January 28 - Special purpose and giant machinery provider Neeb-Schuch recently erected five wind turbines in two separate installation projects for manufacturer ENERCON, using a Terex AC 1000 all-terrain crane.
The Terex AC 1000 is a powerful all-terrain crane that can travel on public roads with its 50 m telescopic boom. Neeb-Schuch took advantage of this capability to erect wind turbines in the German cities of Hannover and in Benhausen, Paderborn.
The crane arrived at the first jobsite in Landesburg, near Hannover and upon its arrival Neeb-Schuch erected four ENERCON E70 wind turbines with a hub height of 84 m. Each installation weighed in at 66 tonnes.
The crane was set up with a SSL configuration, a 188 tonne counterweight and 54 m luffing fly jib on a 12 m variable extension. A three-sheave hook block was installed with five wire ropes in order to lift the load with a 13.5 m outrigger. The Terex AC 1000 required one assist crane to mount its four outriggers, mount the SSL system, extension adapter and luffing fly jib - the rest was rigged by itself.
The main boom was extended in three steps starting at 29.9 m, then extending to 34 m, and ending at 39.1 m.
After installing two wind turbines, the Terex AC 1000 had to travel a distance of 500 m across unpaved country roads to complete the final lifts. The crane was positioned approximately 30 m in front of the turbine foundations and successfully accomplished the 66 tonne lifts.
The all-terrain crane's second assignment was at a jobsite in Benhausen, Paderborn, where Neeb-Schuch installed an ENERCONE70 wind turbine. The tower was a concrete structure made up of 72 rings - each ring 3.8 m tall. The crane's superlift configuration was identical to that in Hannover.
The area for the crane set up presented a slight complication for Neeb-Schuch as the roads were prepared too close to the wind turbine foundations, forcing the crane's luffing jib to be set up over unprepared terrain. However, the crane was modified quickly at minimal delay to the project.
The AC 1000 easily and smoothly handled almost 50 lifts without the slightest variation in precision, the highly effective and easy-to-use IC-1 touchscreen control system played a very important role," explained crane operator Rainer Wege.
www.terex.com
www.enercon.de
