Special trailers transport windmills

A new market for heavy-haul and low-loader trailers has developed in Europe in recent years. It is in designing trailers for the transport and erection of windmill generators. Companies such as Scheurle in France, Nooteboom in Holland, and Goldhofer in Germany are all active in providing transports for these extremely long loads and heavy components that are getting bigger and heavier all the time.

Windmill rotor blades or “wings” measure 45 meters (148 feet) and longer. Double and triple extendable trailers can be used for these long loads hauling two blades at a time. Royal Nooteboom and its alliance partner Scheurle have developed a special trailer that can haul three wings at one time, each 45 m (148 ft) long.

The wing transporter has four axle lines, obtained by combining two modular trailers of the Euro Combi type, plus special adapters and extendable beams. The low floor height of the Euro Combi allows the three wings to be carried without exceeding the four-meter (13 ft 1½") legal road height. Swing axles give it a high ground clearance when moving off-road, and steering axle displacement up to 60° provides maneuverability at the construction site. The modular trailer is formed as a spine trailer for the transport of wings, but transformed into other configurations for the transport of the cylindrical tower sections, or the very heavy turbine that is mounted at the top of the tower. A 90-tonne (200,000 lb) turbine, for example, could be hauled by a trailer with 7 axle lines and a 4-axle tractor.

The height of wind power plants in Europe during the 1990s was about 30 to 50 meters (100 to 165 feet). Gigantic wind turbines now have a hub height of 100 meters (330 feet) and more. The smaller tower segments can be carried on gooseneck or flatbed trailers. Large tower segments require modular trailers with extendable vessel decks. Some tower segments exceed 100 tonnes (220,000 lb).

As an alternative to dropdeck trailers and vessel decks, Goldhofer produces tower adapters that are coupled directly to the tower sections. The tower adapters in turn are coupled to Goldhofer heavy-duty modules. For the return trip, the two tower adapters are bolted together to form a multi-axle unit.

Heavy turbine nacelles can be carried by the same heavy-duty modules combining up to 12 axle lines. Hubs weighing up to 20 tonnes (44,000 lb) can be transported on flatbeds or drop-decks.

Remark: This artical is extracted from trailer-bodybuilders.com.