Crane housing for a crane and crane comprising said crane housing

Abstract

A crane housing having a substantially cylinder-shaped circumferential wall with a lower section and lower end mounted to a slew bearing of substantially the same diameter includes a boom support structure to support an inner end of a pivotal boom arranged at a front side of the crane housing. The boom support structure includes at least two box elements of each of which an end portion overlaps with and is integrated with the upper section of the circumferential wall. Oblique strengthening ribs are mounted onto and integrated with a side of the circumferential wall and extend from a respective box element end portion in an oblique downwards direction towards the lower end of the wall.

Claims

1. A crane housing comprising: a substantially cylinder-shaped circumferential wall with a lower section delimited by a lower end of the wall, the lower end being adapted to be mounted to a slew bearing, said lower end having a diameter corresponding substantially to the diameter of the slew bearing, and with an upper section delimited by an upper end of the wall, the wall having an inside and an outside; and a boom support structure adapted to support an inner end of a pivotal boom of the crane to pivot about a horizontal pivot axis, the boom support structure being arranged at a front side of the crane housing, wherein the boom support structure comprises at least two box elements, each of the at least two box elements having an end portion overlapping with and integrated with the upper section of the wall, and wherein the crane housing further comprises oblique strengthening ribs that are mounted onto and integrated with a side of the circumferential wall, each of said oblique strengthening ribs extending from a respective box element end portion in an oblique downwards direction towards the lower end of the wall.

2. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein said box element end portions of said box elements of said boom support structure protrude at least in part into the upper section of the circumferential wall, and wherein said lower end of the circumferential wall has a slew bearing flange that is adapted to be mounted to said slew bearing, and wherein said oblique strengthening ribs are mounted onto and integrated with the inside of the circumferential wall and are connected to said slew bearing flange.

3. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the circumferential wall on the inside and/or the outside thereof is provided with at least one circumferential stiffener, and wherein said oblique strengthening ribs each intersect said one or more circumferential stiffeners and are connected thereto at said intersections.

4. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the boom support structure comprises a transverse beam extending transversely and at a height above the upper end of the wall, wherein said transverse beam is provided with two boom pivot members at a distance from each other in transverse direction, and wherein said transverse beam is supported on said at least two box elements, each of said at least two box elements having an end portion overlapping with and integrated with the upper section of the wall.

5. The crane housing according to claim 4, wherein said transverse beam is supported at each transverse end thereof on a pair of box elements, each pair including a front box element and a rear box element, wherein the rear box element is connected to the upper section of the circumferential wall at a location further towards the rear of the crane housing than the front box element.

6. The crane according to claim 5, wherein said box element end portions of said rear box elements of said boom support structure protrude at least in part into the upper section of the circumferential wall, and wherein said lower end of the circumferential wall has a slew bearing flange that is adapted to be mounted to said slew bearing, and wherein one or more forward as well as one or more rearward oblique strengthening ribs are mounted onto and integrated with the inside of the circumferential wall and extend from said box element end portions of said rear box elements and are connected to said slew bearing flange.

7. The crane housing according to claim 6, wherein the circumferential wall on the inside thereof is provided with a lower and upper circumferential stiffener which are vertically spaced apart, wherein the lower section of the circumferential wall is delimited between the lower end of said wall and the lower circumferential stiffener, and wherein the upper section of the circumferential wall is delimited between the upper circumferential stiffener and the upper end of the wall, and wherein a middle section of the circumferential wall is delimited between said lower and upper circumferential stiffener, and wherein one forward and one rearward of said oblique strengthening ribs adjoining said box element end portions of said rear box elements of said boom support structure each attach to said box element end portion substantially at the level of the upper end of the circumferential wall and each extends oblique downwards to the lower end intersecting said lower and upper circumferential stiffeners and connecting thereto.

8. The crane housing according to claim 5, wherein said box element end portions of said front box elements of said boom support structure protrude at least in part into the upper section of the circumferential wall, and wherein said lower end of the circumferential wall has a slew bearing flange that is adapted to be mounted to said slew bearing, and wherein one or more forward oblique strengthening ribs are mounted onto and integrated with the inside of the circumferential wall and extend from said box element end portions of said rear box elements and are connected to said slew bearing flange.

9. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the circumferential wall on the inside thereof is provided with a lower and upper circumferential stiffener which are vertically spaced apart, wherein the lower section of the circumferential wall is delimited between the lower end of said wall and the lower circumferential stiffener, and wherein the upper section of the circumferential wall is delimited between the upper circumferential stiffener and the upper end of the wall, and wherein a middle section of the circumferential wall is delimited between said lower and upper circumferential stiffener.

10. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein one or more slew drive motor carriers are mounted to the lower section of the circumferential wall.

11. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the crane housing further comprises at a rear side thereof one or more rear gantry attachment structures adapted to connect thereto a rear frame member of a gantry structure of the crane, wherein said one or more rear gantry attachment structures each have a box elements of each of which an end portion overlaps with and is integrated with the upper section of the wall, and wherein the crane housing further comprises oblique strengthening ribs that are mounted onto and integrated with a side of the circumferential wall, each of said oblique strengthening ribs extending from a respective box element end portion in an oblique downwards direction towards the lower end of the wall.

12. The crane housing according to claim 11, wherein said box element end portions of said box elements of said one or more rear gantry attachment structures protrude at least in part into the upper section of the circumferential wall, and wherein said lower end of the circumferential wall has a slew bearing flange that is adapted to be mounted to said slew bearing, and wherein one or more forward as well as one or more rearward oblique strengthening ribs are mounted onto and integrated with the inside of the circumferential wall and extend from said box element end portions of said box elements and are connected to said slew bearing flange.

13. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the boom support structure is provided with one or more front gantry attachments structures adapted to connect to a front frame member of a gantry structure of the crane.

14. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the crane housing is at least partially closed at the lower end of the wall by a floor.

15. The crane housing according to claim 1, wherein the crane housing is at least partially closed at the upper end of the wall by a roof.

16. A crane comprising: a fixed base structure; the crane housing according to claim 1; a slew bearing arranged in between the lower end of the circumferential wall of the crane housing and fixed base structure to allow rotation of the crane housing relative to the base structure about a substantially vertical rotation axis; a pivotal boom that is pivotally supported by the boom support structure at a front side of the crane housing and pivotal about a horizontal pivot axis; a gantry structure supported by the crane housing; and a luffing cable and winch system comprising a luffing cable extending between said gantry structure and the boom adapted to pivot the boom up and down by a luffing winch and orient the boom in one or more desired angles during lifting of a load.

17. A vessel comprising a crane according to claim 16, wherein the fixed base structure is mounted on or to a hull of the vessel.

18. The vessel according to claim 17, wherein the fixed base structure is embodied as a tub structure extending above a deck of the vessel.

Description

(1) The invention will now be described in more detail in a non-limiting way by reference to the accompanying drawings in which like parts are indicated by like reference symbols, and in which:

(2) FIG. 1 depicts schematically a vessel provided with a crane according to an embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 depicts a model of a crane housing according to another embodiment of the invention;

(4) FIG. 3 depicts the interior of the crane housing of FIG. 2 from below;

(5) FIG. 4 depicts a part of the crane housing of FIG. 2; and

(6) FIG. 5 depicts another part of the crane housing of FIG. 2.

(7) FIG. 1 very schematically depicts a vessel having a hull 1, e.g. a semi-submersible crane vessel with a deck structure 1, on which a crane CR according to an embodiment of the invention is mounted. It will be appreciated that the crane is of the same type as disclosed in WO2015/088332.

(8) The crane CR is a so-called slewing crane comprising a fixed base structure BS, here a crane tub mounted to the deck structure 1. The crane CR can also be connected to the earth for onshore operations.

(9) The crane CR comprises a crane housing CH, which will be explained below in more detail.

(10) A slew bearing SB is arranged in between the crane housing CH and the fixed base structure BS to allow slewing of the crane housing CH relative to the base structure BS about a substantially vertical slewing axis VA. As preferred the slew bearing is a roller slew bearing comprising raceways and a multitude of rollers arranged between said raceways and embodied to absorb vertical loads, radial loads, as well as tilting loads. An example of such a roller slew bearing is presented in WO2015/088332.

(11) The crane housing CH comprises a substantially cylinder-shaped circumferential wall W that is preferably made of steel.

(12) A boom support structure SS1 is connected to an upper section of the wall W for supporting a boom, or main boom, BO of the crane CR at a front side FS of the crane housing CH.

(13) One or more rear gantry attachment structures SS2a, b are connected to the upper section of the wall W for supporting a gantry structure B of the crane CR at a rear side RS of the crane housing CH.

(14) The boom support structure SS1 defines a first horizontal pivot axis PA1 for the boom BO to allow the boom BO to be pivoted up and down.

(15) In this embodiment, the gantry structure B comprises an inclined front frame member BF supported at its lower end by the boom support structure SS1, and a vertical rear frame member, or back stay member, BY supported by the rear gantry attachment structures SS2a,b. In assembled state the front frame member BF and the rear frame member BY are releasably connected to each other at the top to form gantry structure B.

(16) The boom support structure SS1 defines a second horizontal pivot axis PA2 for the front frame BF and the rear gantry attachment structures SS2a, b define a third horizontal pivot axis PA3 for the rear frame member BY. This allows to pivot the disconnected frame members of the gantry structure up and down when the frame members are disconnected from each other at the top, e.g. to pass a bridge or for maintenance/assembly purposes.

(17) At the rear side RS, outside of the circumferential wall W, a winch unit WU is carrier by the crane housing. This unit comprises one or more winches, in this example at least two winches. At least one winch is a luffing winch that is operable to set the vertical angle of the boom BO using one or more luffing cables LC extending between the top of the gantry structure B and outer end of the boom BO. At least one other winch may be operable to haul in or pay out a hoisting cable HC to lift or lower a load (not shown) using a load connector LO, e.g. a hook.

(18) An advantage of arranging the winch unit WU at the rear side RS of the crane housing CH is that the winch unit WU can also be used as a ballast, and that the winches and thus the cables are all provided on the same rotatable portion of the crane CR, i.e. the crane housing CH.

(19) It is noted that not all winches need to be located at the rear side of the crane housing CH. For instance, the winches used to hoist a load may be located elsewhere, e.g. within the crane housing, on the boom, etc.

(20) FIGS. 2-5 depict in more detail a model of a crane housing CH according to the invention. FIG. 2 depicts a perspective view and FIG. 3 depicts the interior of the crane housing with the floor of the crane housing omitted to show the interior. FIGS. 4 and 5 depict detailed views of two areas of the crane housing with the floor omitted and in FIG. 4 with part of the roof omitted.

(21) The crane housing CH comprises a substantially cylinder-shaped circumferential wall W made of steel with a lower section LS, an upper section US and a middle section MS in between the lower section LS and the upper section US. As will be appreciated these sections are integrated into one continuous wall W and primarily serve to better understand the invention.

(22) The middle section MS is delimited by two circumferential stiffeners FL1, FL2 that are vertically spaced apart, and spaced from the neighbouring lower end and upper end of the wall respectively. As preferred the stiffeners FL1, FL2 are arranged on the inside of the wall W. The circumferential stiffeners provide stiffness to the wall W, distribute loads as they adjoin the box element end portions as well as oblique strengthening ribs, and assist to maintain the circular shape of the structure during operation.

(23) The lower section LS is delimited by the circumferential stiffener FL1 and a slew bearing flange FL3 at a lower end of the wall W.

(24) The slew bearing flange FL3 is embodied to connect the lower end of the wall W to a slew roller bearing of substantially the same diameter (not shown here, see WO2015/088233 for an example). For example the diameter is 15 meters or more, in the depicted embodiment the diameter is about 30 meters and components are shown substantially to scale in FIGS. 2-5.

(25) The upper section US is delimited by the circumferential stiffener FL2 and the upper end of the wall W, where a roof UF adjoins the upper end of the wall W and partially closes off a top of the cylinder-shaped wall W.

(26) Although not shown, the crane housing is preferably provided with a floor that at least partially closes off a bottom of the cylinder-shaped wall W. This floor can then be used to support further equipment, e.g. electronic equipment and/or winches, and/or slew drive motors, of the crane inside the crane housing.

(27) The crane housing CH further comprises a boom support structure SS1 connected to the upper section US of the wall W, here via two pairs of box elements BE1, BE2, BE3, BE4 that each have an end portion that overlaps with and is integral with the wall W, at least the upper section thereof.

(28) The boom support structure SS1 provides two pivot brackets SL1, SL2 adapted to support a boom (not shown here, see FIG. 1 for an example), such that the boom can pivot about a pivot axis PA1. The two pivot bracket SL1, SL2 are mounted spaced apart in transverse direction on a transverse beam CB that is at either end thereof supported on a pair of the box elements BE1, BE2, BE3, BE4.

(29) Bracket SL1 is mainly supported by box elements BE1 and BE2, wherein box element BE2 is a front box element supporting the bracket SL1 at a front side FS of the crane housing CH, and wherein box element BE1 is a rear box element connected to the upper section US of the wall W at a distance from the front box element BE2 towards a rear side RS of the crane housing CH.

(30) Bracket SL2 is mainly supported by box elements BE3 and BE4, wherein box element BE3 is a front box element supporting the bracket SL2 at the front side FS of the crane housing CH, and wherein box element BE4 is a rear box element connected to the upper section US of the wall W at a distance from the front box element BE3 towards the rear side RS of the crane housing CH.

(31) The two brackets SL1, SL2 further define support and attachment member, here also a second pivot axis PA2, for a front frame member FB of the gantry structure (not shown here, see FIG. 1 for an example) to allow the frame member to be pivoted up and down, e.g. when passing a bridge.

(32) The crane housing CH further comprises rear gantry attachment structures SS2a, b that are each connected at the rear of the housing to the upper section US of the wall W via two box elements BE5, BE6 of which an end portion of each overlaps with and is integral with the wall W.

(33) The rear gantry attachment structures SS2a, b provides two support brackets SL3, SL4 for supporting a back frame member, or back stay member, of the gantry structure (not shown here, see FIG. 1 for an example). Here, the two support brackets define a third pivot axis PA3, such that the back frame member BY can be pivoted up and down, e.g. when passing a bridge.

(34) As clearly depicted in FIG. 3 for end portions of the box elements BE3 and BE4, but applicable to all box elements BE1-BE6, extend in part into or within at least the upper section US of the circumferential wall W and even further down. The end portions of the box elements are indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4 by reference symbols BE3′ and BE4′, and in FIG. 5 by reference symbol BE5′, respectively.

(35) On the inside of the wall W are provided multiple oblique strengthening ribs in order to distribute loads introduced via the box elements.

(36) A shown box element end portions of box elements BE1, BE2, BE3, BE4 protrude at least in part into the upper section of the circumferential wall W.

(37) Oblique strengthening ribs R1-R9 are mounted onto and integrated with the inside of the circumferential wall W. Ribs R2, R3, R4, R5 extend all the way to the slew bearing flange FL3 and are connected thereto.

(38) In FIGS. 3 and 4, oblique strengthening ribs R1-R12 associated with box elements BE2, BE3 and BE4 are clearly visible and in FIG. 5, oblique strengthening ribs R13-R18 associated with box element BE5 are shown. The extension of ribs is also illustrated in FIG. 2. These ribs are, as preferred, however arranged on the inside of the wall and not on the outside thereof.

(39) It is noted here that the depicted crane housing has a symmetrical design, i.e. the left side of the crane housing is substantially a mirror image of the right side of the crane housing. In other words, the crane housing is symmetrical with respect to a vertical plane extending through the centre of the crane housing perpendicular to the first, second and third pivot axes PA1, PA2, PA3. Hence, all mentioned strengthening ribs have a corresponding strengthening rib associated with one of the other box elements BE1, BE2 and BE6.

(40) All strengthening ribs extend from a respective box element end portion in an oblique downwards direction away from the respective box element end portion towards a lower end of the wall W, some all the way to the slew bearing flange FL3 and connected thereto.

(41) In this embodiment, strengthening ribs R1, R5, R7, R12, R13 and R18 extend from the respective box elements at the upper end of the wall, strengthening ribs R2, R5, R8, R11, R14 and R17 extend from the respective box elements at the circumferential stiffener FL2 between the upper section US and the middle section MS, and strengthening ribs R3, R4, R9, R10, R15 and R16 extend from the respective box elements at the circumferential stiffener FL1 between the middle section MS and the lower section LS.

(42) Further, for this embodiment, the strengthening ribs R1, R2 and R3 associated with box element BE4 extend rearward towards the rear side RS of the crane housing, while the strengthening ribs R4, R5, R6 extend forward towards the front side FS of the crane housing CH. The strengthening ribs R7-R12 associated with the box elements BE2 and BE3 extend forward and towards each other, and in this embodiment, there are no strengthening ribs associated with these box elements BE2, BE3 that extend rearward towards the rear side of the crane housing.

(43) The circumferential wall on the inside thereof has two vertically spaced circumferential stiffeners FL1, FL2, and oblique strengthening ribs R1-R9 each intersect one or both circumferential stiffeners and are connected thereto at the one or more intersections.

(44) The box element end portions of the rear box elements BE1, BE4 of the boom support structure SS1 protrude at least in part into the upper section of the circumferential wall W. One or more forward as well as one or more rearward oblique strengthening ribs R2-R5 are mounted onto and integrated with the inside of the circumferential wall W and extend from these box element end portions of said rear box elements BE1, BE4 and are connected to slew bearing flange FL3.

(45) The roof UF comprises beams extending between box elements to provide further stiffness to the crane housing. Examples thereof in FIG. 3 are transverse beam TB1 extending between box elements B1 and B4, and beams TB2 and TB3 extending between transverse beam TB1 and box elements BE3 and BE5, respectively.

(46) Also shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 are slew drive motor carriers CE which are mounted to the lower section of the circumferential wall W. In the depicted embodiment each carrier CE comprises an upper and lower slew drive motor carrier plate, and the lower slew drive motor carrier plate is integral with slew bearing flange FL3 of the crane housing. As will be understood the slew drive motors allow to slew the crane housing CH relative to the base structure.