Tentec has been working closely with major manufacturers and suppliers of wind turbines looking at the problems associated with anchoring bolts into the foundation structure.
Due to the unusual length of foundation bolts and the anchoring methods used, relatively large amounts of bolt extension are seen. It is important, therefore, that bolt tensioning tools have plenty of piston/ram extension capacity. With this in mind, the new Aero Model WTF offer a 25mm piston/ram capability for "one pull" uninterrupted tensioning. Another important design feature of these new tools is that they can be supplied to suit many different thread forms such as Williams and Dyson threaded bars and the more conventionally ISO metric and Imperial Unified Thread forms. Versatility is also key in the design of the Model WTF. As the amount of thread protruding can vary significantly from turbine to turbine, the tensioning tool has been designed to work in two different ways. When there is long stud protrusion from the foundation hexagon nut, a spare nut can be used on top of the Aero WTF tensioner, whereas with a short stud protrusion, an extended length puller can be used. This reaches down inside the tensioner to grip on to the short stud protrusion.