A round up on the top cranes used for the construction of skyscrapers.

Today skyscrapers are a common sight in mega cities. While observing the ongoing construction, one must have observed the huge cranes that shift and lift heavy loads. These cranes play a crucial role in the construction of these sky scrapper’s. We take you through some of the top cranes that are used for building the skyscrapers.

Accelerating the pace of construction

“The policy of responding with speed and expertise has been rewarded over the years in the form of repeat business resulting in constant growth making us the leading company in the mobile cranes, tower cranes and construction equipment sector in the country,” says Anil Mudgil, Vice President-CED & RCED, Action Construction Equipment Ltd. He further adds that the versatility of the company’s equipment satisfies a vast range of possible applications.

Focusing on the tower crane segment, Mudgil says, “The tower crane segment has great potential fornd the Indian market. With the cost of land going up, builders are concentrating on high rise buildings only. It is very difficult to construct high rise building without proper machines like tower cranes and concrete placers.” Mudgil believes that the use of tower cranes and similar machines saves man power and accelerates project to a big extent. “It is because of tower crane, concrete placing booms and other similar mechanisations that some of the contractors are able to finish one floor in 8-10 days and project can be completed in 15-20 months period,” adds Mudgil.

It is believed that the benefits and savings by the use of tower crane easily surpass the cost parameters. Tower crane segment has great potential for Indian market. Usage of tower crane saves man power and accelerates projects to a big extent. It is because of Tower Cranes and other similar mechanisations that the contractors are able to achieve faster speed of Construction. By using Tower Cranes Contractors are able to get savings because of man-power reduction, reduced concrete wastage and advantage of timely completion of projects.

Mudgil also shared the offerings by ACE. He says, “ACE has a diverse portfolio consists of wide range of products covering all segments of construction, earthmoving, material handling and agriculture sectors.  Our equipment has been successfully used in many sectors like infrastructure construction, power projects, ports & shipyards, dams, metro rail, roads, mining and steel industry.”

ACE also offers tower cranes on rental basis, to those who do not want to invest in Tower Cranes because of capital expenditure constraints. “Customers need not bother about operations and maintenance or availability and uptime issues. We provide the complete package which enables customers to work with tower cranes without owning them,” speaks Mudgil.

Flattop tower crane

“The tower cranes made by SCHWING-XCMG comes in various capacities and types ranging between 5 tons, 6 tons, 10 tonnes.  We are offering a flattop tower crane with inner climbing type for the high rise construction,” says V G Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter Sales and Services Private Limited, Chairman of Mechanisation committee, Builders Association of India.

Sakthikumar believes that if a number of saddle jib cranes have to work closely together for effective site coverage, significant cost cuts can be achieved. Explaining this point, he speaks, “Given that construction schedules have generally been shortened in recent years, the tower cranes are not expected on site for as long as they would have been previously that is why, these time savings have grown in importance.”

The flat top concept is especially appropriate for sites where access for mobile cranes is limited for the high rise construction. According to Sakhthikumar, the pendant-free jib design allows rigging in sequences, even directly from the delivery truck if necessary. The weight of the modules to be erected is low enough to allow one tower crane to reinstall a flat top crane at another location on a site during a construction project.

“Most manufacturers of flat top cranes offer a modular jib design. This not only reduces manufacturing costs significantly but it also maximises the flexibility of the customer’s crane fleet,” he adds.

Some of the pioneering features of the Schwing- XCMG Tower crane include:

Front and rear trolley mechanism

• Trolley equipped with front and rear trolley mechanism for convenient to change 4 fall to 2 fall.Forging fish plate welded on the mast
• Fish plate welded on the mast for pin connection helps to interchange the mast with other angle masts.Fixed type mast structure
• Fixed mast with the dimension of 1.2 x 1.2 x 3m is made for easy transportation and assembly.      Angle type structure with pin connections
• Special high yield strength angle steel in the mast, basic mast & fixing angles with 8 pins clamping of mast from external/internal side pins interlocked offer strong fastening of masts, good stiffness stability and high reliability and sustain higher wind loads.
• Ladder with safety cage and rest platform for the convenience of operator and maintenance crew on masts.Introduction trolley
• Introduction trolley is provided for adding the mast which is safe and efficient Hook
• Hook made for changing from 4 fall-2 fall. Nylon pulley on hook provided for safety.

The Hoisting mechanism is designed to lift 5 ton, having larger size rope cable drum. Option of Non Variable Frequency motors (3 speed-pole changing motor) provide simple and reliable hoisting operation.

According to the demand of users the frequency altering and step less regulated, eddy-brake/electro mechanical brake/thruster, brake speed regulated motor is adopted in hoisting mechanism. It is very useful for smooth running & stability.

Speaking about the advantages of the offerings by Schwing Stetter, Sakthikumar says, “The main advantage in Schwing-XCMG tower crane is that it is an external type tower crane that can be used as an inner climbing tower crane also.”

Safe load indicators

There are different types of cranes which may be deployed at construction site, depending on its usage or purpose. These cranes are mobile cranes, telescopic cranes, truck mounted cranes, crawler cranes, overhead crane, tower cranes.

“The major job of all these cranes is to lift, lower, load or unload the construction material. The main purpose to deploy crane is safer and faster movement of material at site and it is an aid to the working manpower,” explains Bharti Gokhale, Director, Dynamic Crane Engineers Pvt Ltd. Dynamic Crane Engineers’ offerings for high-rise construction.

Out of all the types of cranes, for high rise construction most suitable crane type is the tower crane. Explaining the selection of tower cranes, Gokhale said, “The tower cranes are decided on the basis of height at which material is to be lifted, span of the jib and load to be lifted. That is why all the cranes come with their own load charts. It is very crucial for the operator to know what load is being lifted and is the lifted load within the specified load chart.”Gokhale also shared the offerings in the tower crane sector by Dynamic. She says, “Dynamic supplies the safe load indicators for all types of cranes, including tower cranes of all makes. It also supplies cameras to see the entire lift as many a times due to buildings and other obstacles the material is not visible to operator.” As per the company claims, such useful sensors which can be supplied by Dynamic are level indicators and wind speed indicators, that are commonly known as anemometers.

“The most significant part of Dynamic is that it can supply a control unit which can integrate the data from all the sensors and send reports through internet to your office. So the user can have reports based on utilisation of cranes, maintenance requirements and safety related,” concludes Gokhale.

Conclusion

With the increasing number of skyscrapers, the demand for tower cranes are on high demand. While searching for the best tower cranes for this tough job, some of the above mentioned players can be handy.