| Work Detail |
Naval architect firm Knud E. Hansen has presented a design concept for a new wind turbine maintenance platform named ‘Jackup on Jackup’.
This four-legged jack-up vessel features a 15 m wide working platform, which can be elevated to the height of the nacelle, thus providing a safe platform for maintenance work on the blades eliminating the need for rope access.
With a telescopic weather cover fitted on the platform, work on the blades can be done in practically all weather conditions, day or night, resulting in far more working hours annually than with conventional maintenance vessels and rope access, making it possible to better schedule planned maintenance.
A large, air-conditioned workshop is located at the aft end of the work platform, and when the weather cover is deployed, a virtual factory hall is created around the blade, allowing all types of work to be performed on the blade, minimizing the need to remove the blades and transport them to shore for repair.
Additionally, with the possibility of inserting an X-Y motion compensating system between the work platform and the platform carriers, the hall can remain geostationary.
A cherry picker mounted on a hammerhead at the platform’s opposite end provides access to the nacelle.
The main crane is fitted on the elevating structure, allowing for the use of a conventional pedestal-mounted crane with a boom that is approximately 30% shorter than that of a conventional wind turbine maintenance vessel while still reaching the same height and providing a better view of the blades and the nacelle.
This vessel is designed for all kinds of maintenance work on wind turbines up to 20 MW, including replacement and handling of nacelles weighing as much as 1,000 tonnes at a hub height of 175 m, and managing blades up to 130 m long. This can be done while being jacked up in 80 m water depth.
Two crew access vessels are arranged in davits on the aft deck, and with a retractable boat landing that can reach the water when the vessel is jacked up, the vessel can work as a mother vessel for CTVs working in the area. |
