Towering over high-rise structures

The growth of demand in different sectors such as real estate, affordable housing, precast construction, civil infrastructure and industrial construction drives the demand for energy efficient and more advanced tower cranes.

Tower cranes are valuable assets of a construction company since they make the process easier productive and efficient. Tower cranes not only aid in the construction of high-rise buildings, but also help in areas inaccessible. VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India Pvt Ltd talks about demand scenario and how his company stands prepared

How do you see the demand growth for tower cranes in high-rise buildings?
The increased demand for the building and construction segment is fuelling the tower crane market. The growth of different sectors such as real estate, affordable housing, precast construction, civil infrastructure and industrial construction drives the demand for energy efficient and more advanced tower cranes. The tower crane market is anticipated to record a moderate compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5 per cent from 2017 to 2027 globally. With regard to the Indian market, we are anticipating an increase in the urban infrastructure segments owing to the building of large scale commercial buildings and residential projects.The Schwing-XCMG Tower Crane can withstand extreme conditions in construction sites. There are two types of tower cranes sold and serviced by us -inner climbing and external climbing tower cranes. In fact, these highly adaptable fast-erecting tower cranes are designed with several features to handle high-rise projects.

What kind of safety features towers need when it is being operated at high-rise construction site?
Some of the safety features in our tower cranes are that slewing limit allows stopping slewing movement of the jib after it takes 1.5 turns in left or right direction to avoid damage to electrical wires and excess torsion.Hoisting limit allows stopping hoisting movement, when the hook block approaches the trolley and the ground.Trolley limit switch stops the trolley movement when it approaches the jib end.

Moment limit was integrated with over weight limit. These limit switches ensure that the operator does not exceed the specified load at the respective radius. Crane operation has to be stopped whenever overloading occurs, beyond the permissible limits. The safe load indicator’s design makes it extremely suitable for harsh working environment as well as in less demanding situations.
Its main features are high accuracy, reliability and linearity; over hoisting protection; load, angle, jib length, are displayed in the operator’s cabin. Wire rope deployment, hook travel, wind speed and even the crane tilt can be viewed by the operator.Manual braking function is also available to apply the brake during the power off condition. Three slewing mechanisms have been introduced for smooth slewing operation. A working platform is provided to ensure the operator’s safety while jacking the cylinder.

How your cranes making the construction process more productive?
One of the special applications is to use variable frequency drive mechanism in Schwing-XCMG tower cranes. It is introduced to lessen the electrical consumption. A variable-frequency drive (VFD) is a type of adjustable-speed drive used in electro-mechanical drive systems to control AC motor speed and torque by varying motor input frequency and voltage. As per consumer demands, we have devised a unique solution in making the minimum jib radius to be 25 m. In some applications, the customers have given us customized design of mast section for taking the highest load in the respective radius.

VG Sakthikumar
Managing Director
Schwing Stetter India Pvt Ltd

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