TECHNOLOGY REPORT | AEROSPACE
HOISTING WHIRLYBIRDS
A helicopter maintenance company needed a lifting and handling solution that could be used for general maintenance of the helicopters within its aircraft hangar. The solution needed to cover a large working area to allow operatives to work on any of the vehicles within the hangar. A normal solution would be an overhead crane suspended from the building steelwork, but due to the large working area and the freedom of movement that was needed, this was not economically viable. Hoist UK’s technical team worked with the customer to specify
would allow full freedom of movement within the working area. But the client also needed the solution to give an actual lift height of 5.5 r
After a design review and a formalised approval process with the
wheel centres and a height to underside of beam of 6 metres, which As the operators only ever need to work on one vehicle at a time,
A “moveable under load” gantry was a possibility within this height the gantry had been positioned over a helicopter that was where it remained for the duration of the maintenance procedures. The solution then was a steel mobile gantry with a load capacity
the hoist and loads left to right along the bridge.
founded his own machining company to make the gears needed for the airships that bore his name – they needed strength and precision that could be obtained only through a patent that was new at that time. The company is now called ZF and has grown into a global giant with around 134,000 employees and an annual turnover of over 230 billion DKK. Even though ZF no longer manufactures
gears for airships it still supplies them for the aviation industry as well as for road
vehicles. Its Danish subsidiary ZF Danmark has two factories, for which Erikkila recently supplied lifting equipment to speed up production. Both use solutions from crane suppliers and experts Fyns Kran Udstyr. The workshops handle many different
products, which vary significantly in weight and shape. A problem for the company was that the capacity of its earlier workstations was not being used effectively. It was solved by integrating the existing cranes with two new column-mounted cranes from Kito
Erikkila. There are six workstations, and the heavy gearboxes can now easily be moved between them and handled with the nearest column-mounted crane. “We have achieved a much more efficient workflow while creating a better working environment for our employees. We are very satisfied with the solution,” says ZF Danmark service manager Thomas Aagaard. Rolls-Royce is as famous an aviation name as Zeppelin. Its Trent turbofan jet engines power the Airbus A330, A340,
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