Technology

Pieces of the global wind energy market are moving through Vancouver. Through July, trucks and rail cars will haul the enormous wind-energy components — including blades, generators and towers — from the Port of Vancouver to wind farms in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Cortland recently produced the world’s largest 12-strand rope for a European client, constructed on the giant 12 strand braiding machine using Cortland’s patented Plasma® synthetic fibre. This rope will be used to create an enormous industrial lifting sling.

Crane manufacturers and contractors are poised to help drive the next big wave of wind energy construction. Jeff Hampton reports. With what most observers agree was a down year now in the rearview mirror, the U.S. wind energy industry is looking for renewed vitality with the help of a strengthening economy and widespread public support

Advancing technology requires increasingly future-proof, flexible and operator safety conscious designs. One of the main issues facing the remote control sector is the ongoing battle for air-space as the number of remote controls in most work environments increases.

Schmidbauer has added its muscle to the Munich art scene by helping to erect a 52 m high sculpture. The company used its 600 tonne capacity Liebherr LR 1600/2 crawler crane to mount the 57 tonne top section of the Mae West statue onto its base at the Effnerplatz roundabout in the German capital.

The new Effi-Plus system increases hoist and lowering speeds with light loads up to 70%, so that the hoist cycle time is significantly shortened, the company says. Effi-Plus has been applied to the 24 kW, 37 kW, 50 kW and 65kW drives of its LC1100, LC2100 and LCL series cranes at no extra cost to customers.

Russian construction contractor OAO Metrostroy put its Terex CTT 331-16 flat top tower crane to the test during a 150 m high cooling tower build in Saint Petersburg. Local distributor JSC GRPM supplied the 16 tonne capacity crane for use at the federal power station where the 120 m diameter cooling tower is part of a project to replace the existing 1973 facility.

Recently introduced the Spectrum D radio controller featuring a 3.5-inch color screen— a new feature now offered on radio remote controls used for operating a variety of cranes, such as knuckleboom cranes or overhead cranes.

Stampede Crane & Rigging is proud to introduce its new website. Click here to view website… www.stampedecrane.com

A LARGE Dutch ship which has its own massive onboard tower cranes sailed up Walney Channel for the first of eight visits to the port to start a new phase of a windfarm’s development. Fair Partner, owned by Jumbo Shipping of Holland, effectively kicked off phase two of the construction of the £1bn Walney Offshore Windfarm, nine miles off Barrow.