A method and device for determining a tower clearance of a wind turbine. The method comprises: acquiring an image of a wind turbine in operation (S10), the image comprising the tips of blades (2) and a tower (1) of the wind turbine; determining the positions of the tips of the blades (2) of the wind turbine in the image acquired (S20); identifying the edges of the tower (1) in the image acquired (30); and calculating, on the basis of the positions of the tips of the blades (2) and the edges of the tower (1) that have been determined, the distance from the tips (2) of the blades (2) to the edges of the tower (1) to acquire a tower clearance (S40). The employment of the method and device for determining the tower clearance for the wind turbine allows the real-time determination of the tower clearance for the wind turbine, thus effectively preventing the blades (2) from hitting the tower.

In a wind turbine comprising a tower supporting a nacelle, at least one blade rotationally attached to the nacelle and having a blade-tip section, a system for measuring the separation distance between the tower and the blade-tip-section of the wind turbine, comprising an indicator stripe on the surface of the blade-tip section, an indicator ring encircling the tower, a camera in the nacelle and positioned such that the blade-tip section and the indicator ring are within the camera's field of view when the blade-tip is at its closest approach position to the tower, the camera digitally recording an image of its field of view at this closest approach position, the distance between indicator ring and camera being essentially equal to the distance between the indicator stripe and the camera at this closest approach position, and an image processor and tip-tower clearance calculator unit receiving the digitally recorded image and calculating a physical separation distance between the indicator stripe and the indicator ring using the digitally recorded image information, the physical separation distance being indicative of the blade tip-tower clearance.

A method for determining radial play of a bearing arrangement in a wind turbine component, the bearing arrangement comprising a first component and a second component, which are movable relative to one another in a radial direction. The method comprises: capturing a first image of the bearing arrangement, the first image including the first and second components in a first relative position; applying a radially-directed load to the bearing arrangement to move the first component radially with respect to the second component by a distance that defines the radial play of the bearing arrangement so that the first and second components are in a second relative position; capturing a second image of the bearing arrangement, the second image including the first and second components in the second relative position; and comparing the first and second images to quantify the difference between the first relative position of the first and second components and the second relative position of the first and second components, thereby to determine the radial play in the bearing arrangement.

A hybrid kite having an integrated compartment that is inflated with a gas which is lighter than air; the kite is further equipped with a wind turbine generator for the purpose of generating electricity at a high altitude, which can be utilized by the kite or be relayed to the ground for practical use. The kite is anchored in the air as a result of an upward pulling/push force (drag) created by wind, and a combination of buoyancy, to keep the generator/s aloft for an extended period of time beyond 24 hours.

The kite may also serve the purpose of an antenna, to send and receive wireless communication from a base. Moreover the kite can serve as a surveillance vantage point, when equipped with a camera, video camera, microphone and lights, to give an aerial vantage point of a given location.

Numerous other applications for the invention will be realized in conjunction with the primary purpose of providing electricity directly from the generator, which is tethered to the kite, for domestic, industrial & nautical use.

A method and apparatus for inspecting utility scale wind turbine generator blades from the ground includes a digital camera and an adjustable polarizing filter on a stable platform. The camera is used to record multiple digital images with varying polarization angles using an artificial polarized or polarized solar illumination to produce images with the same or similar registration but different polarization angles, followed by image processing using subtraction or absolute difference routines to yield high resolution, high contrast images with reduced glare and excellent surface definition over the field of view.

A device for optically monitoring a moving component includes at least one first camera, the image detection region of which can be controlled by a tracking device and which is configured to capture at least one image of at least a part of the moving component, wherein the device further includes at least one second camera, which is configured to capture at least one image of the moving component. The device further includes an open-loop or closed-loop control unit, which receives image data of the second camera and which generates an open-loop or closed-loop control signal and transmits the open-loop or closed-loop control signal to the tracking device.

A multisensory system provides both temporal and spatial coverage capacities for auto-detection of bird collision events. The system includes an apparatus having a first circuitry to capture and store a series of images or video of a blade of a wind turbine; and a memory to store the images from the first circuitry. The apparatus also has one or more sensors to continuously sense vibration of the blade or for acoustic recordings; and a second circuitry to analyze the sensor data stream and/or the series of images or video to identify a cause of the vibration and to trigger the camera(s). A communication interface transmits data from the second circuitry to another device, wherein the second circuitry applies artificial intelligence or machine learning to control sensitivity of the one or more sensors.

The invention relates to a device for monitoring mechanical connection points in an installation, in particular in a wind turbine, having: at least one optical imaging device, which is designed to digitally capture optical images of one or more connection points repeatedly, in particular regularly or continuously; and a comparison device for comparing images with reference images or for comparing parameters of the images with reference parameters and for generating an error signal relating to the connection point reproduced in an image as soon as the deviations of the image from a reference image or of a parameter from a reference parameter exceed a specified threshold during imaging. Monitoring of mechanical connection points can thus be automated and systematised, and maintenance costs can be reduced. Operation of the monitored installation is also made safer.

The object of the invention is a system recording the collisions of flying animals (9) with wind turbines (1) and indicating where they fell on the ground, which comprises a wind turbine (1) composed of a tower (2), a nacelle (3), a rotor (4) with blades (5) and a sensor unit comprising one sensor (6) and peripheral devices of the sensor, characterised in that the sensor (6) mounted on the nacelle (3) and/or tower (2) of the wind turbine (1) is a LIDAR sensor or a 3D light field camera or a 3D radar scanning the space around the wind turbine (1) in the field of view (7) of the sensor (6). The object of the invention is also the method of application of the above described system for recording the collisions of flying animals (9) with wind turbines (1) and indicating where they fell on the ground and the application of the system.

The present disclosure provides a method and device for stitching wind turbine blade images, and a storage medium. The method includes performing edge detection on a plurality of images of the blade of the wind turbine to determine a blade region for each of the plurality of images; and for each pair of images among the plurality of images of the blade of the wind turbine, which are captured successively, stitching a front end of a former one of the pair of images captured successively and a rear end of a latter one of the pair of images captured successively, wherein the front end is far away from a root of the blade of the wind turbine, and the rear end is close to the root of the blade of the wind turbine.