Wind Turbine Access: Hackberry
Albany, TX
Turbine: Siemens 2.3MW
Contractor: Lankford Company Inc.
Project Scope
Access for blade inspection and repair work for Siemens 2.3 MW turbines.
Challenges
- 360 degree access needed to perform repairs at multiple locations on the blade surface.
- Extremely hot site conditions for uptower rigging and installation work required more active health monitoring.
- Limited time schedule for the work.
Solution
- Spider provided a 5 x 10 ft (1.5 x 3 m) configured 360 Blade Access Platform (BAP) with independent lifeline.
- With Spider’s expertise in safety, rigging and training, Lankford Company was able to bring in the 360 BAP closer, adjust to the larger blade tip using a manual winch, and easily access the blade repair area.
- With the 360 BAP assembled on the ground, workers engaged the blade tip in less than 8 minutes to start the work.
- Storage buckets positioned the workers’ tools at waist height for added productivity.
- With both a primary and secondary suspension wire rope to each hoist, the workers were able to attach their fall protection lanyards directly to the engineered PFAS safety anchor device on the walk-thru stirrup. This point is also engineered for use with a descent device, if users choose not to use the hoists’ no-power controlled descent system.
- Compared to other equipment options, the Lankford crew was able to get working very quickly.
- Siemens recognized this platform system in its national newsletter for ingenuity in wind farm maintenance.
Related Products
- 360° Blade Access Platform