Lightweight shock absorber

Polaris is a novel shock absorber for heavy topside usage, such as piling operations. It has superior performance, lower weight, smaller footprint and lower cost versus traditional solutions. Most notably it is a single cylinder, even for the largest sizes!

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State-of-the-art

Typical shock absorbers have large external accumulators for spring effect and needle valves for damping. Polaris has neither, the entire functionality is contained within a single hydraulic cylinder, which drastically cuts weight, footprint and cost. CFD designed valves gives unmatched efficiency, where we typically see >90%, unheard of with conventional designs.

  • All contained in a single cylinder
  • No pilot accumulator filling
  • Quick setup time
  • Fully retracted even with payload attached
  • Ready for reuse in <1 h, no need to bring to deck

75 - 4000 t

Maximum force

1.0 - 8.0 m

Stroke length

<1 h

Typical setup time

>90%

Typical efficiency

Classification

Polaris is designed, classed and tested according to DNV ST-0378.

Compact and rugged package

Well thought through design that protects components as well as allowing for easy adjustments, handling, upending and maintenance.

Sustainability

Committed To Safety

We follow and exceed the testing requirements in DNV RP-N202. 

Polaris is pull tested in a frame to ensure structural integrity as part of FAT.

All lifting points are pull tested at the factory.

Testing under accidental conditions done regularly.

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Technical Highlights

  • Piston rod locking
  • Data logging
  • Force and stroke measurement
  • All volumes have pressure measurement
  • Fail-safe design

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Polaris shock absorber is used for topside only overload protection, where the overload comes from a falling object, such as a piling hammer.

POLARIS shock absorber combines a hydraulic cylinder with a small gas accumulator. The gas accumulator is used to ramp up the force until the damping preset is reached and the force will be constant until the payload comes to a halt due to a specially designed valve. 

Polaris shock absorber is usually fitted to the crane hook via slings and connected to the payload via slings.
  • Much lower cost
  • Much lower weight
  • Much smaller footprint
  • Much faster to adjust
  • Only a small quantity of nitrogen required for adjustment
  • Much higher efficiency 
  • Easier and much faster filling of gas
  • No pilot accumulator filling/draining required, hence no need for an external HPU
  • Better filling kit
  • Easier to use calculation sheet

If you want to use it for any other application than shock absorption/overload protection, or use it subsea.

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