A highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device

Abstract

This utility model relates to a highly reliable intelligent offshore wind turbine boarding and disembarking device. A rotating base is mounted on the deck and connected to the boarding bridge and a series motion-compensating gangway to compensate for the ship's bow roll. The series motion-compensating gangway uses pitch cylinders and a telescopic ladder to perform pitch and telescopic movements, passively compensating for the ship's heave and sway. An end clamping device is connected to the front end of the series motion-compensating gangway and uses pitch cylinders and a rotary motor to perform pitch and rotary movements, used for fixed connection and disconnection with the wind turbine tower. A safety break structure is included to ensure the safety of maintenance personnel on the boarding bridge during the fixed connection. Sensor components collect real-time data on the ship's motion attitude and the motion status of each actuator on the offshore wind turbine maintenance boarding bridge. This utility model is applicable to various complex sea conditions, enabling wave compensation control of the maintenance vessel by the boarding device, effectively improving boarding efficiency and increasing the window time for transfer operations.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of offshore wind power operation and maintenance equipment, and in particular to a wind power access and departure device and control method with multi-degree-of-freedom motion compensation and safety breakage mechanism. Background Technology

[0002] In recent years, offshore wind power has shown a trend of large-scale, integrated, and deep-sea development, which has placed higher demands on the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. Currently, offshore wind power operation and maintenance in my country mostly uses small maintenance vessels. Affected by the complex environmental disturbances under high sea states, the hull will experience irregular multi-directional movements, including swaying, pitching, heave, rolling, pitching, and bow rolling. Under these circumstances, it poses a great safety hazard for maintenance personnel to climb from the vessel to the offshore wind turbine tower, which seriously restricts the timeliness of offshore wind power operation and maintenance. In order to ensure the safety of offshore wind power operation and maintenance personnel and increase the effective working window, offshore wind power operation and maintenance boarding devices with wave compensation functions have emerged.

[0003] Existing technologies, such as patent 202210649068.7, disclose a boarding bridge for offshore wind farms and its usage method. This bridge is installed on a wind power maintenance vessel and uses a clamp at the end and a passive compensation structure of the bridge spring to connect with the wind turbine tower for the transfer of personnel and materials. Since this solution only has two active motion units, the bridge rotation and pitch, the maintenance vessel needs to be accurately positioned in the appropriate location to carry out the docking operation during the docking process with the wind turbine tower. When the vessel undergoes swaying or pitching motion, the clamp at the end cannot always be aligned with the wind turbine tower clamping position, which can easily lead to docking failure. Especially in high sea states, it is often necessary to repeatedly navigate the maintenance vessel to position and attempt docking operations, resulting in low work efficiency. Patent 202320111063.9 adds an active motion unit for the retractable corridor bridge to the above-mentioned patent. When the maintenance vessel moves horizontally along the corridor bridge due to sea conditions during the docking process, it has a certain active motion clamping capability. However, it still cannot solve the problem of docking difficulties when the maintenance vessel moves horizontally along the direction perpendicular to the corridor bridge. Often during the docking operation, the ship will undergo multiple degrees of freedom compound motion such as swaying and pitching under the action of waves. Therefore, the docking success rate of this patent solution is still low.

[0004] In addition, maintenance personnel need to perform operations such as attaching safety hooks at the end of the boarding bridge during the boarding process. After the boarding bridge is connected to the wind turbine tower, the maintenance vessel will experience swaying, pitching, and heaving motions under the action of waves, causing the bridge structure to bear a certain load. Existing patents mostly use springs and passive compensation cylinders to compensate for the ship's motion and reduce the structural stress. However, in high sea states, there may still be insufficient compensation capacity, leading to the loosening of the end gripper and structural damage, which threatens the safety of the personnel who are boarding. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the safety issues of offshore wind power maintenance corridors when gripping wind turbine towers, this utility model proposes a highly reliable intelligent offshore wind turbine landing and unloading device. Through a clamping mechanism and stabilization control method, along with the addition of a safety breaking structure, the device achieves safe, stable, accurate, and efficient landing, ensuring the safety of maintenance personnel.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by this utility model is as follows: a highly reliable intelligent offshore wind turbine boarding and disembarking device, comprising a slewing base, a boarding bridge and a series motion compensation gangway, an end clamping device, and a sensor assembly. The slewing base is installed on the deck and connected to the boarding bridge and the series motion compensation gangway to compensate for the ship's bow roll. The boarding bridge and the series motion compensation gangway perform pitch and telescopic movements via pitch cylinders and a telescopic ladder to passively compensate for the ship's heave and pitch. The end clamping device is connected to the front end of the boarding bridge and the series motion compensation gangway and performs pitch and slewing movements via pitch cylinders and a slewing motor for fixed connection and disconnection from the wind turbine tower. A safety break structure is provided, which is connected to the gripper platform via a shear pin to ensure the safety of maintenance personnel on the boarding bridge during the fixed connection. The sensor assembly collects real-time information on the ship's motion attitude and the motion status of each actuator of the offshore wind turbine maintenance boarding bridge.

[0007] Furthermore, the slewing base includes a base, a slewing platform, a slewing bearing, and a hydraulic drive motor. The slewing platform is located above the base and connected to the base via the slewing bearing. The hydraulic drive motor is installed below the base and drives the slewing platform to rotate around the slewing bearing, thereby compensating for the bow roll motion of the ship.

[0008] Furthermore, the boarding bridge and tandem motion compensation gangway include a first pitch cylinder, a second pitch cylinder, a first-stage telescopic ladder, a second-stage telescopic ladder, telescopic guide rails, and telescopic cylinders. One side of the first pitch cylinder, the second pitch cylinder, and the first-stage telescopic ladder is hinged to the rotating platform, while the other side of the first pitch cylinder and the second pitch cylinder is hinged to the lower part of the first-stage telescopic ladder, used to drive the entire telescopic ladder to perform pitch movement. The second-stage telescopic ladder is nested inside the first-stage telescopic ladder through telescopic guide rails and performs telescopic movement by telescopic cylinders placed below the first-stage telescopic ladder.

[0009] Furthermore, the end clamping device includes a third pitch cylinder, a gripper platform, a rotary motor, grippers, and a clamping cylinder. The third pitch cylinder is hinged on one side to the lower part of the secondary telescopic ladder and on the other side to the lower part of the safety break structure. It is used to drive the end clamping device to perform pitching motion to ensure that it remains in a horizontal state. By coordinating the gripping rotation and pitching motion with the rotation of the rotary base, the extension and retraction of the boarding bridge, and the pitching motion of the boarding bridge, the error caused by the ship drifting during the docking process can be compensated, greatly improving the docking success rate.

[0010] Furthermore, the clamping cylinder drives the grippers to open and close, and the rotary motor drives the grippers to achieve precise gripping between the grippers and the wind turbine tower.

[0011] Furthermore, when the boarding bridge clamps shut at the front end and the ship experiences a significant displacement in the longitudinal direction, the shear pin breaks at its critical section, ensuring that the main structure of the boarding bridge does not break and guaranteeing the safety of maintenance personnel.

[0012] Furthermore, the sensor assembly includes a motion reference unit (MRU), a rangefinder, and an end-til tilt sensor. The motion reference unit (MRU) is located below the slewing base and is used to measure the heave parameters of the maintenance vessel. The rangefinder is located at the end-clamping device and is used to measure the vertical distance between the front end of the gripper and the wind turbine tower. The end-til tilt sensor is located at the gripper platform and is used to measure the tilt angle between the gripper platform and the horizontal direction.

[0013] The beneficial effects of this utility model are:

[0014] (1) It fills the gap in related technologies at home and abroad, can be applied to various complex sea conditions, realizes the boarding device to control the wave compensation of the maintenance ship, effectively improves the boarding efficiency, and increases the window time for transfer operations.

[0015] (2) Safety design devices such as break pins are adopted to ensure the safety of maintenance personnel under extreme sea conditions;

[0016] (3) Active compensation control is adopted for the end clamping device to keep the end gripper and the wind turbine tower relatively stationary during the equipment control process, thereby further improving the success rate and reliability of the operation. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device of this utility model;

[0018] Figure 2 This is a top view of the highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device of this utility model. Detailed Implementation

[0019] To better understand the above technical solutions, the following will provide a detailed explanation of the technical solutions in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0020] like Figure 1 As shown in Figure 2, the present invention provides a highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power boarding and disembarking device, which mainly includes a base 1, a slewing platform 2, a slewing bearing 3, a hydraulic drive motor 4, a boarding ladder 5, a first pitch cylinder 6, a second pitch cylinder 7, a first-stage telescopic ladder 8, a second-stage telescopic ladder 9, a third pitch cylinder 10, a safety breaking structure 11, a shear pin 12, a gripper platform 13, a slewing motor 14, a gripper 15, and a clamping cylinder 16.

[0021] A slewing platform 2 is positioned above a base 1 and connected to the base 1 via a slewing bearing 3. A hydraulic drive motor 4 is installed below the base 1, driving the slewing platform 2 to rotate around the slewing bearing 3, thereby compensating for the ship's bow roll. The base 1 is a component for placing or installing the boarding bridge. This component can be any structure or equipment in the prior art that can be fixed to the bow or side deck of the repair vessel. After the boarding bridge is installed or placed on it, it can be ensured that the boarding bridge will not shift or capsize under high sea states. Specifically, in this embodiment, the base 1 can adopt an anchored chassis structure. This chassis structure has a significant weight and a fixing structure, such as bolts or welded structures, to secure it to the bottom of the boarding bridge, preventing displacement of the boarding bridge during use or transportation, thus avoiding accidents that could endanger the safety of the ship and personnel.

[0022] One side of the first pitch cylinder 6, the second pitch cylinder 7, and the first-stage telescopic ladder 8 are all hinged to the rotating platform 2, while the other side of the first pitch cylinder 6 and the second pitch cylinder 7 are hinged to the lower part of the first-stage telescopic ladder 8, used to drive the entire telescopic ladder to pitch. The second-stage telescopic ladder 9 is nested inside the first-stage telescopic ladder 8 via telescopic guide rails and relies on telescopic cylinders for telescopic movement. After the boarding bridge is connected to the wind turbine tower, the first pitch cylinder 6 and the second pitch cylinder 7 enter a passive compensation state.

[0023] The No. 3 pitch cylinder 10 is hinged on one side to the lower part of the secondary telescopic ladder 9, and on the other side to the lower part of the safety break structure 11. It is used to drive the end clamping device to pitch, ensuring that it remains in a horizontal state. The safety break structure 11 is connected to the gripper platform 13 through the shear pin 12. When the front end of the boarding bridge is clamped, if the ship undergoes a large displacement under extreme sea conditions, the shear pin 12 will break at its dangerous section, ensuring that the boarding platform and the gripper remain fixed to the wind turbine tower, thus ensuring the safety of maintenance personnel. The clamping cylinder 15 drives the gripper 16 to open and close, and the rotary motor 14 drives the gripper 16 to achieve precise gripping between the wind turbine tower column and the wind turbine tower column.

[0024] After the clamping jaws 16 of the clamping device are fixedly connected to the wind turbine tower, the offshore maintenance boarding bridge of this embodiment sets the hydraulic mechanism to a passive compensation mode to passively compensate for the bow roll, roll, pitch, sway, swell and heave of the maintenance vessel, thereby making the boarding bridge a dynamically stable state and facilitating the rapid transfer of personnel and materials.

[0025] This utility model also provides a boarding operation control method, based on the above-mentioned intelligent offshore wind power boarding and unboarding device, including the following steps:

[0026] S1, the maintenance vessel sails to the boarding position close to the offshore wind turbine, and the boarding bridge moves from the retracted position to the ready boarding position through rotation, amplitude change and extension / retraction of the bridge.

[0027] S2 utilizes MRU measurement data installed on the ship's deck to control the rotation of the slewing base, the pitch of the boarding bridge, the extension and retraction of the boarding bridge, the pitch of the gripper, and the rotation of the gripper through inverse calculation control methods, thereby achieving wave compensation control and keeping the end of the gripper stationary relative to the offshore wind turbine.

[0028] S3, the operator operates the handle to control the equipment and bring the end gripper close to the wind turbine tower clamping position. During operation, a distance sensor is arranged at the gripper to avoid the gripper from colliding with the wind turbine tower.

[0029] S4. When the gripper moves to the appropriate position, the operator controls the gripper to clamp the wind turbine tower. At the same time, the actuators of the rotating base of this device, the boarding bridge pitch, the boarding bridge extension and retraction, the gripper horizontal and the gripper rotation switch from active control mode to passive compensation mode to realize the equipment passively following the wave compensation. At this time, the maintenance vessel establishes a connection with the wind turbine tower and can carry out boarding operations.

[0030] S5: Maintenance personnel use this device to perform boarding operations. During the operation, the gripper stress sensor detects the gripper stress. When the stress is high and no one is working, the device alarms and the gripper is released to prevent equipment damage. When the stress is high but someone is working, the device only alarms.

[0031] S6, after the boarding operation is completed, the operator controls the gripper to release, and at the same time the device switches from passive compensation mode to active control mode;

[0032] S7, the operator controls the end gripper to leave the wind turbine tower;

[0033] S8, the operator controls the device to enter the storage state.

[0034] In summary, the core innovations of this utility model, which provides a highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device, include:

[0035] (1) Five-degree-of-freedom compensation system: yaw (bow) + pitch / twist (heave / sway) + end yaw / pitch (sway);

[0036] (2) Dual-mode control strategy: seamless switching between active positioning and passive following;

[0037] (3) Safety breakage mechanism: The shear pin breaks first to protect the main structure and the safety of maintenance personnel.

Claims

1. A highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device, characterized in that, The system includes a slewing base, a boarding bridge and a series motion-compensating gangway, an end clamping device, and a sensor assembly. The slewing base is mounted on the deck and connected to the boarding bridge and the series motion-compensating gangway to compensate for the ship's bow roll. The boarding bridge and the series motion-compensating gangway perform pitch and telescopic movements via pitch cylinders and telescopic ladders to passively compensate for the ship's heave and pitch. The end clamping device is connected to the front end of the boarding bridge and the series motion-compensating gangway and performs pitch and slewing movements via pitch cylinders and a slewing motor. It is used for fixing and disengaging from the wind turbine tower and is equipped with a safety break structure. The safety break structure is connected to the gripper platform via a shear pin to ensure the safety of maintenance personnel on the boarding bridge during the fixing connection. The sensor assembly collects real-time information on the ship's motion attitude and the motion status of each actuator of the offshore wind power maintenance boarding bridge.

2. The highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The slewing base includes a base, a slewing platform, a slewing bearing, and a hydraulic drive motor. The slewing platform is located above the base and connected to the base via the slewing bearing. The hydraulic drive motor is installed below the base and drives the slewing platform to rotate around the slewing bearing, thereby compensating for the ship's bow roll.

3. The highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The boarding bridge and tandem motion-compensated gangway include a first pitch cylinder, a second pitch cylinder, a first-stage telescopic ladder, a second-stage telescopic ladder, telescopic guide rails, and telescopic cylinders. The first pitch cylinder, the second pitch cylinder, and one side of the first-stage telescopic ladder are all hinged to the rotating platform, while the other side of the first pitch cylinder and the second pitch cylinder are hinged to the lower part of the first-stage telescopic ladder, used to drive the entire telescopic ladder to pitch. The second-stage telescopic ladder is nested inside the first-stage telescopic ladder through telescopic guide rails and relies on a telescopic cylinder placed below the first-stage telescopic ladder for telescopic movement.

4. The highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The end clamping device includes a third pitch cylinder, a gripper platform, a rotary motor, grippers, and a clamping cylinder. The third pitch cylinder is hinged on one side to the lower part of the secondary telescopic ladder and on the other side to the lower part of the safety break structure. It is used to drive the end clamping device to perform pitching motion to ensure that it remains in a horizontal state. By coordinating the gripping rotation and pitching motion with the rotation of the slewing base, the extension and retraction of the boarding bridge, and the pitching motion of the boarding bridge, the error caused by the ship drifting during the docking process can be compensated, greatly improving the docking success rate.

5. The highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device according to claim 4, characterized in that, The clamping cylinder drives the grippers to open and close, and the rotary motor drives the grippers to achieve precise gripping between the grippers and the wind turbine tower.

6. The highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the boarding bridge clamps shut at the front, and the ship experiences a significant displacement in the longitudinal direction, the shear pin breaks at its critical section, ensuring that the main structure of the boarding bridge does not break and guaranteeing the safety of maintenance personnel.

7. The highly reliable intelligent offshore wind power access device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The sensor assembly includes a motion reference unit (MRU), a rangefinder, and an end-til tilt sensor. The MRU is located below the slewing base and is used to measure the heave parameters of the maintenance vessel. The rangefinder is located at the end-clamping device and is used to measure the vertical distance between the front end of the gripper and the wind turbine tower. The end-til tilt sensor is located at the gripper platform and is used to measure the tilt angle between the gripper platform and the horizontal direction.

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