SECTOR SNAPSHOT Ӏ BELOW THE HOOK
an installed blade can be a more complex task than installing a new one. The tilting system can compensate for blade centre of gravity variations – for example due to damage – by adjusting the angle to maintain a horizontal blade position, so enabling safer maintenance operations. More than 400 of the
company’s blade clamps are currently in operation worldwide, in both onshore and offshore applications. Another below the hook equipment manufacturer specialising in the wind sector is Memmingerberg, Germany- based company Ematec. Its RBC generation rotor blade yokes are single-blade yokes that automatically adapt to each specific rotor blade, consistently balancing themselves. Ematec claims this as a world’s first. With Ematec’s RBC-D yoke
rotor blades can be installed at any angle within ±30 degrees. This eliminates the need for additional tools to rotate the hub after each blade is mounted.
Another plus is that a ballast arm is no longer is needed as a buffer during installation. This saves at least two crane lifts per turbine, Ematec claims.
At a windfarm being built in the
Königshain-Wiederau region of Germany by Leipziger Stadtwerke, in conjunction with turbine blade manufacturer Enercon, Ematec’s RBC-D 50 yoke was used to install two new EP-5 generation Enercon wind turbines. “The RBC-D from Ematec
has become indispensable in our installation process,” says Enercon project manager Matthias Jöde. “It offers reliability and significantly accelerates the installation. “Our rotor blades can be
flexibly mounted at various angles using Ematec’s yokes. With numerous sensors on the yoke we have complete control and can correct any deviations immediately in real-time. If predefined thresholds are exceeded the system stops automatically.” The RBC yoke was used in
Ematec’s RBC-D yoke and Seasight Solutions’s APS installing two new EP-5 generation Enercon wind turbines for Leipziger Stadtwerke Photo: Marian Ifrim/Leipziger Gruppe/eab New Energy
combination with an Autonomous Positioning System (APS) from Seasight Solutions. The system comprises two propellers attached to the Ematec yoke. This allows rotor blade installations without taglines. “This is a game-changer as we can now avoid using winches, drastically reducing space requirements,” says Jöde. Traditional methods allow
rotor blade installation up to wind speeds of 8 m/s, says Ematec. With the RBC yoke and APS together installation was possible with wind speeds up to 10 m/s. “On average APS saves us 2.3 days per construction site, days that would otherwise be lost due to weather conditions,” explains Klaas Schumann from Enercon’s site engineering division. Enercon also utilised Ematec’s RBC-D 50 yoke and Seasight
CRANES TODAY 23
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