The RotorHook™ Has Arrived!
After visiting a main bearing exchange in the USA, after several meetings with our client, after creating conceptual designs, basic designs, and detailed designs, a design package was finally completed by Eager.one. From this set of drawings, calculations, memos and manuals, a special crane has been constructed: the RotorHook™.
A five-crane system:
RotorHook™, GenHook™, Heli-Hook™
The RotorHook™ crane is part of a five-crane system. It is assembled by a GenHook™ crane, which itself is assembled by a Heli-Hook™ crane, which is assembled by two small service cranes. All of these cranes comprise a complex crane system which is now in use by our sister company LiftWerx in North America. You could compare the assembly of the RotorHook™ with a Russian matryoskha, a doll inside a doll inside a doll.
The RotorHook™ is designed to exchange the main bearing of a Siemens 2.3MW wind turbine generator. And since this repair requires the removal of the complete rotor (hub with blades), the RotorHook™ was born.
If you want to lift a 64-tonne load from a 100-metre-high tower, you normally need a very large mobile crane, and quite a significant one. How many trucks would you need to deliver this type of crane to site? Almost 20? Perhaps more? What difficulties emerge in mobilizing such a large crane if the site is in a remote area? Does this become more complex if special permits are required for the delivery of the crane?
The RotorHook™ crane system can do the same job as a large mobile crane; however, one requires only three trucks with legal dimensions, and accordingly, road permits are not required. This crane is mobilized in three 40-foot standard ISO containers. The RotorHook™ is powered using the wind turbine’s power supply. The crane is electrically-driven, and has no carbon footprint during operation.
This month, the first rotor and main bearing exchange was successfully performed at Boulder, Colorado. Before shipping to Canada, extensive testing had taken place in the Netherlands at the facilities of KenzFigee, another sister company of Eager.one.
We, as Eager.one team, are very proud that we had the opportunity to design such a special tool for LiftWerx, and we look forward to more of these challenging projects in the future.
RotorHook specifications
- Turbine Platforms:
Turbines in the 1.5MW to 4MW range, onshore or offshore - Types of Major Component Exchanges:
Gearbox, Generator, Rotor, Main Shaft, Blade, Blade Bearing - Other O&M Applications:
Full drivetrain exchanges - Maximum Lifting Capacity (Safe Working Load – SWL):
75 tons - Load-Moment Capacity:
300 t-mIn-Service Maximum - Wind Speed:
12 m/s - Maximum Gust Wind:
18 m/s - Maximum Reach:
4 meters - Operating Temperature:
-20C to +45C - Maximum Hook Height:
103 meters (can be increased if necessary) - Hoist Speed:
3.3 meters / minute - Power Supply:
Hybrid power supply: Battery power in combination with turbine back feed circuits
