Switzerland-based crane service and heavy transport provider Welti-Furrer has utilised its 450-tonne capacity Tadano AC 7.450-1 all-terrain crane to lift a drilling rig in Zumikon, near Zurich.
The project consisted of placing a multi-part drilling rig at various locations in a residential area so that the rig would be able to drill holes for ground loops for geothermal heat pump systems.
As the residential area offered little space for manoeuvring a large crane, travelling between the houses to get to the drilling sites directly was not possible. “We had to move the three-part drilling rig to each drilling location all the way from the edge of the residential area each time,” said crane operator, Robert Wendelspiess.
To tackle this challenge, Welti-Furrer set up the crane’s 80 m-long main boom with a 69 m luffing jib, which made it possible to carry out the lifts at a maximum radius of 74 m.
To ensure sufficient stability, the company also used the crane’s maximum counterweight of 150 tonnes.
This enabled the team to safely lift the drilling rig’s parts, which weighed up to 6.9 tonnes, over the houses.
