Tower climbing and servicing device
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorYang Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A servicing system for a tower member including a first end portion that extends to a second end portion through an intermediate portion having an outer surface includes a climbing system operatively coupleable to the tower member. The climbing system includes at least one climbing module that is selectively operated to shift the climbing system along the tower member from the first end portion toward the second end portion. The servicing system also includes an operating system operatively coupled to the climbing system. The operating system includes at last one lifting motor and a maintenance member. The at least one lifting motor selectively shifts the operating system relative to the climbing system.
Claims20
A servicing system for a tower member having a first end portion that extends to a second end portion through an intermediate portion having an outer surface, the servicing system comprising:
- a climbing system operatively coupleable to the tower member, the climbing system including at least one climbing module that is selectively operated to shift the climbing system along the tower member from the first end portion toward the second end portion;
- and
- an operating system operatively coupled to the climbing system, the operating system including at last one lifting motor and a maintenance member, the at least one lifting motor selectively shifting the operating system relative to the climbing system.
A method of servicing a tower member having a main body including a first end portion, a second end portion and an intermediate portion having an outer surface, the method comprising:
- mounting a climbing system including at least one climbing module to the outer surface of the tower member;
- connecting an operating system including a maintenance member to the climbing system;
- selectively shifting the climbing system from the first end portion toward the second end portion of the tower member;
- selectively shifting the operating system toward the climbing system;
- and
- operating the maintenance member to perform a maintenance operation on the wind turbine system.
A tower servicing system comprising:
- a climbing system configured to be operatively coupled to a tower member, the climbing system including at least one climbing module that is selectively operated to shift the climbing system axially along the tower member;
- and
- an operating system operatively coupled to the climbing system, the operating system including at last one lifting motor and a maintenance member, the at least one lifting motor selectively shifting the operating system relative to the climbing system, allowing the maintenance member to selectively perform maintenance on the tower member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.