we've gone from like a 10 megawatt machine to now we're talking about upwards of 20, maybe 22 megawatt machines. That's a huge issue because I think as we've, even on blade sizes, and you guys do work with blades also, the blade lengths have, the new blade lengths have created issues that they have might, may not have seen before. So there's some unknowns out there until you actually test something as massive as a 20 megawatt machine. And does that, how does that drive you? I mean, what are your thoughts when you see a new announcement of a 22 megawatt machine, what are you thinking about that as these new machines are announced? Claus Beck: Yeah, so it calls, it implies a lot of difficulties when you scale in this speed, which is the wind industries is doing so that, that causes some difficulties you there's a lot of scaling loss normally when you design stuff, but these does not always apply and you have a lot of failure modes, which change when you scale to these sizes.