Wind Turbine Tower Platform Suspension Using Tensile Load Carrying Members
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wind turbine tower designs face challenges in cost-effectively and flexibly mounting platforms and ladders inside the tower without weakening the structure, as traditional methods like bolting and welding increase material thickness and rigidity, making adjustments difficult and costly.
Innovation Solution
The use of tensile load carrying members, such as metal wires, chains, or ropes, attached between the upper and lower flanges of the tower sections allows for flexible and cost-effective arrangement of platforms and ladders, distributing loads and enabling easy repositioning without compromising the tower's integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If platforms are attached by bolting and welding to the jacket wall, then platforms are securely mounted, but the jacket wall is weakened and material thickness must be increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediate structural element (the flange) that serves as the mounting surface for platforms. Instead of attaching platforms directly to the jacket wall, the flange acts as a mediator that distributes loads away from the jacket wall, thereby maintaining wall integrity while providing secure platform mounting capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The tower structure is segmented into distinct functional components: the jacket wall for containment, the flange for mounting and connection, and the platform for access. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function without compromising the others, particularly protecting the jacket wall from direct mounting loads.
2Stability of the object's composition
If platforms are rigidly mounted to the tower, then structural stability is maintained, but future adjustment or repositioning becomes very difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting system transitions from a static, permanent weld-based connection to a more dynamic, adjustable mechanical connection through the flange. The flange allows platforms to be securely mounted while retaining the capability for future repositioning or removal without permanent structural modification, thus providing both stability and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
By separating the mounting function into a distinct flange component rather than integrating it permanently into the jacket wall, the system becomes modular. This segmentation enables platforms to be independently positioned and adjusted while the main tower structure remains stable and unchanged.
3Ease of operation
If beams are used to support platforms between flanges, then platform support is provided, but the solution becomes expensive and less flexible for future adjustments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the platform support function from the complex beam system and integrates it directly into the flange structure. By taking out the intermediate beam component and incorporating support capabilities directly into the flange, the system becomes simpler, more cost-effective, and equally capable of supporting platforms while maintaining flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The flange combines multiple functions into a single structural element: it provides connection between tower sections, serves as a mounting surface for platforms, and offers structural support. This merging eliminates the need for separate beam components, reducing overall system complexity and cost while maintaining full platform support capability.
Data Source
AI summary
This invention relates to a tower for a wind turbine, comprising one or more tubular tower sections, having an outer jacket wall and an inward directed flange in its lower and upper ends, and at least one platform arranged inside the tower for facilitating access for maintenance and repairs to the inner of the tower and to the nacelle. The tower also comprises a support structure including at least three elongated tensile load carrying members, which each is attached in its upper end to the upper flange of the tower section and in its lower end to the lower flange of the tower section and which supports one or more platforms that are suspended by the tensile load carrying members while at least one ladder is attached to the platforms. The at least one ladder is stabilized in the horizontal direction by transversal tensile load carrying members extending from the ladder to the tensile load carrying members that are vertically arranged between the upper and lower flanges. The invention also relates to a method for arranging a platform inside a tower.