The Ampelmann system is an offshore personnel transfer system which was founded in 2008 as a spin-off of the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

. The

motion compensation Motion compensation in computing, is an algorithmic technique used to predict a frame in a video, given the previous and/or future frames by accounting for motion of the camera and/or objects in the video. It is employed in the encoding of video d ...

platform allows access from a moving vessel to offshore structures, even in high wave conditions. Ampelmann currently operates 55 systems world-wide transferring offshore crew from various types of vessels to offshore oil & gas platforms, offshore turbines, FPSO’s and all other fixed and floating structures at sea.First commercial job
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Ampelmann technology

Ampelmann system of the NORMAND JARSTEIN

Accessing any offshore structure can be problematic due to the movement of a vessel compared to the structure. The Ampelmann eliminates any relative motion by taking instant measurements of the ship’s motions and then compensating movement using a

Stewart platform A Stewart platform is a type of parallel manipulator that has six prismatic actuators, commonly hydraulic jacks or electric linear actuators, attached in pairs to three positions on the platform's baseplate, crossing over to three mounting po ...

. This means the top of the Ampelmann remains completely stationary compared to the structure. The offshore gangway can then be extended towards the structure, so all personnel can walk to work offshore safely, even in high

wave In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (res ...

conditions. The system operates at maximum windspeed of 20 m/s or 38 knots. Besides transferring people, the system can also be used for cargo transfer up to 1000kg.

Clients

The customers that use this system are mainly operating in the offshore oil & gas industry and the offshore wind industry. They use the system to enable their employees to perform maintenance on offshore wind turbines or to work on an offshore

oil rig {{about, , the mnemonic OIL RIG, Redox An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: * Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling * Drillship, a floating apparatus for offshore oil drilling * ...

. Both market segments are growing in a rapid pace.Offshore access market
Offshore Access Blog The

offshore wind Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...

sector, for example, has grown 54% in 2009.Offshore wind growth
All Business This growth has mainly been caused by the shift to more sustainable forms of energy generation by governments all over the world.
, Business Week The customer relation of Ampelmann is only

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...

(B2B). Platforms are usually owned by private companies, whereas wind parks are always run by private companies. There is no agent of independent status between Ampelmann and the user of the system.

External links

PhD thesisGoogle PatentsOffshore Access

References

{{Reflist, 2 Offshore engineering