Practical training for the wind turbine industry

Terex Material Handling offers product solutions tailored to meet the needs of wind turbine maintenance. The Demag hoists and crane systems support maintenance personnel by transporting spare parts and tools to the nacelles and help to minimise installation downtimes. Smooth operation is only possible if the maintenance personnel can safely operate the lifting equipment. International customers in the wind turbine industry are now focussing on the safe and reliable use of the tools required to maintain their facilities.

The Demag Service business unit of Terex Material Handling has developed a training program for the use of Demag lifting equipment that is designed to meet the specific needs of its customer Siemens in Denmark. By giving maintenance personnel for wind turbine systems comprehensive training to familiarise them with the equipment before they use it for the first time, the aim is to ensure that they can concentrate fully on completing the maintenance work. Safe operation of the winch units has maximum priority for Siemens. For this reason, only trained personnel who have also been certified by Demag Service will be employed to operate the lifting equipment on site.

Modular training course design

Carolin Paulus, Vice President Service at Terex Material Handling and globally responsible for Demag Service, explains: “In addition to teaching our customers fundamental aspects of the equipment and safety, we also provide comprehensive practical training in a short time through a carefully selected combination of training modules. This ensures that the technicians are well prepared to work with the lifting equipment – both in onshore applications as well as offshore at sea, where it is even more important to keep the downtime of a wind turbine as short as possible.”

In close co-operation with its regional subsidiaries in Great Britain and Denmark, Demag Service developed a multi-level training concept. The base section covers the theoretical fundamentals for the operation of cranes and hoists.

For the subsequent practical part of the course, Demag Service installed a test system at the Siemen’s training centre in Denmark. Installed on a portal arrangement is a DS-10 Wind rope winch, which is the type primarily used in the latest generation of 6 MW wind turbines in the offshore sector. This established a training system that closely simulates the practical operating conditions of an offshore nacelle.

Following the successful completion of the first block of seminars, an e-learning tool is added for a second in-depth phase of training and to train further personnel for deployment. Carolin Paulus comments: “Our training concept impressed Siemens. We defined the course content together and incorporated practical examples. This gives Siemens’ employees the skills they need to perform the specialised maintenance and installation work on site. We have achieved our first milestone and have completed practical training courses for 120 members of staff.”

Demag lifting equipment for the wind turbine industry

With its Demag DC-Wind chain hoist and DS10-Wind rope winch, Terex Material Handling supplies lifting solutions that are specially designed to meet the needs of wind turbine manufacturers and operators. The DC-Wind chain hoist is available in five sizes for load capacities up to 1,500 kg and with hook paths up to 180 m. It ensures safe and reliable load handling thanks to a brake/coupling system and corrosion-protected brake and is one of the most frequently used hoists in this industry.

To serve offshore applications, Terex Material Handling has developed a complete logistics system for use inside the nacelle that can be deployed under harsh conditions at sea – and significantly cuts lifting times. The modular system is based on the proven concept of the Demag KBK light crane system and the DS10-Wind rope winch. The rope winch is supplied in four sizes and installed in the nacelle of the wind turbine together with the KBK installation. It has a maximum hook path of 180 m and can lift spare parts, equipment and tools weighing up to 1,000 kg at load-dependent lifting speeds of up to 48 m/min. This cuts the time for lifting operations to a third. Thanks to the customer-specific configuration of the KBK modular crane system, any point of the nacelle can be served with Demag lifting equipment.