MOBILE LIFTING APPARATUS AND METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSPORTING A COMPONENT OF A WIND TURBINE

Abstract

A mobile lifting apparatus is provided for lifting an, in particular flat, transport frame on which a component of a wind turbine is mounted, in particular for removing or placing at least one self-propelled modular transporter below the transport frame, the lifting apparatus including: an upper part having an interface for connecting to a transport frame to be lifted, a lower part for supporting the lifting apparatus on the ground, and a lifting mechanism connecting the lower part to the upper part for linearly vertically moving the upper.

Claims

1. A mobile lifting apparatus for lifting a transport frame on which a component of a wind turbine is mounted, for removing or placing at least one self-propelled modular transporter below the transport frame, the lifting apparatus comprising: an upper part having an interface for connecting to the transport frame to be lifted; a lower part for supporting the lifting apparatus on the ground; and a lifting mechanism connecting the lower part to the upper part for linearly vertically moving the upper part with respect to the lower part.

2. A lifting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower part comprises wheels and a drive mechanism forming a self-propelling device.

3. The lifting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the lower part further comprises a ground support surface and the wheels are retractable and/or movable to allow the ground support surface to be lowered to the ground.

4. The lifting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lifting mechanism comprises at least one telescopic rod.

5. The lifting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the at least one telescopic rod comprises a hydraulic piston and/or at least one threaded rod powered by an electric motor.

6. The lifting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interface comprises, as at least one connection member, a trunnion and/or a hook and/or a pin and/or a sling and/or a padeye and/or that the at least one connection member matches a corresponding connection member of the transport frame.

7. A method for transporting a component of a wind turbine on a vessel, wherein the component is mounted on a transport frame, the method comprising: rolling the component onto the vessel using at least one self-propelled transporter; using at least three mobile lifting apparatuses according to claim 1, to lift the transport frame with the component; removing the at least one self-propelled transporter from under the lifted transport frame; lowering the transport frame using the lifting apparatuses to sit on the ground; and removing the lifting apparatuses.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the method further comprises: transporting the component on the transport frame with the vessel to a destination; at the destination, using the lifting apparatuses to lift the transport frame with the component; positioning the at least one self-propelled transporter below the lifted transport frame, lowering the transport frame onto the at least one self-propelled transporter using the lifting apparatuses; removing the lifting apparatuses; and rolling the component from the vessel using the at least one self-propelled transporter.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the lifting apparatus has a self-propelling device, and the lifting apparatuses automatically move to connection positions at the transport frame.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the lifting apparatuses move to the connection positions at least partly autonomously.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein at least the lifting apparatuses are jointly and/or based on at least one user input, controlled by a central controlling device.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the interface of each lifting apparatus comprises a sling or hook, while the transport frame comprises a corresponding connection member, for each lifting apparatus, wherein, to connect the lifting apparatus to the transport frame, the sling or hook engages the corresponding connection member.

13. A system for transporting a component of a wind turbine on a vessel, comprising: a transport frame for mounting the component; at least three lifting apparatuses according to claim 1, and wherein the interface of the lifting apparatus comprises a connection member configured to engage a corresponding connection member of the transport frame.

14. The system according to claim 13, further comprising at least one self-propelled transporter and/or at least one central controlling device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

[0044] Some of the embodiments will be described in detail, with reference to the following figures, wherein like designations denote like members, wherein:

[0045] FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview over a system according to embodiments of the invention;

[0046] FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a mobile lifting apparatus;

[0047] FIG. 3 shows transporting a component of a wind turbine into a vessel;

[0048] FIG. 4 shows moving lifting apparatuses to connection positions;

[0049] FIG. 5 shows connecting a lifting apparatus to a transport frame;

[0050] FIG. 6 shows lifting the transport frame and the component;

[0051] FIG. 7 shows removing SPMTs;

[0052] FIG. 8 shows lowering the transport frame and the component; and

[0053] FIG. 9 shows removing the lifting apparatuses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] FIG. 1 shows a principle drawing of components of a system 1 for transporting a wind turbine component according to embodiments of the invention. The system 1 comprises a flat transport frame 2 which is of a simple, cost-effective construction and in particular comprises no tunnels. Such flat transport frames 2 are, for example, known from the above-described LOLO transport approach. The transport frame 2 comprises, as in principle known in the art, a mounting device 3 for mounting the components.

[0055] In this embodiment, the transportation system 1 further comprises four mobile lifting apparatuses 4, but may also comprise further mobile lifting apparatuses 4, for example six or more lifting apparatuses. The lifting apparatuses 4 generally comprise a lower part 5 and an upper part 6, wherein the upper part 6 comprises an interface 7 with at least one connection member 8 which is adapted to engage a corresponding connection member 9 of the transport frame 2. For example, as will be explained further below, the connection member 8 of the interface 7 may be a sling, while the corresponding connection member 9 of the transport frame 2 may be a trunnion around which the sling may wrap.

[0056] The lifting apparatus 4 further comprises a lifting mechanism 10 which, in this case, comprises two telescopic rods 11 which may in turn comprise a hydraulic piston or a threaded rod powered by an electric motor.

[0057] To establish mobility of the mobile lifting apparatuses 5, the lower part 5 comprises wheels 12 and a drive mechanism 13 to form a self-propelling device.

[0058] The transportation system 1 in this embodiment further comprises two self-propelled transporters 14, in this case two SPMTs 15. The SPMTs 15 and the lifting apparatuses 4, in particular their lifting mechanisms 11 and their drive mechanisms 13, may be controlled by a central controlling device 16, which may be in wireless communication with the SPMTs 15 and the lifting apparatuses 4. In particular, at least partly autonomous operation of the SPMTs 15 and the lifting apparatuses 4 may be implemented, in particular by also providing corresponding sensors (not shown).

[0059] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a lifting apparatus 4. In this case, the lifting apparatus 4 comprises two telescopic rods 11 each comprising a hydraulic piston 17. The telescopic rods 11 are further supported by stabilising fins 18 on lower part 5. In the middle between the telescopic rods 11 the interface 7 having a sling 19 as connection member 8 is located. The wheels 12 may be retracted into a base plate of lower part 5 such that a ground support surface 20 rests on the ground, providing a firm standing of the lifting apparatus 4.

[0060] The system 1 may be used in a method according to embodiments of the invention, as will now be explained with respect to FIGS. 3 to 9.

[0061] In FIG. 3, a wind turbine component 21 is already mounted on the transport frame 2, which, in turn, is supported on the SPMTs 15 such that the component 21 can be rolled onto a vessel 22 adapted for the use of the above-explained RORO approach. This loading process is indicated by arrow 23. The vessel 22, in this case, is a ship.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 4, the frame 2 with the component 21 has reached its storage position on the vessel 22. As a next step in the method, the, in this case, four lifting apparatuses 4 are moved to corresponding connection positions defined by the connection members of the transport frame 2. This is indicated by arrow 24. Once the connection position is reached, the lifting apparatuses 4 are connected to the transport frame 2 as shown in FIG. 5. The sling 19 is wrapped around the connection member 9 of the transport frame 2 such that, when telescopic rods 11 lift the upper part 6, the corresponding connection member 9, in particular the trunnion, is suspended in the sling 19 used as connection member 8.

[0063] As shown in FIG. 6, the lifting mechanisms 10 of all lifting apparatuses 4 are now synchronously controlled by the controlling device 16 to uniformly lift the transport frame 2 with the component 21, which are now freely suspended in the slings 19 of the lifting apparatuses 4 and no longer rest on the SPMTs 15. The lifting process is indicated by arrow 25.

[0064] Thus, as shown in FIG. 7, the SPMTs 15 can now be removed from below the transport frame 2.

[0065] After the SPMTs 15 have been removed according to arrow 26, as shown in FIG. 8, the lifting mechanisms 10 of the lifting apparatuses 4 are again synchronously controlled to lower the transport frame 2 with the component 21 mounted thereon to the ground, as indicated by arrow 27.

[0066] After this, the frame 2 with the wind turbine component 21 is securely stored in the vessel 22 and the lifting apparatuses 4 can be disconnected from the frame 2 and removed, as indicated by arrow 28 in FIG. 9.

[0067] If, at a later time, after the vessel 22 has reached its destination, the component 21 on the frame 2 is to be unloaded, the steps described above are essentially performed in the opposite order, that is, the lifting apparatuses 4 are moved into the connection positions, connected to the frame 2, the frame 2 is lifted, the SPMTs 15 are moved below the transport frame 2, the transport frame 2 is lowered again such that it rests on and is supported by the SPMTs 15, the lifting apparatuses 4 are removed and the component 21 can be unloaded by rolling it out of the vessel 22.

[0068] It is noted that, in this example, the component 21 is shown as being a component 21 comprising the nacelle with the wind turbine generator housed therein and the hub. However, the component 21 may also be the wind turbine generator itself, the nacelle or hub without generator, or the nacelle with the generator housed therein. Of course, also other components of the wind turbine can be transported as described above.

[0069] Although the present invention has been disclosed in the form of embodiments and variations thereon, it will be understood that numerous additional modifications and variations could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0070] For the sake of clarity, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an” throughout this application does not exclude a plurality, and “comprising” does not exclude other steps or elements.