Sany and Zoomlion take aim at foreign megacrawlers

19 July 2011

Print Page

At the start of the summer, the world saw the advent of two of the largest crawler cranes ever to be made in China, Zoomlion’s 3,200t ZCC3200NP and the Sany 3,600t SCC8600TM.

Speaking to Cranes Today, the manufacturers believe the cranes, unveiled within weeks of one another, mark an important step in the Chinese crane industry’s progression towards being one of the dominant influences in the business.

For the SCC8600TM, a 500-strong Sino-US joint research and development team used digital prototyping, top down and advanced ultimate limit state design methods to address the problems of non-linear and large deformation inherent in designing what Sany says is the largest crane of its kind in the world.

Its design also applies the high-risk coefficient recommended by Chinese standards body Code of China in its guidance ‘GB3811-2008 Design Rules For Cranes’ for use in the nuclear industry.

Sany has also applied for 30 patents for elements of the crane’s design such as the double main chord and single jib section as well as the double super cab, and hopes that this will end the dominance of foreign industry players in the Chinese domestic market for nuclear heavy lifting technology.

Zoomlion announced that they too have set out on this path with over 20 patents of its own currently pending resultant from the ZCC3200NP’s design, including patents for the crane and parallel double jib, a parallel closed control system and a multiple engine power unit.

With a maximum hoisting moment just 4,000tm lower than the 86,000tm hoisting torque of the Sany 3,600t crane, Zoomlion’s 3,200t crane was developed for use on the third-generation CAP 1400 nuclear power station.

Zoomlion’s design rationale was to produce a large capacity travelling crane and so used 3D design software to determine best practice assembly procedures for the crane. The firm developed three benchmarks for assembling super-large frame modules, and say that this informed the crane’s modular design and ease of assembly/disassembly for transport.

As part of the Sany 3,600 tonner’s development, the firm also invested around ¥100m to create a ‘super computing centre’, used to design analogue simulation hoisting software, processing equipment and detection instrumentation for the process.


Launch event for Sany's 3,600t SCC8600TM at Kunshan Industrial park, China Launch event for Sany's 3,600t SCC8600TM at Kunshan Industrial park, China