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19 February 2015 |
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Over the past 2 years B9 has been making a concerted push into the high end additional services needed by wind farm owners. They have gone above and beyond the bread and butter work of site operations and maintenance. This has meant further investment in skills, personnel and specialised equipment, in order to serve these varied demands; with each job having its own unique characteristics requiring dedicated planning and a creative approach to problem solving.
One such task arose recently when a complete rotor was
to be taken down and the blades removed for transport
offsite. This was a first for the team and so the task included
identifying tooling solutions necessitating the in-house design,
manufacture and certification of specialist heavy lifting tools.
By designing these in-house, enhancements were made to
make the task easier, with hydraulics built into the Hub Stand,
meaning the blades could be pitched in a controlled manner
when the rotor was at ground level.
A detailed procedure for the task was prepared and all
tooling put in place.
With weather conditions ideal, the lift proceeded. The maincrane was positioned and the Hub lifting Yoke attached in
preparation for the lift. Once the attachment bolts were
removed, the rotor was slowly moved away from the nacelle.The rotor was then lowered carefully to the point where
the downward facing blade was just above the ground. A
second crane was then used to turn the rotor from vertical to
horizontal for positioning onto the Hub Stand. Once on the
stand the blades were individually removed from the hub and
loaded onto the transport truck.
This task demonstrates the willingness of the team to
solve difficult tasks by taking the ‘No Job too Big’ approach
and by harnessing the knowledge within the group to provide
a successful outcome.
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Related Links
www.globalwindalliance.com
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