Marine life is much disrupted due to sounds produced by hammering a pilone in the water. This pilone can be the support structure of an off shore windmill. One firm allready invented an expandable digging head. This digging head digs a tranche in the ground just underneath the for example concret pipe used to support a windmill. No hammering is needed. This invention has only been tested on land and will also be expensive.
Practical Solution has also been thinking of solving this problem. A few concepts can be seen here. The support structure for a windmill can also be placed in the ground by twisting. 3 or 4 strong cables connected to self digging anchors will keep the construction upright. A horizontal force due to windload on the blades can be taken by these cables. It is clever to connect the other end of the cables with the construction at wave impact height. Due to wave impact (slamming) the construction wants to move horizontally. Horizontal movements should be low near the gondola otherwise bearings would be damaged very soon. Due to horizontal movements maintenance costs of off shore windmills are high. When we connect the end of the cable on the pilone near th ewave impact point this horizontal movement at wave level can be reduced. As a consequence also horizontal movements of the gondola are reduced resulting in reduced wear of bearings and other parts. Also the blades will be less stressed by the reduced movements due to waves. Steel cables are very stiff and will keep the support structure in place at wave impact point. With this concept hammering is not necessary anymore. Also damage due to waveimpact is reduced significantly.
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