Wind turbines look tough, but their blades have a weak spot — the protective coating. If tiny cracks or gaps form between the paint layers, you can't see them from the outside, but they grow until the blade fails catastrophically. A Spanish company built what's essentially an ultrasound scanner for blade coatings — except it works without even touching the surface. It can see through each layer individually, measure how well they stick together, and flag problems before they become expensive disasters.
Wind turbine operators face significant economic losses from premature blade failures caused by hidden coating damage that standard quality control cannot detect. When coating defects go unnoticed, they grow until blades fail — causing extended downtime and expensive emergency repairs or full blade replacements. The industry lacked a non-contact tool that could see inside individual coating layers and predict failures before they happen.
DAS-NANO built NOTUS, a contact-less inspection tool that scans wind turbine blade coatings layer by layer to detect hidden defects, measure inter-layer adherence, and identify erosion. The project completed pre-series production, delivering manufactured units ready for commercial deployment in global wind power markets.
If you are a wind farm operator dealing with unexpected blade failures and costly unplanned downtime — this project developed the first contact-less inspection tool that detects hidden coating defects across individual layers. It quantifies inter-layer adherence so you can schedule targeted repairs before small coating problems turn into full blade replacements.
If you are a blade manufacturer struggling with quality escapes in your coating process — this tool performs deep characterization of individual coating layers during production. It detects gaps between layers, surface erosion, and roughness issues that standard quality control processes miss, catching defects before blades ever leave the factory.
If you are in aerospace maintenance dealing with coating integrity verification on metallic and dielectric surfaces — NOTUS was designed to characterize both metallic and dielectric coating layers without contact. It measures individual layer properties including adherence, opening up non-destructive inspection where physical testing was previously required.
Pricing is not disclosed in the project data. DAS-NANO is selling NOTUS as a commercial product — contact them through their product website for pricing. Given it replaces manual inspection and prevents costly blade failures, the ROI case centers on avoided downtime and replacement costs.
The project objective explicitly targets introduction into main global reference markets for wind power. A pre-series production run was completed as a deliverable, indicating the tool is manufactured at commercial volumes, not just lab prototypes.
NOTUS is a proprietary product developed and owned by DAS-NANO SL, the sole consortium partner. This is not open technology — it is a commercial product. Any access would be through a purchase or service agreement with DAS-NANO directly.
According to the project data, NOTUS is described as the only inspection tool in the market capable of effectively detecting internal coating damage, and the first contact-less tool designed specifically for wind turbine inspection. Standard quality control processes in the industry cannot detect these types of defects.
Based on the project objective, NOTUS characterizes individual coating layers on both metallic and dielectric materials. It detects defects on individual layers, gaps between layers, surface erosion, and surface roughness. It is also the first tool to quantify inter-layer adherence — how well coating layers stick together.
The project completed a pre-series production deliverable, meaning manufactured units ready for commercial sale. The SME Instrument Phase 2 funding scheme specifically supports close-to-market innovation. The project ran from 2018 to 2021 and is now closed, so the product should be commercially available.
This is a single-company project — DAS-NANO SL from Spain is both the coordinator and sole partner. That's typical for SME Instrument Phase 2 funding, which backs individual companies to bring near-market products to commercial scale. With 100% industry composition and SME status, this is a purely commercial venture, not academic research. The absence of university or research partners suggests the core R&D was already done before this project — the EU funding was specifically to push from working product to market-ready manufacturing and global sales.
DAS-NANO SL is a Spanish SME specializing in nanotechnology-based inspection tools — reachable through their company website
Want to evaluate NOTUS for your wind farm or blade manufacturing QC? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the DAS-NANO team and help assess fit for your specific inspection needs.
