Wind Turbine Tower Docking for Pre-Installed Service Platforms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wind turbine mounting methods require additional structures and extensive offshore installation time for mounting the service platform, leading to increased costs and potential damage during foundation installation.
Innovation Solution
The method involves mounting the tower directly to the foundation with a docking device for the service platform, allowing pre-installation onshore, and eliminating the need for a transition piece, using connections like bolted, welded, or slip-joint connections to reduce offshore installation time and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the service platform is mounted on the foundation, then the platform provides support and access, but additional structures and extensive offshore installation time are required
Solution Approach 1:
The service platform is pre-assembled onshore with the tower before offshore transport. This preliminary assembly eliminates the need for complex offshore platform installation, reducing installation time and costs while maintaining structural integrity through controlled onshore welding and bolting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The service platform is integrated with the tower as a single assembled unit rather than separate components. This merging of functions allows the platform to be installed simultaneously with the tower, eliminating sequential installation steps and reducing overall offshore installation time.
2Reliability
If the service platform is mounted on the foundation, then the platform is accessible, but costs of the structure increase
Solution Approach 1:
The service platform is pre-assembled onshore with the tower before offshore transport. This preliminary assembly eliminates the need for complex offshore platform installation, reducing installation time and costs while maintaining structural integrity through controlled onshore welding and bolting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The service platform mounting is extracted from the foundation and relocated to the tower. This extraction eliminates the need for separate foundation platform structures and complex piling operations, reducing overall structural costs while maintaining accessibility through the tower-integrated platform.
3Reliability
If the service platform is mounted on the foundation, then the platform provides maintenance access, but piling or hammering action causes excessive forces and loads that could damage the platform
Solution Approach 1:
The service platform is pre-assembled onshore with the tower before offshore transport. This preliminary assembly eliminates the need for complex offshore platform installation, reducing installation time and costs while maintaining structural integrity through controlled onshore welding and bolting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The wind turbine structure is segmented into distinct modules: foundation, tower-with-platform assembly, and nacelle. This segmentation allows the tower and platform to be assembled separately onshore in a controlled environment, avoiding exposure to damaging installation forces during foundation piling operations.
4Stability of the object's composition
If a transition piece is used between foundation and tower, then the structure is complete, but device complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The transition piece is extracted and removed from the structure. The tower is designed with a direct connection interface to the foundation, eliminating the need for the intermediate transition piece while maintaining structural integrity through optimized tower-base design.
Solution Approach 2:
The tower base is merged directly with the foundation connection interface. This merging eliminates the separate transition piece component, reducing device complexity and costs while maintaining structural stability through integrated design.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
It is described a method of offshore mounting a wind turbine (1). The wind turbine (1) comprises a foundation (9), a tower (2), a nacelle (3) and a plurality of blades (6). The method comprises the steps of: a) mounting the foundation (9) on or above a sea ground (S); b) mounting the tower (2) directly to the foundation (9), wherein the tower (2) comprises a docking device for docking a service platform (10), which is configured to be accessed by maintenance personnel; c) mounting the nacelle (3) to the tower (2); and d) mounting the plurality of blades (6) to the nacelle (3).