Review on the Advancements in Wind Turbine Blade Inspection: Integrating Drone and Deep Learning Technologies for Enhanced Defect Detection

The increasing demand for wind power requires more frequent inspections to identify defects in the Wind Turbine Blades (WTBs). These defects, if not detected, can compromise the structural integrity and safety of wind turbines. As WTBs are crucial and costly components, they may suffer material degradation and fatigue failure, which affects their performance and safety. Thus, the urgency for efficient and regular monitoring to maintain their structural integrity is greater than ever. This review paper explores innovative methods in fatigue testing, damage detection, and structural reliability in WTBs, focusing on the use of recent inspection methods, including those that take advantage of drones. Drones are used to identify defects such as cracks, erosion, and coating irregularities using text high-resolution imagery with the onboard cameras. Various investigators have developed novel data-driven approaches, incorporating machine learning and deep learning, to accurately identify these defects. Although deep text learning-based image processing has been successful in other public infrastructure contexts, its application to wind turbine inspection from aerial images presents unique challenges. This paper also highlights the critical role of failure inspection in enhancing the operational integrity of WTBs, showcasing state-of-the-art deep learning techniques that are pivotal for identifying and analyzing failures in WTBs from images captured by drones. The paper provides insights into the latest developments in using drone imagery for blade defect detection, contrasting this method with traditional non-destructive techniques. This approach could significantly transform the wind energy industry by offering a more efficient, automated, and precise way of ensuring the structural health of wind turbines. Unlike previous studies that predominantly focus on isolated aspects such as inspection or fatigue, this review paper not only integrates the three major aspects of WTBs integrity in terms of aerial inspection, image processing using machine learning, and structural integrity of the blade but also undertakes an extensive examination of the prevailing methodologies in the field, pinpointing crucial gaps and challenges. It provides a detailed review of existing research, covering various areas including automated inspection, image processing techniques, fatigue analysis, and the reliability of wind turbines. This approach enriches the discourse by offering a multifaceted perspective on WTB maintenance, thereby advancing the understanding of operational integrity within the field of wind energy.