Open Access

Gerhard Kachel, Claire Yalamas

• In order to lift the nacelle of an offshore wind energy converter with around 500 tons of weight up on the tower – which can be up to 120 m above the water level – at the time special ships and cranes are designed and built. But those firstly will be very expensive and secondly will be available only on a limited scale. Against this background a joint research project supported by the germanIn order to lift the nacelle of an offshore wind energy converter with around 500 tons of weight up on the tower – which can be up to 120 m above the water level – at the time special ships and cranes are designed and built. But those firstly will be very expensive and secondly will be available only on a limited scale. Against this background a joint research project supported by the german Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) was started comprising the project partners Ed. Züblin AG, Berg-idl GmbH, the IPEK at the university of Karlsruhe and the Hochschule Offenburg – University of Applied Sciences. Project target was the conceptual design of a heavy-duty elevator, which can be used to install the tower segments and the nacelle offshore without a crane. The most relevant challenges in this context result of holding up extreme loads by means of comparatively filigree carrying structures.…