New legal requirements for occupational health and safety are forcing companies also in the wind industry to adapt their processes. In Denmark, for example, this relates to pollutant emissions from vehicles inside production halls. A development for which Cometto has a powerful solution - which even has a surprise up its sleeve.
It's an everyday scene: SPMT vehicles drive into factory buildings to pick up heavy components and transport them to open-air storage. But in Denmark - and it will certainly not be the only country - the legislator has now stipulated that employees must leave the production facilities during such manoeuvres. This applies when diesel-powered transport vehicles are used. Only when the hall has been properly ventilated and measured can the staff return to work.
The wind industry relies on a hybrid dual solution
Such a process is problematic for entrepreneurs in terms of cycle times and cost-effective production. A customer from the Danish wind industry was also confronted with this new situation. Their nacelles and generators are dependent on self-propelled heavy-duty transporters. Cometto now has a new development that takes the circumstances into account: a new 6-axle ModulMAX SP-E with electronic steering, whose hybrid Power Pack Unit is equipped with a 186 kW diesel engine and a 100 kW electric motor with a corresponding battery pack. These are charged via the diesel engine in combustion engine mode.
Purely electric out of the hall - and quiet too
Thanks to this technology from Cometto, the wind industry partners will no longer have to interrupt its work and assembly processes. “Cometto not only exceeded the contractually agreed, purely electrical range of the hybrid PPU by double,” report the initiators from the wind energy customer's project team with satisfaction and they add: “The noise level was also reduced to below 80 dB(A). This means that, according to the law, employees can work in the hall for up to eight hours without hearing protection in the immediate vicinity. This is a win-win situation across the board and we are proud to say that our team is the only wind production site in the world where the heaviest loads are moved out of the hall purely electrically. This lighthouse project will certainly set a precedent within the wind industry!”
Simple change at the touch of a button
Together with ProTruck, Cometto's representative in Denmark and its Managing Director Michael Laursen, Sales Director René Bertelsen and Joachim Kolb, Sales Manager at Cometto, brought the cooperation through the finish line. “Using hybrid technology, it is now possible to drive completely emission-free within the hall with the battery pack and the electric motor” mentioned Joachim Kolb “ And when the transport combination arrives outside, the driver can switch to the diesel engine at the touch of a button and then drive the long distances with the combustion engine. And if even more power is required, the diesel engine can be additionally boosted by the electric motor - just like in Formula 1”. From now on, thanks to Cometto: ‘It's your decision - with or without emission!’ Thanks to modern drive technology, our customers are and remain - propelled to the MAX!
Date of publication: 11/2024