RENEWABLE ENERGY
The hose wrapped with an additional wire spiral facilitates the handling of air bubble curtains
SOUND IDEA T
A Novel air bubble curtain to save time and reduce noise when building wind farms
he technology company Continental has successfully tested a new generation of the Big Bubble Curtain in a pilot project together with a
specialist hydraulic engineering company. More energy efficiency and fewer
greenhouse gases and as soon as possible – these are the objectives of the German “Energiewende” energy turnaround. Te expansion of wind power at sea is therefore under high pressure. Currently, offshore wind farms with an output of over 5.3GW are in operation in Germany. By 2030, wind turbines on the local coasts are expected to reach a capacity of 15GW. According to the German Offshore Wind Energy Foundation, this could generate clean energy for up to 15 million households.
34
www.engineerlive.com To achieve this, new wind farms
are being built in the North and Baltic Seas. But for marine life, these projects mean one thing above all else: all sorts of construction noise and vibrations. Mammals such as protected porpoises, but also seals or fish such as cod and herring use sound to orient themselves, to communicate, and to locate prey and predators. To protect the animals, a noise level of no more than 160 decibels (dB) applies in German waters at a distance of 750m from the construction site. Tis legal requirement of the Federal Ministry for Environmental Protection Building and Nuclear Safety has spurred the development of new technologies for the quiet installation of foundations.
When installing wind turbines, the foundations (which are up to 8m thick) are driven as deep as possible into the seabed. Otherwise, wind and waves would simply knock them over. Each individual impact causes enormous noise of up to 225dB. Tis is about twice the amount of noise as a circular saw and can be heard for miles in the sea. Tis is torture for the noise-sensitive porpoises and other marine animals. Te human pain threshold is about 120dB. A very simple but extremely effective solution is the use of an air bubble curtain.
THE SOLUTION IS IN THE AIR “An air bubble curtain is created by using one of our heavily perforated hoses. Te
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
