LUDECAwind was recently hired to perform an alignment on a wind turbine. Although the turbine was quite modern in size,  capability, and throughput, its design and functionality for wind service technicians to perform their tasks are outdated. The technicians are barely able to stand straight or get around the turbine without compromising their safety.

With the obstacles of working inside the nacelle, the difficulty of aligning the wind turbine seems even greater considering the procedures which need to be followed and the number of components that need to be removed for accessibility to perform this task. There was a misconception that in order to perform any type of alignment, the coupling needed to be removed. The beauty of using our OPTALIGN® SMART RS laser alignment wind system is that the technician is not required to remove the coupling to execute the task. No matter the size of the turbine, type of coupling, or interference around the working area, using a laser alignment system inside a nacelle not only saves time but provides true, accurate, and repeatable data.

We were able to mount the OPTALIGN SMART RS wind system, collect repeatable and accurate data, and make all necessary corrections in a short amount of time. The customer was impressed with the system’s ease of use and the accuracy obtained, considering the less than ideal conditions with high winds of approximately 13 m/s, which had no effect on the quality of the data collected.