Cooler at the top: trying out a big luffing jib

Scholpp using its Tadano AC 7.450-1 all terrain crane to lift a cooling unit on to the roof of the 100 metre Victoria Tower in the city of Mannheim, Germany. Photo: Tadano

Scholpp Kran & Transport christened the 81 metre luffing jib on its 450 tonne Tadano all terrain crane with a lift to place a cooler atop a 100 metre tower on a job in Germany.

In addition to the height, the job in the city of Mannheim, close to the main railway station, had to be done at long radius, hence the need for the big luffing jib. As it was the first time using it, Scholpp brought in Norbert Kraus, a Tadano service technician, to assist.

Florian Schmid, branch manager at Scholpp’s Mannheim depot, commented, “Having an expert you can rely on really relieves a lot of the stress and uncertainty associated with jobs that are out of the ordinary, and this lift certainly was one of them.”

Scholpp did the job for Gloram Real Estate on the Victoria Tower, Mannheim’s tallest building, built in 2001 for an insurance company. One side of the building is bordered by railway tracks, reducing the opportunity for crane access.

A number of technical challenges also had to be overcome on this job using the 450 tonne capacity Tadano AC 7.450-1 all terrain crane on seven axle carrier. To begin with was the 125 metre hook height. This was necessary to be able to lift the 2.5 tonne cooling unit onto the roof of the Victoria Tower at a height of just under 100 metres. Another was that the densely developed area behind Mannheim’s main railway station meant the closest the crane could get still required the lifts to be made at a radius of 70 metres.

Norbert Kraus explained, “In order to be able to achieve that hook height, we set up the AC 7.450‑1 with a 47.3 metre boom length and the 81 metre luffing jib with a superlift configuration and 130 tonnes of counterweight.”

In addition to all the above, high voltage overhead power lines for trams were identified as a safety risk. Two measures were taken to mitigate the danger. It was a mix of onboard tech and old-fashioned methods. “We not only used the crane’s working range limiter during the lift, but also had a signalperson continuously monitor the crane’s distance from the overlines,” explained Florian Schmid.

The crane company also co-ordinated the work with train dispatchers at Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH.

When everything was prepared the crane lifted the cooling unit to the required height and set it in its intended position on the roof of the Victoria Tower.

Valuable assistance

“Our decision to rely on assistance from the manufacturer definitely proved to be the right one. Not only that but, seeing Tadano’s professionalism and know-how in action once again, was as remarkably impressive as always,” Florian Schmid said.

Jan Meißner, Scholpp managing director of operations and regional manager, said, “We didn’t want to take any risks when using the complete luffing jib for the first time. After all, every issue and every delay comes with additional costs and takes time away from other important work.”

Commenting on the AC 7.450-1 crane Florian Schmid said, “The unit is simply one-of-a-kind in its class as a seven-axle crane with short dimensions and an extremely compact outrigger base. It enables us to take on jobs for which other machines in its class are simply too big.”

Scholpp Kran & Transport has been going for about 70 years and has 200 employees at its seven depots concentrated in southwest Germany.

Its mobile crane fleet offers lifting capacities from 30 to 700 tonnes and includes all terrains, city class cranes, truck-mounted and mini cranes, plus transport vehicles.