Enerpac has introduced the wind turbine tower flange alignment tool (TFA), allowing wind-farm installation contractors to eliminate costly project delays caused by non-conformity or ovalization of wind-turbine tower sections. The TFA solves bolt-hole misalignment problems by aligning the large internal pipe flanges between tower sections during assembly, allowing them to be bolted together.
Problems of misalignment are often only discovered during wind-turbine tower assembly. It is a growing problem for a wind industry sourcing tower components globally. Turbine towers are made up of cylindrical pipe sections with internal bolted flange connections bolted together. During fabrication, the tower sections can become ovalized, rather than perfectly cylindrical, especially if they are laid down for storage or transportation for an extended period.
The Enerpac tower flange alignment tool is built to aid the alignment of large flanges on the inside of wind-turbine towers during assembly and installation. It can be used onshore and offshore for aligning/de-ovalizing large internal pipe flanges up to 65mm. Reflecting the breadth of wind-turbine towers, there are a range of flange alignment tools: mechanical (hand operated) up to 4.5-ton alignment force, 13.5-ton, 16.9-ton, and 20.5-ton alignment force.
“Contractors are buying monopiles and transition pieces (TPs) from all around the world; when delivered, they find boreholes are misaligned and TPs are oval rather than circular,” said Erik Roos, director Wind Industry Tools & Solutions (EMEA), Enerpac. “The Enerpac wind turbine tower flange alignment tool enables installers to make corrections onsite or offshore quickly and efficiently.”
Weighing as little as 40 pounds, the Enerpac tower flange alignment tool is supplied in a handheld carry case. The 4.5-ton alignment force, hand-operated mechanical TFA includes a torque wrench. Higher alignment forces TFA requires an external hydraulic pump such as the portable, battery powered, Enerpac SC-Series.
More info www.enerpac.com
