Manitowoc Wind Power Crane
Posted in Energy Industry | Wind Power | Wind Turbines
Manitowoc Crane Group will launch a new technology designed for the assembly and maintenance of wind turbines. The Grove GTK1100 will be unlike any crane available to the market today. MCG produces Manitowoc crawler cranes and Grove mobile cranes used for erecting wind turbines. The new GTK1100 is a result of extensive customer research within the Manitowoc and Grove global customer base.
Glen Tellock, president and general manager of Manitowoc Crane Group, says the new GTK1100 shows MCG’s commitment to customer-focused product development.
“Customer-focused product innovation is at the very heart of our business philosophy”, he said. Wind power is one of the fastest-growing areas for the lifting industry. With the GTK1100, we listened carefully to what our customers needed in a crane and spent considerable engineering resources incorporating those needs into the design. The result is a lifting solution that is virtually tailor-made for wind power.
The patented design of the GTK1100 includes a unique wheeled mobile carrier with a telescopic mast and a luffing telescopic boom at its top. The crane’s design maximizes lifting capacity, while offering a lower cost of operation when compared to existing technologies.
The GTK1100 offers several advantages over other types of lifting equipment. The crane requires very little room to erect and can be transported with as few as four trailers — compared with up to 25 trailers for cranes with similar capabilities. This offers obvious benefits where transport costs are an issue.
MCG has based the GTK’s main carrier around a standard semi-trailer. As few as three semi-trailers can be used to transport the rest of the crane. The vertical tower is a six-section telescopic mast, which extends up to 81 m (266 ft). Four spreaders at the top of the mast attach by pendant links to four stabilizers at the base of the crane.
At the top of the vertical tower is a telescopic luffing boom. Fully extended, the GTK1100 will have a hook height of over 140 m (459 ft). Final specifications have yet to be confirmed, but initial tests suggest the crane will lift loads of over 70 t (77 USt) to heights of over 120 m (394 ft).
Deliveries will start in 2007. MCG will market the crane globally through dedicated sales teams.
About The Manitowoc Company
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. is one of the world’s largest providers of lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. As a leading manufacturer of ice-cube machines, ice/beverage dispensers, and commercial refrigeration equipment, the company offers the broadest line of cold-focused equipment for the foodservice industry. In addition, the company is a leading provider of shipbuilding, ship repair, and conversion services for government, military, and commercial customers throughout the US maritime industry.
