Compact rotating energy supply system for a heavy duty crane on a pipe-laying vessel

Offshore knuckle boom cranes for the oil and gas industry primarily ensure the safe and efficient handling of pipes and other work equipment on drilling ships, for example.
Installed at central points on the ships, they should cover as wide an area as possible. For this reason, perfect and wide rotation of the handling crane is essential. Rotating energy supplies are used for safe cable routing.
In this application - a heavy-duty crane on a pipe-laying ship - the requirements for this energy supply are very high. The large number of data and signal cables as well as the hydraulics involved a high weight that had to be moved safely by the guidance system. There was also a space problem in the compact crane platform.

Only a rotating energy supply could be considered for the flexibly rotating offshore knuckle boom crane. It consists of circular trough guides and an energy chain designed to match the guidance. The systems are designed to guide the largest possible number of cables in the smallest possible installation space. In order to save additional space, the decision was made in favour of an open channel system with energy chains running into each other. Today, they guarantee a long service life and minimise maintenance requirements.
The rotary module including the e-chain® was designed by us for the installation space and delivered ready for connection. This meant that it could be installed quickly and easily on site. The acceptance tests and supervision were also carried out by our supervisor team.