Herchenbach to supply semi-permanent aluminium structures for Siemens' projects in Europe

Siemens has signed a partnership deal with temporary structures specialist Herchenbach to provide semi-permanent warehouses and workshops constructed out of aluminium to projects in Europe. In a bid to reduce transport costs for heavy components in need of repair, Siemens is taking the workshop to the projects.

Herchenbach provides temporary and semi-permanent aluminium structures. It has come up with a 10 x 15 metre structure, 6.4 metres tall at its highest point.

The structure comprises a corrosion-free aluminium frame and a mixture of polyvinvyl chloride (PVC) industrial-grade tarpaulin in the roof and walls made of trapezoidal sheet metal and tarpaulin.

Components can be lowered into the workshop through the roof, Herchenbach explained. A section of roof tarpaulin can be lifted off the structure by engineers, to allow a component access to the workshop.

"Even when the roof tarpaulin is temporarily removed, the structure has to remain stable in spite of high wind loads," said Herchenbach managing director Tobias Raeber.

"We therefore incorporated robust steel trapezoidal sheet metal walls and further reinforcements into the lateral middle sections of the temporary building, at the point where the roof tarpaulin can be pulled out. These provide additional stability, making the building withstand high loads," Raeber added.

A prototype was installed within 24 hours at a project in France and was later put into storage in Denmark to await use at another project.

"We have achieved our objective of rotating the new temporary building around the various wind farms in Europe. And that really does work without being too time-consuming, and our costs are a fraction of what they were with the old method of transporting heavy loads," said Siemens Wind project manager Mark Borkenhagen.

Gearbox manufacturer Moventas has been offering a mobile service unit since 2012 to provide onsite inspections and repairs to gearboxes.