IN FOCUS / QUEENSLAND RIGGING HIRE
HEAVY DUTY RIGGING FOR LOAD TESTING GANTRY CRANE Queensland Rigging Hire recently solved a difficult lift test with heavy duty rigging, water load bags and over a quarter of a million litres of water. And all this happened in an operating power station. IT ALL SOUNDED FAIRLY STRAIGHT forward when the Gladstone Power Station’s management called Kris Pidgeon, owner and director NQCranes to ask for the stations gantry cranes to be load tested to full capacity in anticipation for the first generator changeover in 40 years. The realities of the project were far from straight forward. NQ Cranes manage the cranes and existing infrastructure throughout the power station. During a site visit NQCranes’ Central Queensland Area Manager Nicolaas Lee immediately recognised several challenges. The space and headroom available to complete the test were quite restrictive, the timeframe for testing to be completed was less than four weeks and the testing of equipment would be at an elevated risk as the station was live and operating. Complexities also included the utilisation of a custom designed and manufactured spreader bar which had been in storage since the generators were originally installed in the late 1970s. Pidgeon called Ben Fitzgerald from Queensland Rigging and Hire to discuss the project. “Kris called and explained the background to the project and I then spoke to Nicolaas and the service contract specialist and engineer Cameron Poole from NRG, at the power station. 34 / CAL November 2021
The quickest way to proceed was to fly up and visit the site and come up with a plan, which I did,” said Fitzgerald. During the initial visit, Fitzgerald was able to understand the height limitations for the lift, the space they would be working in and the close proximity of other plant and equipment. All this information would enable him to design a rigging solution to fit the environment and the requirements of the power station. To further complicate matters, Gladstone Power Station is active and was going to be working the whole time the gantry cranes were being tested and with tight tolerances, there was not much room to move in says Fitzgerald. “I calculated we were going to need 8 water load bags each with a 35t capacity which meant we would safely have the required capacity to be lifting 255,000 litres of water in the air. Working safety in a live power station, with huge volumes of water up in the air, was probably the greatest challenge,” he said. To make this happen, the planning was thorough and detailed and the results of the tests were dependant on this,” said Fitzgerald. The testing involved two gantry cranes which are permanently operating at the station. “The load test was designed to ensure the cranes are capable of managing the lift safely. For this to happen the testing
Eight water load bags each with a 35t capacity, meant lifting 255,000 litres of water in the air. www.cranesandlifting.com.au
