A PID-controlled lifting spreader designed to steady a suspended 70-ton turbine blade during offshore installation
A suspended 70-ton blade can continue to sway and rotate while technicians try to align it with the turbine hub. Our team designed a spreader with four independently vectoring propellers, applying force and moment directly at the lifted blade instead of relying only on tag lines.
We designed the mechanical layout, power system and controller together. A dynamic model converted position and rotation error into thruster commands, while structural and power checks kept the concept buildable. The system required an estimated 1.9 MW nominal and 2.5 MW at peak. The simulations compare the controller before and after adding cable sway.
A 1:100 ESP32 prototype with inertial sensing and four propellers tested control direction, sensor noise and command limits. It validated the control logic while showing where position tracking and a more representative suspended mass are needed next.
