Wölfel Beratende Ingenieure GmbH + Co. KG, WBI, is an independent technology-oriented engineering consulting company with more than 35 employees of which 30 % are Ph.D. We are mainly working in the field of structural mechanics and are specialised in dynamics.
The company was founded in 1971 as one of the first engineering organisations in Germany carrying out FEM-simulations and measurements for structural-mechanical problems. The most important branches we are working for are automotive, plant engineering, energy production and civil engineering.
Since the foundation of our company in 1971 we have contributed to new technological research and development which we have made available for industrial application. At the beginning it was the upcoming new Finite-Element-Method, in the 80’s modal measurement and monitoring methods, in the 90’s probabilistic risk assessment, this decade we have been developing devices for active vibration/noise control and structural health monitoring (SHM). All our efforts are directed to make structures, systems and components safer, more reliable and more efficient in many industrial branches.
For different customers from the wind energy industry WBI has performed engineering services mainly concerning tower foundation issues and has carried out various measurements at wind turbines.
In several R&D projects WBI has developed the basics for a model-based SHM-system which is based on multiple measuring methods independent of each other. Together with Fraunhofer IKTS-MD Dresden we are developing a system for SHM of wind turbines. We have been cooperating with IKTS-MD for 5 years in 2 European and 3 German R&D-projects. Up to now, the SHM-system has been developed for tests in a lab. In HiPRwind it will be the first time that such a system shall be adapted to the requirements of an off-shore plant and it shall be tested and proved over a longer period of time.
Active vibration absorbers have been developed by WBI for some years now for different areas of application. Here we have access to a "tool box" with different active principles. Due to the required large forces of the actuactors with minimum weight and due to further extreme offshore conditions the development of such systems for rotor blades represents a major challenge.
In HiPRWind, WBI is in charge of WP 6, Structural Health and Condition Monitoring System, and also participates in WP7, developing innovative concepts for active vibration reduction devices for the rotor blade and other components.
