From the magazine
Huge cranes of at least a hundred meters are required to lift large installation components. However, there is often a lack of space required to install such a crane. A new giant crane offers a solution for this.
So far, the main and aft masts of the cranes have been mounted horizontally on the ground on site. Then they are raised. In the refinery, for example, the required building area of 150 x 30 meters is almost not immediately available.
The production was closed
Buildings in the way often have to be demolished temporarily. As a rule, the structure also crosses pipelines that have to be drained for safety reasons.
This means that the company’s partial production has ceased. This crane is easily assembled and disassembled four weeks later.
Focus 30
A new type of Mammoet Focus 30 massive crane overcomes these hurdles. Thanks to the new assembly technology, only 30 x 40 meters are required to build the masts.
The new crane is mounted on the rotary gear part, the so-called superstructure, with a robot construction system.
This is how the crane was installed
The car itself measures 22 x 22 meters. The remaining meters are needed for a much smaller additional crane and as an approach, storage and work area.
The structure of the crane is as follows. First, the auxiliary crane places the upper frame of the undercarriage with four legs wide, then the first mast section is placed in the right place with the head cover of the main boom and the movable crane arm above it, the so-called arm.
All of the smaller pulleys, winches and support masts are already installed on this boom. The surface mount system is housed around this head unit.
The main boom
This system raises the mast so high that the next section of the boom is mounted underneath, after which the new mast section slides over a rail in the superstructure system. The main boom goes down with the boom and is positioned on the new part.
The superstructure system then catches the new mast section again from below and then lifts the entire main mast at once. This process is repeated for each mast section.
Automatic accumulation
A supervisor guides the work with the help of the introduction of numerous cameras and sensors that measure forces and indicate locations. Technicians always attach parts to each other by hand.
We deliberately did not automate this as we want to make sure that the links are properly connected. Our characters end up pushing safety pins. Eric Fesser, chief engineer on the Focus30 project, says automatic accumulation takes the hard work off your hands.
learn more?
He. you The whole story about the latest giant mammoth crane It can be found in the May issue of The Engineer. Buy the digital edition for € 7.50 or get – with an enormous discount of 25% – a digital annual subscription with 12 issues for € 69.
Text: Judith Stalpers
Opening picture: Mammoet
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