‘Wind Gust Buster’ developed to predict high wind conditions

Husiman’s ’Wind Gust Buster’ has been designed to help crane operators and lifting supervisors manoeuvre their machinery more safely and time operations better.

It gives a five to eight-minute prediction window ahead of an incoming wind gust, allowing enough time to make the decision to mate a blade to the nacelle, a risky operation that can endanger crew and the blade and nacelle themselves.

 “We are constantly looking for new developments to improve safety in turbine installation operations,” said Huisman product director Cranes Cees van Veluw. “Right now, sudden wind gusts acting on turbine blades can pose a safety risk to the people in the wind turbine, as well as an integrity risk to the blade and nacelle. While we all get used to checking the rain radar prior to taking a hike outside, we haven’t seen this used the same way in turbine installation before. This can also lead to less damage to components like the blade’s stud bolts, and thus can lead to a cost reduction and installation speed improvement.”

The measurement of incoming wind is achieved with a LIDAR system on the crane’s boom tip, which scans the horizon up to 10 kilometres away.

The data is then processed by the crane’s automation system and can be shown to not only the crane operator but also crew on the crane vessel’s bridge.