Anti-collision systems for wind farm construction

5 January 2021

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AMCS technologies DCS 61-S anti-collision systems will be installed on 18 Potain tower cranes working on the foundations of an offshore wind farm in France.

The offshore wind farm will be situated between 13 and 22km off the coast of Fécamp in Normandy and will comprise 71 turbines. The turbines will be connected to gravity foundations installed on the seabed at depths between 25 and 30m.

The construction of the gravity structures takes place at the Bougainville shipyard. The job requires 18 travelling cranes; two MDT 349 flat tops move on 120m of rails and sixteen MR 608 luffers are spread over four parallel tracks, four cranes on each track.

Having several cranes moving on the same track and placed at the same height made the use of anti-collision systems essential. The DCS 61-S detects in real time the risk of collision of all interfering crane components.  The device calculates in real time and in 3D the distances between each element of the cranes as well as the speeds and direction of movement on the rails in order to intervene on the control mechanisms of the crane to ensure a slowing down and then a complete immobilisation of the machine at a preset distance from the other machine.