Straightpoint load cells were added to a custom-built lifting frame to raise refinery modules in Saint John, Canada.
The equipment was used to facilitate the next phase of an oil refinery project, where a new processing unit was being installed.
A dozen 100-tonne capacity Straightpoint Radiolink plus dynamometers were supplied by Ontario-based Equipment Corps, which provided the load monitoring solution to Irving Equipment.
Irving Equipment designed and fabricated the bespoke lifting frame and also supplied a Demag CC 2800 crawler crane.
The Straightpoint load cells were used during the lifting operations to monitor the modules and ensure the lift did not exceed the design criteria of the lifting frame.
Ryan Long, from Irving Equipment, explained: “We needed to find a way to safely lift the modules, whilst conforming to the pick points that were available, which turned out to be three rows of four, including a centre row, which made traditional frames and spreader beams prohibitive.
“Both [modules] had identical lifting points but different weights and centres of gravity. Each pick point was directly above a steel supporting column in the module and the structural design limitations of those columns differed.”
Under the frame were a total of 82 shackles, each with a capacity of 55 tons (49.9 tonnes), 14 Crosby turnbuckles, and four equaliser plates, in addition to the load cells.
Each module was discharged from a barge by Irving Equipment using 36 axle lines of SPMTs. Equipment Corps then placed the modules onto supporting stools whilst the site made final preparations.
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