A new powerful container crane is being installed in the Railway department of the Kyshtym Copper Electrolytic Plant
It was manufacture for the South Ural plant by the Baltkran company. Before opting for this particular equipment, the specialists of JSC KMEZ visited Tobolsk, where four such “giants” operate at the Polymer Production plant, and Kaliningrad, where they are produced.
The new crane is designed to handle 20′ containers. The carrying capacity of the Kaliningrad equipment is 40 tons, and the lifting height is 12 meters, which allows to storage containers in three layers. Due to the great length of the bridge, the crane will be able to serve four railway tracks.
Manufacturers of equipment promise that it will operate smoothly in 40-degree frost, but the person operating it will not feel this extreme cold. In any weather, the operator should feel comfortable in the cabin: there is a microclimate system that maintains an optimum temperature. A modern video surveillance system will also be a good help for the crane operator, making his work safer and more efficient.
“Baltkran is equipped with a special mechanism – a spreader with electric grippers. These grippers hook the load, raise, turn over, move, lower and unhook without the help of a sling operator, you just have to press the button” – says Andrey Lupar, the chief specialist for technical supervision. “Summarising the talk, the movement speed is almost twice as fast as that of our 36-ton gantry crane, which has been serving in the Railway department for many years.”
However, in the near future there will be enough work for both new and old lifting equipment, as the plant is undergoing technical modernisation of the Tankhouse. The launch of two-phase project of the Russian Copper Company will lead to an increase in cathode production from 140,000 to 230,000 tons per year. This means that the volume of products shipped to the customer will also grow. Then all the equipment will have to operate with full dedication, but in the meantime the installation of Baltcran is going on at the site. The main metal structures have already been assembled, a cargo trolley, a cabin, a ladder have been installed, cables are being laid, electrical equipment is being mounted, and setting up and debugging automation is ahead.
