Tag Archives: blade transport

Blade mover – a flexible dual transport system

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The two elements of the blade mover

One of the many problems posed by the huge wind turbine blades currently in the market is how to move them quickly and safely.

In some situations (like in the factories, or when blades are temporarily stored before installation) space can be extremely limited and there is the risk of damages. Additionally manipulating and moving the blades can be a time consuming activity.

To solve this problem a Danish company (SH Group) has developed an interesting solution, currently used by a blades manufacturer.

The “Blade Mover” uses two elements, one at the root of the blade (a trailer pulled by a vehicle) and the other at the tip, where a self-propelled vehicle with a diesel engine is driven by a technician using a remote control.

The vehicle at the tip is extremely manoeuvrable, allowing full control on the steering wheels – you can basically orientate the wheels in every direction you may need.

The tip element - an independent vehicle

The system has been develop to carry blades with a weight up to 80 Ton.

I also see from the pictures and the YouTube videos that it use custom frames. The frames are connected to the blade mover using a flexible sliding mechanism with safety pins.

The tip frame. All components can be modified to fit a specific blade

One additional benefit of this system is that it can work on uneven terrains absorbing height differences with a hydraulic mechanism.

The blade mover in action. The technician is using a remote control system.

 

Wind blade special transport: 45 degrees lifter for montainous roads

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This is a blade special transport system that I’ve seen used by Enercon, for instance for Europe highest wind turbine in Europe, in Switzerland, but is not so common otherwise.

It is a hydraulic lifter, which allows lifting the wind blade up to approximately 45º.

Doing so it can guarantee important saving on the civil works, above all in mountainous areas where important earthworks have to be realized to reach the wind park.

It has to be used together with a 5 axle low loader, and its price is around 100.000€.

The biggest problem is that in many countries it couldn’t be used on the public roads, due to restriction the maximum height of the load (around 5 meters).

By the way I guess that special permit are granted in some countries (for instance I’ve seen several picture where this solution was used in public roads in Germany and Switzerland).

Wind blades train transport

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Wind blades are normally carried by ship and truck.

By the way every now and than I see cases of train transportation: for instance Siemens moved 141 set of wind turbine blades (for the amazing total of 423 blades) to Portland General Electric's Biglow Canyon Wind Farm. Siemens is also transporting towers and nacelles via rail to various project locations throughout the U.S., so it seems that sometimes this is a reasonable option.

Vestas too is experimenting train transport: in the video embedded you can see how blades are transported from the factory in Germany to the wind farm in Denmark.

And the list is not ended: Enercon took a Marco Polo grant to move his blades by train.

Marco Polo is a UE found for modal-shift or traffic avoidance projects and projects providing supporting services which enable freight to switch from road to other modes efficiently and profitably.

The Grant (€1 268 577) for the ENERCON Tri-Modal project involves using rail and ship to move components and parts from Germany to Viana do Castelo in Portugal, as well as to installation sites throughout Europe.
Discover more about Tri Modal here