Capturing video from a working wind turbine

Stratospheric · Mar 21, 2018

Hi all

Can I get some opinions on the best way to capture a single blade on a working wind turbine?
Apparently the total diameter of all three blades is 80 m. The electric company have provisionally said they can slow the turbine to 15 RPM approximately 26 mph.
Our pilot is thinking he has to follow each blade.
I think if you take a 4K video of the whole wind turbine and shoot it at 60 FPS I can then slow it down even more in premiere pro and zoom in digitally and key frame the blade as its turning.

Can I get some opinions on theBest way forward?

Thanks

Keith

InterMurph · Mar 21, 2018

Is this an inspection job?

If so, I think you need to do it during a maintenance window, when the turbine is shut down. We have three turbines in my city, and they are all occasionally shut down for maintenance.

I can't imagine that you could possibly get anything useful while they are spinning.

Stratospheric · Mar 21, 2018

Yes it is an inspection job and I'm just doing what I am told they asked for

PB30X · Mar 21, 2018

InterMurph said:
I can't imagine that you could possibly get anything useful while they are spinning.

I agree with InterMurph,

BINGO! An Inspection? Obviously, the safety of your own craft is Not within question for them. Risk is everything, Your Move[emoji106]

InterMurph · Mar 21, 2018

I did some inspection photos of our City Hall a few months ago, and it's hard enough getting a close/complete/sharp photo of an immobile building.

I would only do this job with the turbine shut down. I would ask when their next scheduled shutdown is.

mmarian · Mar 21, 2018

PB30X said:
I agree with InterMurph,

BINGO! An Inspection? Obviously, the safety of your own craft is Not within question for them. Risk is everything, Your Move[emoji106]

It does not have to be necessarely risky. He can use 25 or even 45mm lens and shoot from a safe distance

Jcca21 · Mar 24, 2018

Stratospheric said:
Hi all

Can I get some opinions on the best way to capture a single blade on a working wind turbine?
Apparently the total diameter of all three blades is 80 m. The electric company have provisionally said they can slow the turbine to 15 RPM approximately 26 mph.
Our pilot is thinking he has to follow each blade.
I think if you take a 4K video of the whole wind turbine and shoot it at 60 FPS I can then slow it down even more in premiere pro and zoom in digitally and key frame the blade as its turning.

Can I get some opinions on theBest way forward?

Thanks

Keith

26 mph at the hub is around 150 mph at blade tip. 15 rpm on a 80m dia. blade is very fast. Don't ever let a client dictate a job. It's your reputation .

Stratospheric · Mar 24, 2018

According to our pilot who talked to the energy companies engineer what they are wanting is a cursory check of each blade while it's still running because for every hour that these wind turbines are still the company are losing £2000.
The conversation went something like "do you think you can capture images while the turbine is still running. It would be amazing if you could as at the moment our drone pilot travels from Scotland to Somerset, about 600 miles" as where we live two hours away from the wind farm.

Jcca21 · Mar 24, 2018

Stratospheric said:
According to our pilot who talked to the energy companies engineer what they are wanting is a cursory check of each blade while it's still running because for every hour that these wind turbines are still the company are losing £2000.

The conversation went something like "do you think you can capture images while the turbine is still running. It would be amazing if you could as at the moment our drone pilot travels from Scotland to Somerset, about 600 miles" as where we live two hours away from the wind farm.

Jcca21 · Mar 24, 2018

60fps isn't going to be fast enough. It'll cost more to replace the blades than to lock it out and inspect them properly.
Guareenteed.
We go from ground shoot to drone to actual maintenance . Within an allotted schedule.
Cutting corners ....well its going to get expensive.

Stratospheric · Mar 24, 2018

Okay so we also have access to an S1000 so we can use a bigger camera with higher frame rates. What would you recommend?

mmarian · Mar 24, 2018

Jcca21 said:
60fps isn't going to be fast enough. It'll cost more to replace the blades than to lock it out and inspect them properly.
Guareenteed.
We go from ground shoot to drone to actual maintenance . Within an allotted schedule.
Cutting corners ....well its going to get expensive.

Do they actually want a video or just stills? Because TBH I am not sure what kind of inspection they can do from watching a video. If they want to see if the blades have some leading edge damage from bird strike or other objects or minute stress cracks, they might see it better from examining stills than from watching video. Just my 2 cents.