Bolt-Check

Bolt-Check is an ultrasonic measurement system which can reduce installation & service costs as well as minimise the risk of failure and downtime of the turbines.

Bolt-Check can be used when installing new bolts and when evaluating existing bolts as part of the determining the lifespan of wind turbines. Furthermore, as a part of the process, a unique Bolt-Tag is added to bolt. The tag gives you full traceability of your bolts, enabling you to locate each bolt as well as schedule service and maintenance.

In the past, it has been difficult to evaluate bolted joints, since the previous methods of inspection only focused on whether the bolts were loose or rusty. However, most joint failures are not caused by the design of the joint or fastener. Often, they are the result of insufficient or inconsistent clamp load when assembling the joint.

Problems such as bolt fatigue and vibration loosening can usually be prevented by achieving and maintaining a correct clamp force in the joint. Achieving a consistent clamp force in the bolted joint during assembly is essential for bolted joint integrity.

Bolt-Check can help you prevent these issues. The system is based on ultrasonic measurement which is a very accurate solution seeing that it allows you to track the clamp load during the entire tightening process and determine the clamp load without influencing the joint stiffness.

The tool is suitable for most bolt types and requires no special pre-treatment of the bolts.

The advantages include:

• Full traceability (eliminate process risk)
• Posssible to track data and hosting of data which enables business intelligence
• A cost-effective solution
• Reduce number of service inspections (no re-tightening)
• Minimise the risk of failure
• Improve utilisation of bolts
• Maximise the operation time of the wind turbine