Quality control of rotor blades
It is possible to monitor the quality of a product with the use of a gloss factor. The gloss factor tells us something about the roughness of the product. This reduces post-processing, because the product will already fit the necessary specifications. When the gloss factor is measured at different positions, it is possible to determine if the quality of the product is divided equally. A rotor blade of wind mill is an example where a gloss measurement on primer surfaces should be performed. The rotor blade is edited with a primer, which is resistent to the weather conditions wind mills are exposed to. It is important that the gloss factor is equally divided on to the surface. With as result, no extra post-processing needs to be carried out.
Gloss sensor checks the equal distribution of the applied primer layers
To secure an equal distribution, a gloss measurement on primer surfaces are performed. This is carried out contactless at a distance of 15 mm to the measuring surface. The gloss sensor is mounted on a robot(arm) so the 15 mm is guaranteed. This robot(arm) with sensors moves vertically and horizontally above the surface of the rotor blade. Then the whole surface is measured and checked if the quality of the applied layers of primer are equally divided. The gloss factor should normally be lower than 5to guarantee that the next layer of coating is strongly applied to the primer surface.
The GLOSS-15/60° is a gloss sensor with a 60° opening angle which is suitable for performing a gloss measurement on the primer surface of the rotor blade of a wind mill. The sensor is provided with an analog 0-10 V and a 4-20 mA output. The RS232 interface is available for the exhange of data.
