Camera-based portable system for wind turbine blade tip clearance measurement

Blade tip clearance of wind turbines is a critical operating parameter to prevent catastrophic failures caused by blade striking the tower. There are studies to estimate tip clearance in real time using a physics model. Yet, an accurate tip clearance measurement is highly desired to calibrate the physics model. In this paper, a high-speed camera based portable system for blade tip clearance measurement is proposed. The system provides a flexible method to calibrate the physics model or the models from other methods. It can also be used for any purpose where tip clearance measurement is required. Image processing algorithm is implemented to compute the tip clearance based on camera data. The proposed system is validated with field test in a 1.5 MW wind turbine.