Royal Smals’ Plain Suction Dredger Vrouwezand

Project 19092 Royal Smals Plain Suction Dredger Vrouwezand

Sustainable, fully-automated dredging by Royal Smals’ Plain Suction Dredger Vrouwezand. Vuyk Engineering assisted working on the concept design.

Royal Smals has a fleet of specialized dredge vessels. These vessels mainly operate in inland waters and are used for maintenance and sand reclamation works. Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam assisted Royal Smals with working on the concept design of the plain suction dredger Vrouwezand.

Vrouwezand consists of a number of pontoons that can be assembled and disassembled efficiently. This makes the application of the dredger very flexible, and also minimises mobility costs. The construction of this electric suction dredger fulfils the purposes: sustainable, low-noise and with the least possible impact on nature.

The vessel has a dredging depth of over 25 metres, making it suitable for a range of sand mining projects. The installed electrical capacity amounts 1.000 kW in total. Vrouwezand’s dredging system is equipped with a highly efficient submersible permanent magnet (PM) motor, which contributes to lower energy consumption and reduces emissions.

Besides having a sustainable focus, the vessel, is also extremely user-friendly. The dredging process, has been fully automated.

Another remarkable feature is the vibration monitoring system on the submersible PM motor which monitors the condition of its bearings and the imbalance of the dredge pumps.

These features ensure that not only sustainable sand dredging has been a subject of focus, but also maintenance friendliness of the system.