TECHNOLOGY REPORT Ӏ NOVEMBER 2022
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 a steel mobile gantry as opposed
to a fi xed crane system as this 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 customer, the gantry was
specifi ed with a 5 metre span between wheel centres and a height to underside of beam of 6 metres, which gave the approximate lifting height of 5.5 metres that was requested. As the operators only ever need to work on one vehicle at a time, they are able to move and position the gantry into the required area. A 'moveable under load' gantry was a possibility within this height and load range, but this was not required on this occasion as once 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 of 1600 kg and fi tted with
four swivel castors. It has a dual-speed electric chain hoist, with a manual push-travel trolley for traversing the hoist and loads left to right along the bridge.
around the moon but not landing, is scheduled for late 2023 before Artemis III lands men (and at least one woman) on the surface. To support Artemis II, in the summer of 2021 Sarens was brought in to assist in a crane replacement in the Operations Checkout Building where the Orion capsule is prepared for take-off. The scope of their work was to
remove the old 27t High Bay crane that was in place in order to install a new 30t crane which has greater lifting capacity and enhanced controls. The crane is alongside two others, and installing it had its complexities. No headroom was available to allow a crane to perform the lifts from above, so Sarens opted for a hydraulic lift to replace the equipment from underneath. Teams were able to utilize the old crane for one final lift in order to install the new crane; they then assisted in decommissioning the older model. Project manager Steve Gibson of
Sarens said, “We were brought on by American Crane & Equipment Corporation, which we’ve been working alongside since 2008. NASA provided tremendous support and we’re certain that the Artemis II mission will have an enormous impact on future space travel.”
Meanwhile back on earth – or j tools, such as a bucket, pallet
forks, grappling devices, and sensor and visualization packages can be quickly added to the tip using a quick-change device at the tip end.
BLAST OFF Before it can get to the moon, of course, the capsule containing it has to blast off from earth,
from the John F. Kennedy space station, which it will do on top of a 110-metre ‘Space Launch System Block 1’ rocket. The moon program is called
Artemis. Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight, has suffered multiple delays but is now scheduled for the earlierst mid-November 2022. Artemis II, a crewed mission
rather, back in the sky – Zeppelin is a name to conjure with, redolent of the huge and luxurious airships that crossed continents and oceans before heavier-than-air jet planes consigned them to oblivion. But the Zeppelin company still exists; Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin back in 1915 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 f
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