API Case Study TRACKER3 TM Case Study: W ind Turbines AH Industries Wind Turbines & Laser-based Metrology More than an emerging industry, wind energy is recognized as a sector poised for dramatic growth in the coming years. Its potential has drawn many upstarts to move into the market, and more established players to expand their operations. To succeed, companies must differentiate thesmelves – and the quality of their products. AH Industries Components, a Danish company, recognized this and decided to improve its quality assurance of heavy wind components with a mobile measurement tool that would be portable, accurate and reliable. It found these qualities in an API laser tracker. Wind power is a hot topic these days. It is presented as both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Many companies therefore see great opportunities for gaining a foothold in this environment. AH Industries Components, however, is an already established and proven partner in this industry. The Danes have been delivering hubs, axles, bearing housings and frame structures to leading providers of wind energy plants, such as Siemens, REpower and Nordex, for many years. AH had long held a technological advantage in the field, but was facing increasing demands from customers for accuracy in the parts that it manufactured and delivered. AH’s leaders decided to acquire a new measurement system in 2008 to meet these demands. At that time, AH was taking measurements with the industry’s most common tools: measuring rods screwed together, rulers, special temples and special measuring brackets and devices. These instruments carried a level of uncertainty that got to be unacceptable for quality experts at many leading companies. At one of Europe’s largest quality assurance conferences, the CONTROL trade show, AH officials started collecting information about suitable measurement systems. They saw various systems from a range of manufacturers. Automated Precision Inc. | 15000 Johns Hopkins Drive | Rockville, MD 20850 | (800) 537-2720 | [email protected] | www.apisensor.com

API Case Study TRACKER3 TM Case Study: W ind Turbines Mobility is Key The API tracker can still measure effectively and accurately even after several position changes because of its light weight and a head size of 36 cm. The head of the laser tracker has been designed so that the beam does not have to be diverted with a mirror or using a light guide. Systematic measurement inaccuracies due to deflection error are thereby eliminated. AH Industries Various readings are checked when measuring a 12-ton hub. Laser tracker: “Big” Difference It quickly became clear that a laser tracker would best fulfill...

API Case Study TRACKER3 TM Case Study: W ind Turbines using the system from API,” said Ove Thomsen. “We use the laser tracker two or three times a week in this context in Horsens, and once a month as required in Kolding. For the future we are planning to use the portable system once a month in Kolding for two to three fixed days planned in advance. “If orders, particularly from the wind energy industry, continue to increase as hoped and expected, we will probably invest in an additional API Laser Tracker for the Kolding factory within the next two,” Thomsen added. Measurements that Meet the Customers...