by | 18 Jul 2013
The “Iron Gate”, on the Danube River in the southern Carpathian Mountains on the border from Romania to Serbia, is regarded as one of the most impressive gorges in Europe. Two river power stations built in 1972 – “Iron Gate” 1 and 2 – with a lockage had tamed what had been up until then the most dangerous section of the Danube River for navigation. For the maintenance of this lockage, Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH, Kissing/Germany, has now designed and installed a special lifting device. The linear lifting solution consists of four high-precision and proven heavy-duty screw jack elements SHE 100.1 made by Pfaff-silberblau. These lift and lower the heavy lock gate weighing some 200 t by 700 mm – with a deviation of less than 0.1 mm.
Precision synchronous operation with less than 0.1 mm deviation
The lifting device from Pfaff-silberblau is deployed in the area of the river power station “Iron Gate 1”. This has a lockage with two chambers measuring 310 m long and 34 m wide. To maintain the lock gates, these have to be lifted up by 700 mm using a lifting device – the perfect task for a lifting and maintenance device designed specifically for this purpose by the motion technology specialists from Kissing in Germany.
For the lifting system, four screw jack elements of the SHE 100.1 series from Pfaff-silberblau each with a lifting special threaded spindle have been mechanically connected and synchronised via bevel gears and universal joint shafts. The low angle of twist in the drive and connecting shafts of a mere quarter of a degree per running metre and the reduction ratio in the worm gear pair go to ensure extremely precise synchronous operation within the system with a deviation of less than 0.1 mm.
Reliable lifting performance for 200 t
Altogether, the system from Pfaff-silberblau lifts and lowers a total load of 200 t with a speed of 0.06 m/min. Two drive motors, which are operated synchronously, ensure ideal torque division. Two bevel gears in each case are responsible for ensuring the correct speed at the lifting drives, which are required for reaching the necessary lifting speed. The self-locking screw jack elements guarantee that the heavy 200 t shutter is held in place at the necessary working height without additional support.
The controller to the lifting system for the lock gate is also supplied by Pfaff-silberblau. It features a 45 KW reversing contactor, which supplies both motors at the same time, and is operated by three pushbuttons. The system is started at the push of a button and switches off immediately on reaching the limit switches. The operating status is displayed by four LED signal lamps. In case of emergency, an emergency stop button allows the system to be shut down immediately.
More information about the lifting solutions and products from Pfaff-silberblau is available online at www.pfaff-silberblau.com.
About Columbus McKinnon and Pfaff-silberblau
The company Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH, Kissing/Germany, has ranked with its brand Pfaff-silberblau for many decades amongst the technology leaders in components and system solutions for mechanical motion and lifting technology. The portfolio ranges from sophisticated screw jack elements to innovative linear drives through to powerful lifting tables and wire rope winches. On the basis of these components, Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products also offers customised solutions for a wide range of different fields of application.
Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products is a subsidiary of the listed Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO), Amherst/USA, a leading supplier of lifting and materials handling equipment. Worldwide, the Group has around 2,600 employees at 18 production sites in seven countries and at 52 other company branches. Further information on Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products along with the brand Pfaff-silberblau is available online at www.pfaff-silberblau.com.
For 150 years we have been a technological leader in motion and lifting technology.
Whether turnkey lifting systems for trains and buses, spindle lifting elements, electromechanical components of linear drive technology or hoists
for steel and heavy industry, logistics, stage technology, offshore installations and ATEX areas.
Customers worldwide benefit from our products, services and complete solutions from project planning to maintenance.
In the summer of 2015, the region's first storm surge barrier will be inaugurated in Greifswald on the German Baltic Sea coast. Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products, Kissing, uses its PFAFF-silberblau SHE screw jacks to position the sliding gates of the harbour promenade to protect against flooding.
In the South African Karoo semi-desert, astronomers working on the MeerKAT project are using 64 radio telescopes from the German manufacturer Vertex Antennentechnik to explore space. The elevation movement of the antennas is effected using the innovative technology from Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products.
Last year saw the start of a major construction project in Kazakhstan designed to establish the ferry terminal in Kuryk on the shores of the Caspian Sea as the hub for the transhipment-free transportation of goods to Europe. Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products, working closely with the local company in St. Petersburg/Russia, is now fitting this construction site out with two giant loading bridges each with 24 Pfaff-silberblau special screw jacks SHE 150.1 in addition to 48 special gear motors and, in doing so, is creating the technical basis that will allow entire freight trains to quickly drive in and out of the ferries before the end of the year.
For natural gas filter towers in the Saudi-Arabian desert, Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH, Kissing/Germany, has developed and installed a special lifting and traversing system for exchanging filter elements. This involves the use of 19 specially designed trolleys in three different sizes and eight gantry cranes made from ATEX-compliant lifting elements and electric wire rope winches from Pfaff-silberblau. This extremely heavy-duty special solution is capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius, sand and dust and even the explosive environment.
Thanks to their robust design, the successful SHE screw jack elements from Pfaff-silberblau are perfectly equipped for use in difficult environmental conditions. Designed specifically for use in the extremely aggressive conditions of the paper industry, the company Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH (Kissing/Germany) has now extended its versatile SHE range with the option “stainless”. The newly developed SSP series from Pfaff-silberblau with integrally cast swivel brackets is easy to clean and satisfies with ease the exacting requirements with regard to corrosion protection in the paper making and processing industry.
Hardly any other workplace has such harsh environmental conditions as a steel mill. In the face of scorching heat and the greatest dirt, the heavy work is mainly carried out by machines – and for this they must also be designed to be particularly robust. Pfaff-silberblau Hebezeugfabrik GmbH, Kissing, has developed a special push tube construction based on the SHE 150 for the adjustment of casting trolleys for the continuous foundry of a large German steel manufacturer. This encapsulated system solution from the Kissinger drive technology specialist has passed its "acid test" in the foundry and is now also suitable for other applications in heavy industry in which high loads have to be moved under unfavorable environmental conditions.
Lifting heavy loads under the harshest of conditions has always been one of the specialties for the jacking systems from Pfaff-silberblau Hebezeuge GmbH, with headquarters in the Southern German town of Kissing. With a clever special jacking system based on its versatile SHE worm-gear screw jacks, the company is now reducing downtimes for the steel industry’s galvanizing lines. The crucial feature: A special sensor monitors the temperature of the gearbox oil, and an active cooling circuit keeps it at the ideal level. Simultaneously, a contactless sensor constantly monitors the temperature at the screw and does not turn off the system unless there is a risk of overheating. In this way, system operators can ensure that their systems remain functional, but also help to minimize operational interruptions.
Reliable and safe performance is essential also in lifting applications for outdoor use as well as in aggressive and hygienically critical environmental conditions. Columbus McKinnon Engineered Products GmbH, Kissing (Germany), has extended its versatile SHE series of the Pfaff-silberblau brand with a “stainless” option.
With its innovative new design and featuring fully rust-proof components, the SHE-S series meets exacting of requirements in terms of corrosion protection and cleanability with its corrosion-resistant design. Also thanks to its cost-effective construction, the SHE-S “stainless” series by Pfaff-silberblau is attracting more and more customers, particularly from the food processing industry, pharmaceutical industry, paper industry, petrol industry as well as from steel hydraulics construction.
South Africa - EN
