Siemens Gamesa has teamed up with Huisman to develop a system designed to stabilise wind offshore wind turbine blades, as well as nacelles and tower segments, during installation.
Controlling the movements of the relatively light blades of a turbine when suspended from a crane, has proven to be an installation challenge due to wind load.
To mitigate operational downtime and increase the integrity of the delicate wind turbine components, Huisman and Siemens Gamesa developed the Travelling Load Stabilising System, for universal application in heavy lifting cranes.
The system consists of a combination of two pairs of tuggers working in unison to control to position of the load.
One pair is fitted on independent trolleys that can travel along an integrated rail along the crane’s stiff boom.
The trolleys automatically follow the main block to maintain an optimal tugger line configuration.
The second pair of tugger lines is deployed from the crane tip providing a force perpendicular to the first pair of tuggers.
The system provides “significantly more control” than a conventional single pair of tuggers.
The Travelling Load Stabilising System functions as an integral part of the crane and could, therefore, be operated from the crane’s cabin as well from an optional walk around box (WAB).
Jesper Moeller, Chief Engineer Execution at Siemens Gamesa, said: “This is crucial for the technical readiness of next-generation offshore wind turbine installations, even under challenging wind conditions.
“The resulting increase in installation uptime will be accompanied by a positive effect on the operational activities in general, as well as increased on-site safety.
“Siemens Gamesa sees the system as a potentially new industry standard with benefits for the whole wind industry, providing more productive vessel days, while at the same time reducing (de-)mobilisation times.
“Hence, Siemens Gamesa will consider the availability of the new Travelling Load Stabilising System on installation vessel cranes as a significant factor in decision making when selecting/hiring appropriate installation vessels in the future.”