R&D dispatches a wind turbine tester to the United States

The dual-axis blade exciter is now in the Wind Technology Testing Center at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

The Danish engineering firm R&D Test Systems has delivered a new bench capable of testing wind turbine blades up to 130 meters long to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's Wind Technology Testing Center (WTTC) in the United States. The new full-scale multi-axis fatigue blade test system will also save test time because WTTC can run flap- and edge-wise fatigue tests without altering the test configuration, according to the company.

The blade exciter is made up of two parts, each of which can deliver separate forces and power of up to 120 kN and 210 kW. Users can quickly configure the test system for various tests using the software. The two units can be used together for parallel or dual-axis operation, or individually in other areas of testing. According to R&D Test Systems, using the exciter units in dual-axis operation allows OEMs to save important time.

The test system was handed over to WTTC after a successful commissioning, and the first test cycles with the blade exciter are now underway. WTTC stated that the development of new and larger wind turbines has never been faster than it is now. As a result, the rest of the supply chain must be ready and foresee what the OEMs require next in order to keep up development and limit time-to-market.