By Vicente Gilaberte, Senior Account Manager, Sulzer Schmid, A RES Company When RES acquired Sulzer Schmid late last year, it wasn’t just about expanding our portfolio of digital solutions – it was about changing the way we manage wind turbine blades. At the heart of that shift is the 3DX…
Digital Solutions
3DX™ - smarter insights for wind turbine blades and beyond
3DX™ is a digital platform that helps operators monitor blade condition, analyse damage, and plan maintenance and repairs across their fleet.
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What 3DX™ can do
3DX™ combines inspection technology, analytics and workflow management to provide a complete picture of turbine health. It connects wind turbine inspections, damage analytics, repair planning and maintenance workflows in a single platform. Blade and turbine component data are structured into actionable insights, helping teams turn inspection results into informed decisions.
3DX can be used as a standalone blade management platform or combined with inspection services from RES, your own teams or third-party providers. With 3DX you can:
- monitor blade condition and track fleet trends
- analyse blade damage and detect emerging issues
- prioritise repairs using data-driven insights
- plan and manage repair campaigns
- coordinate field execution and track repair progress
- maintain a lifetime record of blades and repairs
Beyond blades, 3DX can also support inspections of other turbine components, including towers and anti-icing systems, with thermographic and visual data.
Why 3DX™?
3DX brings inspection technology, analytics and digital workflows together to support efficient fleet management. By connecting inspection data with advanced analytics and repair planning, 3DX helps operators understand turbine health across their fleets, make more informed maintenance and repair decisions, plan and execute repair campaigns efficiently, and improve overall visibility, accountability and traceability.
Creating efficiencies
Automated inspections enable quick setup with minimal manpower, generating reusable plans for frequent use.
100% coverage
Capture every millimetre of rotor blades consistently, facilitating real-time, collaborative repair decisions.
AI-Driven insights
High-quality imaging and AI tools provide fast, detailed damage assessments and reports.
Predictive Maintenance
Track blade conditions, forecast needs, and optimise repairs for enhanced safety and ROI.
Tailored Solutions
Customisable options with flexible pricing, add-on modules and technology options designed to suit individual customers’ needs.
Comprehensive Management
Digital end-to-end inspection process through one interface, enabling professional blade asset management with reliable, AI-supported data that builds lifetime records.
Our proven technology and expertise give you the confidence that we can deliver tangible results.
80%
time saving on blade inspections
1M
blade defect database
100,000+
blades inspected with 3DX™
How blade inspection data is captured
3DX integrates advanced drone inspection technology to capture high-quality blade data.
Blade inspection data can be collected using automated inspections with 3DX Autopilot or self-performed inspections with 3DX SmartPilot.
Both inspection models feed inspection data directly into the 3DX platform.
3DX Autopilot
Automated drone inspections
3DX Autopilot performs fully automated drone inspections of wind turbine blades.
Automated flight paths ensure consistent and repeatable image capture across turbines and wind farms.
- fully automated inspection workflow
- fastest inspection turnaround times
- repeatable inspections with consistent image framing
- market-leading image quality
- suitable for onshore and offshore wind farms
3DX SmartPilot
Self-performed blade inspections
3DX SmartPilot enables operators to perform blade inspections using their own teams
This allows inspections to be carried out more frequently while reducing inspection costs.
- cost-efficient inspections with your own team
- flexible inspection scheduling
- quick deployment and operator training
- increased operational control
From inspection to insight
3DX transforms inspection data into structured insights to support maintenance and fleet performance. Teams can understand blade and turbine component condition, prioritise repairs, and plan maintenance campaigns, with AI-driven recommendations that enable transparent, data-driven decisions from inspection to completed repair.
Fleet-level blade visibility
3DX provides a clear overview of blade condition across wind farms. Within the platform you can track blade damage, monitor repair status, analyse fleet-wide blade trends and support maintenance planning
Smarter repairs, better decisions
3DX transforms inspection data into actionable repair campaigns through its Service Action Module. AI-driven algorithms calculate a priority score for each blade, recommend repair actions, and generate campaigns automatically or manually.
Technicians in the field can execute repairs via the mobile app, uploading high-resolution photos and documentation, even offline. Progress is tracked in real time, while built-in quality assurance and verification steps ensure every repair meets standards.
By centralising repair and inspection data, 3DX gives operators full visibility across fleets, enabling more informed decisions, optimised maintenance planning, and improved operational efficiency. Key benefits:
- Data-driven repair prioritisation and recommendations
- Flexible campaign management, automatic or manual
- Field execution with mobile app support, offline-capable
- QA checks, traceability, and reporting
- Centralised fleet visibility of repairs and inspections
Discover 3DX
Learn how 3DX, Autopilot and SmartPilot can support your blade inspection and maintenance strategy.
Contact our team to learn more.Resources
Learn more about our projects
RES secures US patent for turbine blade inspection technology
Denver, US – 20 February 2025 – RES, the world’s largest independent renewables company, has been granted a US patent for a new method of inspecting wind turbine blades. It allows users to accurately view both the internal and external image of blade damage in a single platform for the…
Optimising performance at Trattberget: Addressing winter challenges and enhancing operational efficiency
The Challenge Trattberget wind farm is owned by NTR in Sweden and has an output capacity of 69MW. The farm faced challenges, including heightened turbine vibrations and frequent alarms, especially during the winter months. These issues threatened to impact long-term reliability and operational efficiency, and NTR sought to understand the…