Local rigging, machine movement and plant equipment company AWH has acquired a heavy mobile knuckle crane able to lift and move heavy equipment of up to 45 tonnes.
Introducing the state-of-the-art equipment to a small selected group of people it was evident that the Turkish-designed and manufactured crane has endless potential, not only for Namibia, but for the whole Southern African Development Community.
The Hidrokon HK 240 L7, installed on a 10×4 Volvo truck, has the capacity to lift 45 tonnes with a five-metre radius, while the crane can lift a weight of 5,6 tonnes with a 27-metre radius.
The technology used for this crane is not only world-class, but safety and other features, like remote control operations, are part of the equipment.
Speaking to Anthony Hearn from AWH, a whole new world of technology was revealed to Top Revs about this crane and its applications.
“You can stop and start the truck with a remote control, and you can see what you are picking up. It gives you all the flows and pressures and the boom angles so you are 100% safe and in control from the remote on your LCD display,” Hearn says.
It is also connected to a load cell which can give the operator accurate weight.
The load cell can weigh up to 50 tonnes, he says.
Other applications of the truck is that is is highly mobile and can reach and operate in confined areas.
The crane can even be fitted with a ‘man basket’ and still be able to reach 32m high.
Hearn says the truck is capable of lifting shipping containers over obstacles like walls and fences without removing or
breaking it down, while it is also capable of moving loads from underneath bridges and the roofs of buildings.
“The versatility of the machine is so much bigger. It fills the market gap between a normal crane truck and a mobile crane,” he says.
The operations of this vehicle is much more affordable than putting, for instance, a mobile crane, on a low bed truck and driving to a site.
To handle this crane the Volvo truck has a 420 horsepower engine.
To assist the vehicle to operate in confined spaces it has three steering axles.
The two front axles assist when operating in tight spaces, while the last axle complements the two in the front by means of countersteering in the opposite direction of the vehicle.
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The Namibian
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