The 600t crawler crane LR 1600/2-W is developed especially to serve the wind power generation industry. It has a narrower chassis (5.8m wide), improving accessibility to wind farms, and boom systems that allow semi-assembled translation, making them more agile for this operation.

The upgrade of the LR 1600/2-W consists of extra lattice sections, and a software update, which allows operating with maximum control and safety with the new boom configuration SL13. With the upgrade, the LR 1600/2-W can reach a hook height of 165m and a maximum capacity of 73t within a radius of 22m.

“The possibility of increasing the load tables of our equipment was what at first drew our attention to this solution,” said Ivo Boff Junior, supply director at I.V. Guindastes. “In some situations, with the upgrade, we can have heights even greater than we have with an 800t crane and maintain the ease of operation the LR 1600/2-W have in the wind farm, which normally has narrower accesses. In this sense, having a leaner crane, with wider capacities, helps a lot in the work.”

I.V. Guindastes has already acquired the second upgrade to the LR 1600/2-W in a period of 12 months. “With this upgrade, in addition to being able to use the LR 1600/2-W in wind farms on the new generation of wind power towers, which have generation capacity from 4MW to 6MW, with heights that can vary from 100m to 130m, we can also use this equipment in other applications, such as in the pulp and paper industry and in the Oil & Gas market,” Ivo Boff Junior added.

The upgrade of the LR 1600/2-W also brought an improvement in the process of I.V. Guindastes: the possibility to lift the complete nacelle up to the top of the tower, which was already showing a trend in good practices in the assembly of wind towers. Igor Boff, I.V. Guindastes technical director, explained: “Without the upgrade, we would lift each part of the nacelle individually and finish its assembly there, at the top of the tower. The great advantage of hoisting the fully assembled nacelle to the top is the saving of time. In a wind farm, the wind windows that enable the execution of the assembly and maintenance projects are short, so, lifting it completely, saves us time and improves operational efficiency.”