New Equalizer flange tools offer easier wind

By Michelle Froese | May 31, 2019

Enerpac announces the Equalizer portfolio of tools for easier wind-turbine flange assembly and maintenance. The Equalizer tools provide a safe, cost-effective, and simple solution for flange alignment, flange spreading and flange pulling applications.

Compared with traditional, manual approaches, Enerpac says the Equalizer tools offer a much safer quicker and effective means of realigning flanges for turbine towers.

The flange alignment tools can be used to resolve bolt-hole rotational or lateral misalignment that can occur within flange joints inside turbine tower sections during their assembly or installation. For use on applications with minimum bolt-hole diameters of 25.0 to 45 mm, the tools provide a reaction force of up to 27 tons (270 kN).

Flange spreading & pullingThe Equalizer range of tools also includes flange spreading and pulling tools together with a series of hand pumps. The wedge shaped, flange spreading tools use mechanical and hydraulic actuation for separating flanges and can spread small, medium, or large flange joints with a minimum required access gap of 4 mm, with a spreading force of 480 kN when used in pairs.

These flange pulling tools have been developed to pull flanges together during installation or maintenance for use on all vertical and horizontal flanges including ANSI/ASME, API, BS, DIN, and SPO — with a minimum bolt-hole diameter of 22.0 mm. With a closing force of up to 200 kN when used in pairs, the tools can pull flanges from a distance of 600.0 down to 0.0 mm. All tools are supplied as ready to-use sets.

The Equalizer range of hydraulic hand-pumps have been designed with a sealed oil reservoir, which allows the pumps to be used in any orientation without the risk of oil spills or air contamination.

The pumps can be used to operate any Equalizer 690 bar rated hydraulic equipment in most environments including onshore, offshore, or subsea. Each pump is available in 350cc, 550cc, and 1000cc capacity versions.