LiMain remote maintenance showcased live

As the energy transition develops, wind farms are increasingly being built in offshore locations, making maintenance of all the necessary equipment a challenge. Automated intelligence is therefore becoming an effective solution to make offshore crane maintenance work more resource efficient. Liebherr recognised this trend early on and developed its LiMain intelligent maintenance concept in response.

A new level of independence for manned and unmanned platform operators is provided by this maintenance system. Liebherr Intelligent Maintenance will enable anyone to maintain a crane on a platform without being on site. It allows operators to act whenever and wherever they are. Ideally, owners or operators would have to visit their platform for service only once during an entire year, which is an outstanding business advantage. Visits could be even less frequent depending on platform type and usage. This way, LiMain embodies the future workplace in a digitalised world: Maintenance work independent of time and space.

Live showcase in Rostock

In autumn 2022, the new system was presented to well-known representatives of the offshore wind industry in a live show. An offshore crane of type RL 2600, located in Rostock, Germany, was controlled from Nenzing, Austria. LiMain was convincing throughout. "Maintenance costs are a decisive factor in the offshore sector. Today's presentation has exceeded our expectations," comments Caspar Stein from Siemens Energy in Hamburg, Germany.

Afterwards, all participants were able to pick up the joysticks themselves. The offshore crane RL 2600 could be controlled from the office building via a remote-control station. The participants were impressed by the precise control, which was made possible by the very low latency.

Modular system

The foundation of LiMain is its modular system architecture consisting of four modules: Automatic Greasing, Condition Monitoring, Predictive Maintenance and Remote Maintenance Cycle. The modular package enables operators to determine the scope of intelligent maintenance that meets their needs.

Automatic Greasing will continuously check critical components and automatically lubricate them when needed, even in complexly installed positions. Condition Monitoring benefits from sensor technology, detailed data about the crane as well as its components, and is monitored in real-time to deliver an unprecedented level of insight. Predictive Maintenance puts ad-hoc data into context, building on decades of experience from the construction of over a thousand offshore cranes. The module serves as the foundation for an optimised product and component lifecycle. Remote Maintenance Cycle represents the combination and interconnection of all the previously mentioned modules – the crane is remotely moved, and semiautomatic maintenance and self-diagnosis is enabled.

With LiMain up to 75 % less mobilisation and up to 50 fewer man-days on platforms are possible. As a result, platform owners will save immensely on resources, whether on personnel, material, or transport.