Tower hanging equipment

Abstract

To provide a tower hanging facility capable of effectively lifting an upper half tower of an underwater foundation to a high place and assembling it with a lower half tower. [Solution] The tower suspension equipment includes a plurality of vertical towers, a plurality of tilted support trusses, at least one load-bearing platform, and a plurality of hoist cranes. The plurality of vertical towers are installed at intervals from one another and each extend along the vertical direction. The plurality of tilted support trusses are installed between the plurality of vertical towers and extend diagonally from the plurality of vertical towers to adjacent two of the plurality of vertical towers. The load-bearing platform is fixed on the plurality of tilted support trusses. The plurality of hoist cranes are installed on the at least one load-bearing platform.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a suspension system and an assembly method, and more particularly to a tower suspension system for suspending large towers. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, global environmental issues have been receiving increasing attention, especially in the face of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption issues, which have led countries to actively seek green energy alternatives. Among these, wind power has become one of the important sources of power generation due to its renewable and low carbon emission characteristics.

[0003] Compared to wind turbines installed on land, offshore wind power has more stable wind speeds and higher power generation efficiency because it is installed at sea, and can effectively reduce the occupation of land resources, which has attracted the attention of governments and companies around the world. With technological advances and the development of basic infrastructure, offshore wind power has become one of the key items promoting energy transition.

[0004] Generally, the structure of an offshore wind turbine can be roughly divided into the turbine itself and the underwater foundation. The underwater foundation is the foundation structure that ensures the stable operation of the wind turbine, so it must be strong enough to withstand the weight and dynamic loads of the turbine itself.

[0005] As mentioned above, offshore wind turbines are very large and therefore require assembly in sections. Because the assembly method of underwater foundations is crucial to the safety and durability of the overall structure, in practice, underwater foundations are almost always divided into two sections and assembled using the vertical assembly method. This ensures verticality during assembly, even distribution of forces, and reduces unnecessary stress concentrations, improving the durability of the overall structure. Vertical assembly also helps improve construction accuracy, avoiding the need for additional adjustments or reinforcement work due to angle errors, improving construction efficiency and reducing costs. Overall, vertical assembly effectively improves the load-bearing capacity of the structure, ensures installation accuracy, extends the service life of the equipment, and ensures the long-term stable operation of wind turbines.

[0006] To smoothly assemble underwater foundations using an upright assembly method, existing technologies primarily use large lifting equipment, such as crawler cranes or ring jib cranes, to hoist the upper half tower of the underwater foundation and install it on the lower half tower. However, both crawler cranes and ring jib cranes use jibs to suspend objects, and this method of suspending objects using jibs requires counterweights to maintain balance. Furthermore, since the upper half tower must be hoisted above the lower half tower to assemble the underwater foundation, a very long jib is required. However, the longer the jib, the lower its lifting capacity and stability become. Therefore, to hoist extremely large objects such as underwater foundations, a larger standard-size crane is required, and a relatively large counterweight is also required to prevent the entire crane from tipping over. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In the prior art, underwater foundations for offshore wind power plants are typically assembled using large-scale lifting equipment such as crawler cranes and ring jib cranes. However, existing large-scale lifting equipment typically uses a jib to suspend an object. Therefore, when the object is large and heavy, not only is a very long jib required, but the counterweight requirements also increase accordingly. In particular, since the upper half tower of the underwater foundation needs to be lifted to a certain height, the required length of the jib increases significantly, which can easily affect the stability of the suspension and increase the risk of the entire assembly work. Therefore, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a tower lifting equipment that can effectively lift the upper half tower of the underwater foundation to a high height and assemble it with the lower half tower. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The technical means necessary for the present invention to solve the problems of the prior art is to provide a tower suspension system used for assembling the submarine foundation tower of an offshore wind turbine, the tower suspension system including a plurality of vertical towers, a plurality of inclined support trusses, at least one load-bearing platform and a plurality of hoist cranes.

[0009] The vertical towers are spaced apart from one another and extend vertically. The tilted support trusses are respectively installed between the vertical towers and extend obliquely from the vertical towers to adjacent two of the vertical towers. A load-bearing platform is fixed on the tilted support trusses. A plurality of hoist cranes are installed on at least one of the load-bearing platforms.

[0010] In an additional technical solution derived from the above-mentioned necessary technical solution, each vertical tower includes a bottom fixed portion, an extension portion, and an apex connecting portion, the extension portion extends vertically from the bottom fixed portion, the apex connecting portion extends continuously from the extension portion along the vertical direction, and the plurality of inclined support trusses are respectively connected to the apex connecting portions of the plurality of vertical towers.

[0011] Preferably, the top connection portion further comprises at least one side support frame, and the plurality of inclined support trusses are fixed on the at least one side support frame of the plurality of vertical towers respectively.

[0012] In an additional technical solution derived from the above-mentioned necessary technical solution, each of the plurality of inclined support trusses has a horizontal elevation angle, and the horizontal elevation angle is 70° to 73°. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] As described above, the present invention mainly utilizes a combination of a vertical tower, an inclined support truss, a load-bearing platform and a hoist crane to vertically lift the upper half tower of the submarine foundation tower into the air, so that the lower half tower can be moved below the upper half tower and then the submarine foundation tower can be assembled. Therefore, the present invention can effectively improve the stability of the submarine foundation tower assembly and effectively reduce the risks of the assembly work. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a three-dimensional view of a tower suspension system provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a plan view of a tower suspension system provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a plan view of the tower suspension equipment provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention from another viewing angle. [Figure 4] 1 is a three-dimensional view of the upper half tower of the submarine foundation tower being suspended using the tower suspension equipment provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. [Figure 5] 1 is a three-dimensional view showing the process of lifting the upper half tower using the tower lifting equipment provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and then moving the lower half tower below the upper half tower. [Figure 6]FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the process of lifting the upper half tower using the tower lifting equipment provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and then moving the lower half tower below the upper half tower. [Figure 7] 1 is a plan view of the submarine foundation tower constructed by connecting the upper half tower to the lower half tower using the tower suspension equipment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Specific embodiments in which the present invention is adopted will be described in more detail below with reference to the embodiments and drawings.

[0016] Referring to Figures 1 to 3, Figure 1 is a three-dimensional view of a tower suspension equipment provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a plan view of the tower suspension equipment provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 3 is a plan view of the tower suspension equipment provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention from another viewing angle.

[0017] As shown in Figures 1 to 3, the tower suspension equipment 100 includes three vertical towers 1a, 1b, and 1c, four inclined support trusses 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d, two load-bearing platforms 3a and 3b, and eight hoist cranes 4a (only four are shown in the figures, and one is labeled).

[0018] The vertical towers 1a, 1b, and 1c are spaced apart from one another and extend along a vertical direction D1.

[0019] Taking the vertical tower 1a as an example, the vertical tower 1a includes a bottom fixed portion 11a, an extension portion 12a, and a top connecting portion 13a. The bottom fixed portion 11a is directly fixed to the ground (not shown), and the extension portion 12a extends from the bottom fixed portion 11a along a vertical direction D1. The top connecting portion 13a continues to extend from the extension portion 12a along the vertical direction D1.

[0020] Specifically, the bottom fixed portion 11a, the extension portion 12a, and the top connecting portion 13a are actually formed by connecting multiple beams and columns together using methods such as bolting or welding to form multiple rectangular steel structures. In this embodiment, the bottom fixed portion 11a and the top connecting portion 13a are located at both ends of the entire vertical tower 1a, respectively. Therefore, a concentric bracing steel structure is further installed within each rectangular steel structure constituting the bottom fixed portion 11a and the top connecting portion 13a, effectively dispersing stress to the rectangular steel structure. The extension portion 12a connects the bottom fixed portion 11a and the top connecting portion 13a at both ends, so the extension portion 12a installs a concentric brace between the two rectangular steel structures, thereby strengthening the vertical tower 1a's overall ability to resist lateral bending moments.

[0021] The top connection portion 13a further includes four side support frames 131a (only one is shown in the figure), which are installed around the square steel structure of the top connection portion 13a.

[0022] Meanwhile, the vertical tower 1b also includes a bottom fixed portion 11b, an extension portion 12b and a top connecting portion 13b, but the structure of the vertical tower 1b is similar to that of the vertical tower 1a, so it will not be described in detail here.

[0023] The top connection portion 13b of the vertical tower 1b further includes a side support frame 131b, a vertical extension frame 132b, and a side support frame 133b. The side support frame 131b is installed on the side of the top connection portion 13b facing the vertical tower 1a of the rectangular steel frame structure. The vertical extension frame 132b extends along the vertical direction D1 from the top end of the top connection portion 13b on the side of the rectangular steel frame structure adjacent to the vertical tower 1c. The side support frame 133b is installed on the side of the vertical extension frame 132b facing the vertical tower 1c. The structure of the vertical tower 1c is similar to that of the vertical tower 1b, being symmetrical to the vertical tower 1b. The only difference is that in this embodiment, the vertical tower 1c does not have a structure similar to the side support frame 131b. However, this is not limited to this in other embodiments.

[0024] The inclined support trusses 2a and 2b are installed between the vertical towers 1a and 1b, respectively. They extend diagonally from the vertical towers 1a and 1b to the space between the vertical towers 1a and 1b. Specifically, the inclined support truss 2a is fixedly joined to the top end of the side support frame 131a and extends along an inclined direction D2 different from the vertical direction D1, while the inclined support truss 2b is fixedly joined to the top end of the side support frame 131b and extends along an inclined direction D3 different from the vertical direction D1. Here, the inclined support trusses 2a and 2b each have a horizontal elevation angle R1, which is between 70° and 73°.

[0025] Similarly, inclined support trusses 2c and 2d are installed between vertical towers 1b and 1c, respectively, and extend diagonally from vertical towers 1b and 1c to between them. Incidentally, inclined support truss 2c is fixedly joined to the top end of side support frame 133b, and similarly has a horizontal elevation angle R2, which is also 70° to 73°. Note that horizontal elevation angles R1 and R2 may be the same or different; in this embodiment, horizontal elevation angles R1 and R2 are the same. Furthermore, since inclined support truss 2d has a similar structure that is symmetrical to inclined support truss 2c, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

[0026] Load-bearing platform 3a is fixed to inclined support trusses 2a and 2b, and load-bearing platform 3b is fixed to inclined support trusses 2c and 2d. Specifically, in this embodiment, load-bearing platforms 3a and 3b are each constructed by placing three space trusses (not shown) on top of inclined support trusses 2a and 2b, respectively, and then connecting the three space trusses using multiple connecting trusses (not shown) to form load-bearing platforms 3a and 3b. In practice, each space truss and connecting truss are connected by beams and columns, and concentric braces are installed between the rectangular steel structures formed by each beam and column. However, the extension direction of the columns of the rectangular steel structures at both ends of the space truss, i.e., the rectangular steel structures located on top of inclined support trusses 2a and 2b, is not vertical but extends along the extension direction of the inclined support trusses 2a and 2b, i.e., along inclination directions D2 and D3, respectively.

[0027] Eight hoist cranes 4a are installed on the load-bearing platforms 3a and 3b, respectively, and each hoist crane 4a has a hook 41a (only one is shown in the figure). In this embodiment, four hoist cranes 4a are installed on the load-bearing platform 3a, and four hoist cranes 4a (not shown) are installed on the load-bearing platform 3b as well. In this embodiment, four hoist cranes 4a are installed on each of the load-bearing platforms 3a and 3b, but this is not limited to this, and in practice the number can be adjusted depending on the lifting capacity of the hoist cranes 4a themselves.

[0028] Next, referring to Figures 4 to 7, Figure 4 is a three-dimensional view of suspending the upper half tower of the submarine foundation tower using the tower suspension equipment provided in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a three-dimensional view of suspending the upper half tower using the tower suspension equipment provided in a preferred embodiment of the present invention and then moving the lower half tower below the upper half tower, Figure 6 is a plan view of suspending the upper half tower using the tower suspension equipment provided in a preferred embodiment of the present invention and then moving the lower half tower below the upper half tower, and Figure 7 is a plan view of connecting the upper half tower to the lower half tower using the tower suspension equipment of the present invention to form a submarine foundation tower.

[0029] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the present invention further provides a submarine foundation tower assembly method, which includes the following steps S110 to S140.

[0030] First, in step S110, the upper half tower 202 is lifted up using the hoist crane 4a. Next, in step S120, the lower half tower 201 is moved below the upper half tower 202. Subsequently, in step S130, the upper half tower 202 is lowered close to the lower half tower 201 using the hoist crane 4a. Finally, in step S140, the upper half tower 202 is joined to the lower half tower 201 to form the seabed foundation tower 200. Here, since the seabed foundation tower 200 is part of an offshore wind turbine (not shown), the seabed foundation tower assembling method of the present invention is used to assemble the seabed foundation tower 200 of the offshore wind turbine.

[0031] Specifically, since four hoist cranes 4a are installed on the load-bearing platform 3a, in practice, in step S110, a loading means (large trailer) is used to move the upper half tower 202 below the load-bearing platform 3a, and then the hook 41a of the hoist crane 4a is lowered to the upper half tower 202 and suspended, thereby hoisting the upper half tower 202 into the air. Similarly, in step S120, the lower half tower 201 is moved below the upper half tower 202 through the loading means, and then, in step S130, the upper half tower 202 is lowered together with the hook 41a by the hoist crane 4a, and the bottom end of the upper half tower 202 is brought close to the top end of the corresponding lower half tower 201, and workers then perform various joining operations such as bolting and welding, thereby assembling the seabed foundation tower 200.

[0032] In summary, in the prior art, when assembling underwater foundations using large lifting equipment such as crawler cranes or jib cranes, the jib is extended too far to lift the upper half tower to a certain height, affecting the stability of the suspension and increasing the risk of the entire assembly process. Therefore, this invention mainly uses a combination of a vertical tower, an inclined support truss, a load-bearing platform, and a hoist crane to vertically suspend the upper half tower of the submarine foundation tower (i.e., the underwater foundation) in the air, and then the lower half tower can be moved below the upper half tower before the submarine foundation tower can be assembled. Therefore, this invention effectively improves the assembly stability of the submarine foundation tower and effectively reduces the risk of the assembly process.

[0033] The detailed description of the preferred specific embodiments above is intended to more clearly explain the features and spirit of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to the preferred specific embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, the intention is to include various modifications and equivalent structures within the scope of the utility model registration claims of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 100 Tower Hanging Equipment 1a Vertical Tower 1b Vertical Tower 1c Vertical Tower 11a Bottom fixed part 11b Bottom fixed part 12a Stretched part 12b Stretched part 13a Top connection part 13b Top connection part 131a Side support frame 131b Side support frame 132b Vertical extension frame 133b Side support frame 2a Inclined support truss 2b Inclined support truss 2c Inclined support truss 2d Inclined Support Truss 3a Load-bearing platform 3b Load-bearing platform 4a Hoist crane 200 Submarine Foundation Tower 201 Lower Tower 202 Upper Tower D1 vertical direction D2 Tilt direction D3 Inclination direction R1 Horizontal elevation angle R2 Horizontal elevation angle

Claims

1. It is used to assemble the seabed foundation towers of offshore wind turbines, a plurality of vertical towers spaced apart from one another and each extending along a vertical direction; a plurality of diagonal support trusses respectively installed between the plurality of vertical towers and extending diagonally from the plurality of vertical towers to between adjacent two of the plurality of vertical towers; at least one load-bearing platform secured to the plurality of tilt support trusses; a plurality of hoist cranes mounted on the at least one load-bearing platform; Tower hanging equipment, including:

2. Each said vertical tower comprises: A bottom fixing portion; an extension portion extending from the bottom fixed portion along the vertical direction; a top connection portion extending continuously from the extension portion along the vertical direction; Including, 2. The tower suspension installation of claim 1, wherein the plurality of inclined support trusses are respectively connected to the top connection portions of the plurality of vertical towers.

3. 3. The tower suspension installation of claim 2, wherein the top connection portion further comprises at least one side support frame, and wherein the plurality of inclined support trusses are each secured to the at least one side support frame of the plurality of vertical towers.

4. 2. The tower suspension system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of inclined support trusses has a horizontal elevation angle, and the horizontal elevation angle is between 70° and 73°.

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