MacArtney has secured an order from Shanghai Electric Wind Power Group to develop an automated concept for Hub Generator Tightening Tool (HGT) to improve mechanisation and reduce human interaction in wind turbine maintenance.
The HGT tool consists of two parts – a Turner tool that creates the rotation of the generator, and an automatic bolt tool for torquing.
Prior to torquing each bolt, the hub/generator is positioned using an optical sensor system that ensures the correct location under the nacelle.
The tightening of the bolts is then carried out in two stages. The first stage is to initiate the fully automated process of rotating the generator and pre-tightening the bolts. During stage two of the bolt torquing sequence, all bolts are correctly torqued and stamped with a ‘Torque Approved’ mark to provide a reference for manual inspection, thus illustrating the bolts are correctly tightened.
The automated process of the HGT tool is said to reduce human exposure and thereby improve safety with the additional benefit of reducing labour hours.
Throughout this process, data is continuously accessible and presented in real time by the HMI control system, MacArtney said. The torque process is monitored throughout and logged in the quality control report.