Huge cranes of a hundred meters or more are required to lift large installation components. However, the space required for the installation of such a crane is often missing. A new gigantic crane offers a solution for that.

So far, the main and aft masts of the cranes have been assembled on site horizontally on the ground. Then they are raised. But in the refinery, for example, the required building area of ​​150 x 30 meters is not available almost immediately.

Production ceased

Buildings that stand in the way often have to be demolished temporarily. Typically, the superstructure also crosses pipelines that must be drained for safety reasons.

This means that the partial production of the company has ceased. This crane is assembled and then disassembled four weeks later with ease.

Focus 30

A new type of Mammoet massive crane Focus 30 It overcomes these hurdles. Thanks to the new assembly technology, only 30 x 40 meters is required to build the masts.

The new crane is assembled on top of the rotary transmission part, the so-called superstructure, with a robotic build system.

This is how the crane was installed

The car itself measures 22 x 22 meters. The remaining meters are required for a much smaller additional crane and as approach, storage and workspace.

The construction 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 correct place with the head cover of the main boom and the moving crane arm above it, the so-called an arm.

All smaller pulleys, winches and support masts are already installed on this boom. The surface mounted 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 fitted under it, after which the new mast portion slips 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 from below again and then raises the entire main mast at once. This process is repeated for each mast section.

Automatic accumulation

A supervisor directs the work with the help of the introduction of numerous cameras and sensors that measure forces and indicate locations. Technicians always attach parts by hand to each other.

We deliberately not automated this because we want to make sure the links are connected properly. Our characters end up pushing safety pins. Eric Fesser, chief engineer of the Focus30 project, says that automatic accumulation takes the hard work off their hands.

know more?

He. She The full story about the newest Mammut giant crane It can be found in the May issue of The engineer. Buy the digital edition for € 7.50, or get – at a huge discount of 25% – a 12-issue digital annual subscription for € 69.

Text: Judith Stalpers
Opening image: Mammoet

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