Dredgepump gearboxes Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV

Van Oord is one of the leading dredging and marine contractors in the world and they are active with a large fleet of vessels. On board of one of their trailing suction hopper dredgers, the Volvox Asia, two dredgepumps were installed with a maximum capacity of 6000 kW each. The capacity of the old gearboxes, which were placed between the main diesel engines and the dredgepumps, was no longer sufficient. The customer wanted to use more engine power for driving the pumps, which would result in an increased production capacity. Adaptations to the existing gearboxes would not be able to meet Van Oord’s demands. For this reason Stork Gears & Services was commissioned to design and build a set of new gearboxes. The most important requirements for the design were: Optimised internals for handling various rpm and dredging conditions Very robust and strong interior Long bearing life The gearboxes, weighing 26000 kg each with dimensions (l x w x h) 2900 x 2280 x 1680mm, were produced and tested extensively. Stork Gears & Services personnel will perform final placement and test-trials in the first quarter of 2005. previous page