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This week the idea from Siemens Gamesa that protects sensitive objects on the top while lifting, the replaceable yaw break sleeve from Integrated Power Services and a new way to keep ants away from your picnic.

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Allen Hall: Welcome to Power Up, the Uptime podcast focused on the new technology, hot off the press, that can change the world. Join me, Allen Hall, and IntelStor’s Phil Totaro as we discuss the weird, wild, and game-changing ideas that will shape your energy future.

Alright guys, our first patent this week is something unique from Siemens Gamesa. And it tries to solve a problem that all winter blade lifting equipment has, especially if there are vortex generators or stretcher valves or trailing edge serrations. During lifting, these objects tend to be picked off and the operator is not happy about this.

It doesn’t make everyone happy because someone has to come in there and replace them, generally speaking. So Siemens and Gamesa have come up with a little tool to prevent this damage, which looks like a cushion-like device, some kind of plastic, multiple types of plastic. That encapsulates these add-ons so they don’t break during lifting.

Now, Phil, this actually seems like a decent money maker, because other operators, wind turbine OEMs, have the same problem. When you look at the ground after a lift. Usually you see those little pieces, those injection molded pieces lying there on the ground.

Philip Totaro: Shards of things have been stripped off.

Yeah, so this one is really interesting, and I have to admit that I’m actually not sure if Siemens Gamesa is using this with any of the EPC contractors yet. But the reason it was developed, as you said, Alan, is that it’s there to prevent add-ons from being sheared off, like lifting the blade in the saddle and there’s some kind of, gust of wind or something, kind of torsion that occurs, causing the blade in particular to shift in the saddle.

That can cause a lot of these incidents where pieces get torn off. Where this comes in handy is that it is basically a filling on the straps that is made with some kind of gelatinous something. They don’t, I mean they go into more detail in the patent about what these materials could be.

So you can, I guess, use your imagination, but it’s basically relatively compliant. Jelly-like structure. I think this is the best non-technical way to explain it. You know it’s going to basically absorb the deformation as it hits the blade surface that the vortex generators or whatever are sticking out of.

So you could use this for riblets, you could use this for any little additions you want. So I think it’s pretty smart from that perspective. We at Intel Store will delve deeper into whether or not this has commercial use and make that part of our technical analysis of these types of inventions.

Joel Saxum: I think this one definitely makes sense in the field, right? It’s not that complicated. It’s something that can be implemented quite easily. Thank you. And in my mind I’m already thinking, oh, this could allow the lifting company to lift the crane, or however you lift a blade, also give a little bit more grip on the blade itself. So sometimes there’s slippage in there and that’s not good, right?

There are specific lifting points on the blade that must be taken into account to prevent structural damage and/or damage to the trailing edge. We can see things like this all the time on inspections of brand new, fully commissioned wind farms where there’s a crushed trailing edge or, or there’s a mark in the, somewhere in the shell because something has slipped or been gripped incorrectly.

And these can prevent that by giving it a little bit more biting power, right? It’s like something yielding that can push the blade a little bit. But on the other hand, if you install new blades and tear down some VG panels, if I own the assets. I want these repaired before I take over this property.

So you’re going to get someone up there on ropes or on a platform to fix them. It’s not just gluing. That’s going to cost two, three, four thousand dollars to get a crew out there, fix things up and so on. So there are also a lot of costs that this thing can avoid. So I think it’s a great, great innovation.

Philip Totaro: And also remember that this is an invention of the OEMs, who you would expect to be the ones most affected by this, especially if they are the ones liable until the… the turbine is put into service. But the fact that it is a patent on some type of EPC and construction gives Siemens Gamesa the opportunity to potentially work with EPC contractors and license this technology to them.

So you could see this as part of a commercial offering with various EPC contractors that they may have acquired through a license from Siemens Gamesa, so that’s potentially additional revenue for them. And one reason why you have to think a little bit holistically when you do that, when you think about the inventions you come up with and the patents you actually get.

It’s not just about protecting your ability to use the technology. Permit options may be available for this.

Allen Hall: Our second invention concerns yaw braking. And I consider yaw brakes to be one of the most difficult parts of a turbine to keep healthy. It’s very similar to the way a brake rotor works in a car, whether a Formula 1 or a NASCAR.

A lot of heat and energy is trying to be absorbed by this brake. And with some wind turbines it’s all hydraulic, sometimes the housing that houses this braking mechanism tends to crack because of all the stresses that are there. Well, to replace that housing, unlike a car where you pull off the steering wheel, with a turbine you have to lift the entire nacelle off.

And that can get very expensive if you have to do it, while the folks at Integrated Power Services have come up with a replaceable yaw rupture sleeve and Phil hasn’t seen this idea implemented yet. It must be in use somewhere. It starts to make sense because those parts break.

And that’s one thing about integrated energy services. They try to make turbines easier to maintain.

Philip Totaro: Indeed. And so the fact that this is now a field replaceable element versus potentially, as you just described, Alan, and not a field replaceable element that can be OEM. That is something where the IPS yields.

some kind of step stool, potentially providing this as an aftermarket part to asset owners or operators who are feeling some of the pain. Whoever wants that, have a crane called, just because there is some kind of screeching element stuck and you can’t get into it. Older turbine designs need this kind of technology where they can, they can take advantage of the fact that this thing has its own separate threaded insert and you can twist it on a little bit, turn it off without having to remove the whole nacelle.

That’s an advantage, I think.

Joel Saxum: Yeah, when I think about hydraulics and replacing things, I immediately think about the basics, right? I’m thinking excavators or skid steers or something that’s really easy to get to. You can take a sledgehammer, poke a few pins out, pull them out, rebuild a hydraulic cylinder, put it back in, boom, you’re on your way.

Well, they are not at a height of 80 or 100 meters and there is no 70 to 100 ton gondola on top. So something like this is a much needed innovation in the market. And I would, to be honest, we just talked about the idea of ​​an OEM putting out a patent where some people can license it.

I would like to see an OEM license build this IPS patent into their next generation turbines to make them more field

Allen Hall: usable.

Our fun patent of the week is an electrified tablecloth. And, and Phil, the electrification of a tablecloth is undoubtedly a medieval device from hundreds of years ago, because you know what?

There are people you just don’t want to have dinner with. However, in this case it is a little different. They want to prevent insects, and especially ants, from crawling onto your table during a nice picnic. So they have created, as it were, an electrified area perimeter, where the insect, when it crawls over it, receives a small electric shock.

However, the obvious question is: you don’t want to shock someone you want to have a nice lunch with. You want to make sure they don’t get hurt. The voltage is low enough that it doesn’t shock people. But high enough where the insects are repelled. There must be other uses for this than the tablecloth, right?

Joel Saxum: Potential. What needs to happen next is that Bluetooth is turned on. And if you have a bad date, you can just look at your phone and BZZZT will end that date very quickly.

Philip Totaro: I tell you what? I don’t even know where to go. As for the other uses for this technology, I mean, sure, let’s also talk about the fact that you definitely want the voltage to be at a certain level so that, for example, children or animals.

I mean, what happens if the dog starts begging for food along the tablecloth and it’s electrified? I mean, you have to make sure it’s just about insects. So this is one where, you know, we normally talk about every week, these crazy patents, and some of them are just kind of ridiculous.

Why did they ever introduce it as the inventor? Why did the patent office ever allow this? We’re having a lot of those debates all the time in the tech world. These are actually Joel’s extrapolations. This is actually a fairly practical idea that solves a real world problem.

So I actually have to come on the positive side of this, this week.

Allen Hall: It gets exciting if it rains during your picnic. Everyone will be electrified, Phil.