InfraStructures - February 2011 - 870 Tonnes on the Road

Back in December 2009, the Multilift Group commissioned special vehicle manufacturer SCHEUERLE with the development of a side girder deck of unrivalled dimensions. For the transportation of increasingly larger generators and transformers, the world´s biggest side girder deck offering a payload of up to 620 t was designed and built within a very short period.

Late last year, the Multilift Group performed its first big transportation with the STB 1000 – the transport of the biggest transformer ever built by Siemens from Nuremberg to Wilhelmshaven, in Germany. With combination weight of 870 t, this was the largest major heavy transportation ever performed in Wilhelmshaven.

The Multilift Group carried out the first assignment with the STB 1000 on November 12, 2010. The transportation began at the Siemens transformer plant in Nuremberg. The 495 t Siemens TRPM9056 transformer destined to the Tractebel engineering company, a subsidiary of the GDF SUEZ Group, was carried on 2 x 14-axles InterCombi trailer. Due to limited space, the transportation out of the Siemens production hall was only made possible by using the additional coupled InterCombi PowerBooster units. By using the PowerBooster technology, there was no need to use a pushing vehicle.

As planned, at 22:00, the over 100 m long combination drove along the heavy load route to the Nuremberg port. The next morning, the 13 m long, 4,3 m wide and 5,1 m high load “rolled on” to the waiting pontoon.
As we all know patience is a virtue, as when each axle came onboard the pontoon, ballast water had to be discharged to level the load. The next step of the undertaking was the journey along the Rhein-Main-Donau canal to the Netherlands via Dordrecht and Delfzijl. Then, after some storm-caused delays, the transportation continued over the North Sea to the town of Wilhelmshaven.

An encounter of a special kind in Wilhelmshaven
Monday, December 6, 2010, on the Lüneberg quay in Wilhelmshaven, the transformer was again lifted with the side girders of the STB 1000. This time, however, the load was distributed over 2 x 20-axle InterCombis. A 4-axle InterCombi PowerBooster equipped with additional drive axles was also connected and, with 200 hp available power, would provide sufficient thrust to supplement the two MAN TGX41.680 tractors, each equipped with a 16,2 l engine producing 680 hp.
The dimensions of the whole combination speak for themselves: The 102 m long, 5,5 m high and 4,4 m wide transport was ready for its journey through downtown Wilhelmshaven.

Technical details of STB 1000
The STB 1000 side girder deck offers several options for accommodating generators and transformers. In connection with the main beam, the load is placed on the top boom by means of brackets. Alternatively, the load can be taken on board via additional lifting gear with cross beams. The load can also be coupled directly with the supporting tip without the main beams. Furthermore, it is capable of picking up the load without the help of a crane due to the additional support bogies. A flexible range of applications provides the deck with a span of 38,2 m and a length of up to 47,2 m - this is adapted to suit the required number of axles lines of the platform vehicle combination as well as the size of the load. The load width of the side girder deck is continually adjustable from 2,0 m through to 5,2 m, and can therefore be adjusted to match individual loads. The vertical lift of the deck for accommodating the load is 160 cm. Flexible, but this is not only concerning the size: the SCHEUERLE STB 1000 can carry generators, transformers as well as other loads up to weights of 620 t and is unrivalled anywhere in the world.

The SCHEUERLE STB 1000 is compatible with the SCHEUERLE InterCombi series as well as the self-propelled modular vehicles (SPMT). Depending on requirements, these can be coupled together for up to 2 x 20 axle lines and in 2, 3, and 4-file line ups respectively. In addition, the deployed platform vehicle combinations can be equipped with 2 x 4-axle InterCombi power boosters in order to be able to reduce the number of towing and pushing vehicles required for uphill gradients – both in-plant and on public roads. Optionally, the drive for the total combination can also be achieved via the InterCombi power booster units so that the overall weight of the combination is reduced which is an advantage, for example, when crossing bridges.

In order to guarantee a safe transport process, the operating personnel have two heated high tech driver´s cabs at their disposal – each designed to accommodate a crew of two. The generously-sized cabs feature screens which are used to permanently monitor the status of the load during transportation by means of camera mounted on the two main beams. The widest position of the total combination is thus constantly in the direct field of vision.

SCHEUERLE Fahrzeugfabrik will be exhibiting at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2011.

Source: SCHEUERLE Fahrzeugfabrik