Improving aerodynamic performance of aircraft and wind power plants

Optical, high-performance and portable quality inspection of Riblet surfaces

The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and its partners have successfully developed a quality monitoring system for so-called Riblets. Riblets are microstructured functional surfaces with tiny V-shaped longitudinal grooves. They are aligned in the direction of flow and are used in aircraft and ship construction, wind turbines and much more to minimise drag or flow resistance. Riblet surfaces lead to lower fuel consumption and thus reduced CO2 emissions in aircraft and to higher electricity production in wind turbines. Even minor damage and wear of the riblets impair the efficiency of the riblet effect. Regular inspection is therefore essential.

In the recently completed RiSpect research project, the experts are now presenting a portable laboratory setup for non-destructive quality control that will serve as the basis for future developments. The optical inspection is based on a photometric stereo method developed at the AIT Centre for Vision, Automation & Control (VAC).

Inspection solution for the Riblet world market

Nicole Brosch, scientist, image processing expert and project manager at VAC, underlines the importance of the new inspection solution for various industries: "Wind energy, aviation, motor sports, shipping - all these markets are very large and will need solutions like Riblets in the coming years. To optimise fuel consumption and energy yield, regular inspection of riblets structures is crucial, especially directly on site. Until now, however, there was no really viable method known for fault detection that was also portable and easy to use. We are proud to have been able to make an important contribution to the development of this new system."

This work is funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) within the project RiSPECT (874163).

The Partners

AIT Center for Vision, Automation & Control

bionic surface technologies GmbH

Software Engineering Institute/ TU Graz

University of Wyoming

For more information please check the press release