Tower Tensioning Element Installation via Bottom-Up Winch System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for installing tensioning elements in high towers, such as those for wind turbines, are time-consuming and costly, requiring cranes and anchoring rods, and involve logistical challenges due to the need for coiled tensioning elements and complex assembly processes.
Innovation Solution
A method and device combination that allows crane-free introduction of tensioning elements from the bottom to the top of a tower using a mounting device with a rotatable boom, an uncoiling device, and an adapter device, eliminating the need for anchoring rods and enabling efficient, flexible installation by guiding the tensioning elements through a winch and pulley system, and allowing the tensioning elements to be delivered bodiless and coiled, reducing logistical efforts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a crane is used to hoist tensioning elements to the adapter piece in a coiled state, then the tensioning elements can be introduced into the tower from the top to the bottom, but the installation time and costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional installation direction by introducing tensioning elements from the bottom of the tower to the top, rather than from top to bottom. This is achieved by using a winch system mounted on the adapter piece at the top, which pulls the tensioning elements upward through guide pulleys. This inversion eliminates the need for crane operations and significantly reduces installation time and costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces guide pulleys as intermediary components that facilitate the bottom-to-top introduction of tensioning elements. The guide pulleys are mounted on the adapter piece and guide the tensioning elements as they are pulled upward by the winch, enabling smooth transition and positioning without direct manual handling or crane operations.
2Reliability
If anchor rods are used to fasten the guide pulley to the adapter piece, then the guide pulley can be securely mounted, but the assembly and disassembly process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the mounting system into modular components: the guide pulley, the adapter piece with integrated mounting features, and the winch system. This segmentation allows the guide pulley to be quickly attached and detached from the adapter piece using simple mounting mechanisms rather than permanent anchor rod installations, reducing assembly time while maintaining security during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dynamic mounting mechanisms that allow the guide pulley to be rapidly attached and detached from the adapter piece. Instead of fixed anchor rod connections requiring time-consuming assembly and disassembly, the system uses movable or quickly configurable mounting features that maintain reliability during operation but enable fast setup and teardown.
3Quantity of substance
If tensioning elements are delivered on a coiling body or drum, then they can be stored and transported, but the drum must be transported away after installation, involving logistical expenditure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the coiling body or drum from the installation process by delivering tensioning elements in a coiled state without requiring the drum to be present at the installation site. The tensioning elements are uncoiled and introduced directly into the tower from the bottom, eliminating the need to transport and remove the drum, thereby reducing logistical effort and complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces installation time and costs by eliminating the need for cranes and anchoring rods, enhances flexibility, and simplifies the process by using a winch and pulley system to pull tensioning elements directly to their final positions, while also allowing for the transportation of workers and materials, thus improving the efficiency and stability of tower construction.
Implementation Method 1
a tensioning element currently to be introduced into an interior space of the tower is connected to a pulling rope of a winch and pulled in to the tower from the bottom to the top by means of the winch
Implementation Method 2
A guide pulley, above which a pulling rope is guided, moved by a rope winch in the lower section of the tower
Data Source
AI summary
Tensioning elements are introduced into a tower to a respective intended final position, in which each tensioning element to be pulled in is introduced into an interior space of the tower, connected to a pulling rope of a winch, and pulled into the tower in a direction from a bottom of the tower to a top of the tower by the winch. The method includes placing on an upper end of the tower, for example on an adapter piece and/or an anchoring ring, a mounting device with a boom rotatably mounted on a base frame; aligning the boom with respect to a mounting position of a given one of the tensioning elements; and pulling in and anchoring the given tensioning element to the upper end of the tower, wherein the pulling rope of the winch is guided above the mounting device. Related mounting, coiling, and adapter devices are also disclosed.