SECTOR REPORT Ӏ ROUGH TERRAINS
off leaving the auxiliary power still available – and so reduce engine hours on the crane, reduce engine emissions, and potentially reduce required regular service. The APU, it claims, is also very quiet compared to main engine run sound levels. For Link-Belt this patent- pending APU design will be a new option that allows a crane to keep the operator ‘cab comfortable’ by maintaining the integrated HVAC system while the engine is off. The APU will run from a self-charging lithium-ion battery. In the round-up of difficult
environments with which we began this article we did not include the swamps of the Everglades (or, just as an aside, the alligators that live in them). That is where a Link-Belt 85|RT is currently at work. One imagines that the ‘cab comfort’ provided by the APU-powered air conditioning would be especially
28 CRANES TODAY
Link-Belt’s 85|RT in the Everglades
appreciated by the operator in that environment. DC Crane Service, Inc. of West
Palm Beach, Florida rented a new machine from Link-Belt Florda distributor Kelly Tractor for work on the Everglades Restoration Act project. The $10.5 billion restoration project is part of an ongoing 35-year effort to maintain and protect Florida’s drinking water as it connects the Florida Everglades to the Kissimmee River and greater River of Grass ecosystem in South Florida. “We chose the 85|RT because
of its mobility,” said DC Crane Service co-owner, Dan Connor. DC Crane is able to travel
the five-mile distance between workstations with the full counterweight 19,200 lbs (8,700 kg) on the machine. “We needed something big enough to do the work but small and nimble enough to drive from
station to station. We can retract the boom and drive the five miles between them,” Connor added. The 85|RT supports general
construction at each station, handling construction materials like tall formwork and rebar cages for columns, scaffolding, and large dumpsters. Culvert pipes 4ft. (1.2m) in diameter and 25ft. (7.6m) in length are placed at up to a 60ft. (18.2m) radius. The 85|RT hoists 18,000lbs.
(8,100kg) concrete pipe sections running from the newly constructed canal into the station with 95ft. (28.9m) of boom extended. “I like the fine metering system on the 85|RT because when I’m setting the pipes, I want my hoist line to go much slower than I normally use it. It’s nice having fine metering, which allows me to control the speed of the hoist line,” said operator Alex Goode.
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