It’s all about techniquecustom spreader beam solves tricky task
Jülich – It’s not always just the lifting capability of a mobile crane that takes center stage when tackling a special heavy-duty task.
In this case, the challenge was to extract a 12-ton “reformer” from a 60-meter-high solar tower, which is closed at the top. The reformer was installed at a height of 35 meters, behind a cladding that can be opened for maintenance work.
What’s the method for lifting the 12-ton, 7-meter-long, 2-meter-wide object out of the solar tower?
The technical solution was provided by WASEL with the help of a custom spreader beam supplied by the manufacturer Tectrion.
A 300-ton mobile crane was used to carefully lower the spreader beam into the 35-meter-high installation shaft. With the help of an electrically adjustable counterweight (24 tons), the spreader beam could be safely kept in balance during and after the lifting of the 12-ton load.
Operation at the solar tower of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Solar Research in Jülich, shown on the left / Photo source: DLR website
Know-how and technology make the difference
The special feature of this custom spreader beam is an electrically controlled counterweight, which allows asymmetric loads to be balanced during lifting,” explains Axel Schlothane, technical project manager at WASEL.
Thanks to our decades of experience with complex heavy-lift projects, we were able to spare our client a significantly more time-consuming and costly dismantling solution, which would have included extensive scaffolding of the tower.
Operation of the custom spreader beamwith controllable counterweight at 35 meters
