First 3D-printed crane hook installed on OOS Serooskerke
Huisman announced the delivery of the first class-certified, 3D-printed crane hooks. After load testing at more than double the safe working load, the 3D-printed hooks were certified for offshore use according to ABS standards.
The OOS Serooskerke will be the first vessel in history on which a 3D-printed crane hook is installed. Her sister vessel, the OOS Walcheren, will also be equipped with a 36mt SWL 3D-printed crane hook. Both hooks have been produced at Huisman’s Czech Republic facility.
Currently, crane hooks are manufactured by casting or forging techniques. Delivering these class-certified 3D printed hooks to an end client is an important step in developing industry acceptance for 3D-printed products for the maritime and offshore industry. In January 2018, Huisman successfully load tested the world’s first 3D-printed offshore crane hook to 80mt. An important benefit for larger crane hooks is the significant reduction in delivery time at a cost that competes with forgings and castings while providing a consistent level of quality.
Hugo Romer wrote his TU Delft Master thesis at Huisman on “Wire & Arc additive manufacturing for offshore appliances” and won the KIVI Offshore Engineering award for the best student who graduated in an offshore engineering related topic. Having started as an engineer at Huisman the Netherlands’ R&D department, Mr Romer was soon transferred as Supervisor Test Centre to Huisman China to transform the 3D idea from the drawing table into a working, reliable crane hook.
The Huisman R&D team researched material qualities, such as strength and fatigue, as well as the possible anisotropy of the material. That work has been carried out at Huisman, partly in Schiedam and partly in the Czech Republic, leading to the first ever installed 3D-printed crane hook in the world.
