The inventors of the year 2018 from Siemens

© Siemens

Wind farms or oil and gas production facilities are installed in the open sea using jack-up platforms. To anchor the legs of these artificial islands to the seabed, Vemund Kaarstad (55) from Process Industries & Drives in Oslo, Norway, has invented an automatic control system including a control strategy. It prevents the legs from being damaged or even breaking off when the structures, which weigh thousands of tons, are lowered and raised out of the water. Kaarstad's system is already in use on over 70 jack-up platforms. The inventor was honored in the 'Outstanding Invention' category.