Nuts and bolts are one of the most simplistic components on a modern wind turbine, but their inspection is often the single largest maintenance expenditure. Inspection-free bolting is a revolutionary new maintenance approach, which is now available in the offshore wind industry through the adoption of bolt load monitoring technology.
A wind turbine consists of over 10,000 bolted connections, with around 1,000 to 1,400 being classed as critical from a safety and/or performance perspective. Failure of bolted connections can have a significant impact on the structural integrity of the asset, lead to asset damage and incur significant lost production and repair costs.
