Tetrahedron

𝐓𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐞   The Tetrahedron crane design has the advantage of lifting higher compared to a luffing boom crane. The novel crane design has a different motion principle and structural force flow compared to the conventional cranes. This large scale non-slewing prototype crane shows this new motion principle, and moreover  based on strain and deflection measurements carried out by TNO, the different force flow was verified.   Tetrahedron is pleased to inform that the onshore non-slewing crane was assembled according to plan and the crane performance meets the design requirements and matches the predictions of the design and engineering phase.   The Tetrahedron prototype crane’s fully electric drive and control system, showed unique features: -      A fast and smooth luffing motion, to reach 130m lifting height above ground level (which would be only 90m for a luffing boom crane with the same footprint) -      A very slender jib that creates freedom to move the load (espeically of interest for blade handling operations) -      Real time sidelead measurement (especially of interest while lifting loads that are designed to catch wind!)   In addition to the goals mentioned above, the prototype crane was realized to demonstrate the Tetrahedron crane’s offshore suitability for wind turbine handling, with this unit specifically capable of maintenance work on 10MW wind turbines tailored to compact jackup vessels with tubular legs. These compact jackup vessels are nowadays typically used for accommodation and light works. Whereas at the start of the project there was little demand for such compact accomodation jackups, at this moment there is too high demand to opt for modifying these vessels towards wind turbine maintenance units. Therefore the installation of the Tetrahedron prototype crane on these vessels is suspended. The Tetrahedron non-slewing prototype crane therefore remains onshore for demonstration purposes and in attendance of its later to be defined destination.   This project was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, with a subsidy from Topsector Energie as well as an investment of the Van Es Group. This week the project partners TNO, JackUpBarge BV and steerco Shell, GE completed their assignements.

𝗪𝗶𝗷 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗷𝗹𝗽𝗮𝗮𝗹 // Solidd Steel Structures heeft haar grootste kraan tot nu toe gerealiseerd: de Tetrahedron kraan! Dit ambitieuze project, dat volledig gebaseerd was op een innovatief ontwerp wat nog nooit eerder zo gebouwd is, is een belangrijke mijlpaal voor ons bedrijf. De Tetrahedron kraan is een indrukwekkende toevoeging aan de offshore windindustrie, en we zijn bijzonder trots op onze bijdrage aan dit project. We hebben met passie en plezier aan deze technische innovatie gewerkt en het complexe project succesvol afgerond. 🎥 We zijn benieuwd wat jij van de video vindt! En natuurlijk zijn we ook nieuwsgierig naar jouw meest innovatie project. Deel het met ons in de comments! 👇🏼 #Solidd #Tetrahedron #Innovation #Engineering #ProjectManagement #OffshoreWind #Construction #Collaboration #3DEngineering #Vakmanschap #ComplexStructures #Tegearre Wilco Stavenuiter Boy Biemans

Celebrating a Milestone Achievement: The Tetrahedron Crane in action! From April 16th to 18th, we had the honor of hosting a showcase event to celebrate a significant milestone: the completion of the Tetrahedron Crane prototype. This invite-only occasion not only showed the working principles of the crane's unique structure but also marked a milestone in the project* and an opportunity to discuss the progress, results and future steps with the project’s partners and key relations. Thank you to all who contributed to making this event unforgettable. Stay tuned! *This project is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, with a subsidy from Topsector Energie.

The tetrahedron-luffing-structure (the 3D-orange-triangle) is up! The fully electric driven winches up righted the Tetrahedron. We lifted a 70T load (of 250T crane capacity) and performed several functional load tests.

The Tetrahedron crane assembly is nearing completion! Using mobile heavy lift cranes, the major elements of the Tetrahedron crane structure were brought into place. The last step in this process was the installation of the fibre-aramid pendants, which have been installed slack and brought to tensioned design position by Tetrahedron’s adjustable chain plates.   The next activities are: power up the fully electric winches, reeve-in the running rigging and perform load tests.

Enthousiast filmpje over Tetrahedron op de RDM! [in Dutch] Over de pendant loadtest dat uitgevoerd is bij onze buren Franklin Offshore Rotterdam.

Industry unique tension test of Fibre Aramid pendants   Tetrahedron company successfully performed a non-destructive full scale tension test of the Fibre Aramid Pendants. The pendants will form the top edges of the luffing tetrahedron (the orange 3D-triangle, see name-definitions of earlier posts) and act as standing-rigging of the crane, similar to the stays of a sailing yacht. The pendants are composed of lightweight aramid fibre and are produced by Fibremax, based on their “endless winding” technique resulting in 100% unidirectional directional laid fibres for maximum strength, and even more important for the application of Tetrahedron: superior stiffness over weight. The ~100m long pendants have been tensioned up to an overload of 525Tonnes in a test which was witnessed by the supplier, the project partners and an independent surveyor. In addition to this load test, a tension-stretch test sequence was performed with mm-level measurements performed by TNO to verify the predicted length-under load, stiffness & visco-elastic characteristics. Based on the results of these tests, we can conclude that the pendants are ready for installation!   #Fibremax, #FranklinOffshore, #tno

We are in the middle of the assembly of the Tetrahedron crane!

The steel fabrication is complete and now on transport from the steel manufacturer towards the assembly site. At the assembly site the orange parts will be assembled to become the tetrahedron (the luffing 3D-triangle) and the dark-grey steel parts will become the base frame. This transport marks a milestone in the project, thanks to our team members and subcontractors who brought us here :)

Cycling next to a special water transport!