New-generation crane launched

1st April 2016

New-generation  crane launched

CARBON REDUCTION The V-Type girder manufactured using ecofriendly processes to reduce Demag’s carbon footprint

Crane manufacturer Demag launched its V-Type girder early this year, which it believes is a game changer in the local materials handling sector owing to the double service life of the conventional box-section girder and its ability to easily manage more than 500 000 load changes.

Demag sales and marketing senior manager Richard Roughley explains that the girder ensures safety and impressive load handling rates and that it can be easily adapted to any building shape, regardless of the model type selected. Demag notes that it is, therefore, the ideal solution for both existing buildings and new construction projects.

Built with safety in mind, the V-Type girder allows 30% more light to pass through, giving personnel a better view of their surroundings, while brightening the workspace. This improved view results in a safer and more attractive working environment.

The V-Type girder also has a shorter time cycle, helping to increase productivity and overall output. It boasts several lifting points for safer installation of the load and has more clamping and attachment points for lamps.

Further, the tapered diaphragm joints also replace the solid box-section design of conventional cranes. Roughley explains that tapered diaphragm joints accommodate pressure and tensile forces more effectively to reduce resonant frequency by 30%.

He adds that, on average, the V-Type crane is 17% lighter than comparable cranes with box-section girders. This not only reduces the forces transmitted to the existing support superstructure and provides architects with greater freedom when planning new building layouts but also improves the relative deadweight-to-load-capacity ratio.

The V-Type girder’s energy chain is perfectly matched to the given V-Type crane variant and is tailored to meet the specific requirements of indoor and outdoor applications, as well as any payload movements. The energy chain provides improved working clearance below the crane, thereby enabling available space to be used more effectively. It also eliminates the need for many standard components that often result in more maintenance and higher susceptibility to repairs.

The V-Type girder features bolted connections for gentler loads on the entire crane system, including the crane runway. Consequently, maintenance costs and requirements are reduced to a minimum.

Roughley indicates that parallel alignment of the machined connecting surfaces forms the basis for secure connections with high-tensile bolts. “The machined and bolted connections and matching contact surfaces provide optimum alignment of the components, minimising the rapid wear of travel wheels, the crane runway and the rails,” he says.

The V-Type girder was manufactured using ecofriendly processes in an effort to reduce Demag’s footprint and to increase environmental sustainability. “Our ecofriendly utilisation of resources is reflected in the use of less material, reduced drive output requirements, blast cleaning of metal parts with dry ice and the use of water-based paints. This manufacturing process ultimately results in greener building practices further down the supply chain too,” Roughley concludes.