Belfast Product Design: CAD, Prototyping and Engineering
Generating new product design concepts, developing prototypes and delivering production designs
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Retractable windsail

A great example of a project designed and engineered for a challenging industrial environment. The windsail is mounted inside of the jib arm of a crane. When electronically deployed, it allows the crane to weathervane in the direction of the wind and protect the crane from damage. In operational service, the windsail is retracted and the crane driver can operate unrestricted.

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Industrial:

Construction Equipment

CASE STUDY :

RETRACTABLE WINDSAIL FOR LUFFING JIB CRANES

Working as Project Manager at IDC (creds)

The worlds first retractable windsail for cranes. Designed to improve safety and operational performance for luffing jib cranes. The innovation is particularly useful in densely populated urban environments where equipment footprint restrictions often require this type of crane to be used.

“We wanted to do develop a completely new product…an innovation that would improve crane safety and deliver performance that competitors couldn’t match. Ryan and his team helped take us from the initial seed of an idea to batch scale production design in less than 12 months … a fantastic result.”
— Stephen Bradby, Technical and Engineering Leader (Select Plant Hire)
 
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CAD MODELLING

After the final concept had been selected, a detailed CAD model was constructed to ensure that the new windsail assembly could be fitted to existing crane jib hardware

 
 
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FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Finite element analysis was used to calculate the theoretical stresses in mounting hardware to ensure that the assembly could withstand the high loads that would be applied by wind.

This performance was experimentally validated using a twin prop aircraft to subject the full assembly to wind speeds of up to 100km/h.

 
 
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BATCH MANUFACTURE

The system comprised custom extrusions of up to 8.6m in length, along which travel linear carriages that carry the windsail. The final assembly included almost 3,000 components.

 
 
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SITE INSTALLATION

The retractable windsails are now in use on construction sites across the UK. At night, when the windsails are deployed, they provide a weathervane effect and allow the main arm of the crane to slew and protect the crane from the full force of the wind. During day time, when the crane is operational, the windsail can be retracted to allow better levels of control for the operator