More with the same – I.V. Guindastes upgrades LR 1600/2-W

I.V. Guindastes has a wide fleet of Liebherr mobile and crawler cranes. Two LR 1600/2-W narrow track crawler cranes, which have completed eight years at the company, are dedicated to operation in large wind farms. For Ivo Boff Junior, Supply Director at I.V. Guindastes, the possibility of increasing the load capacity of the equipment, as well as the long-term partnership with Liebherr, were decisive factors when opting for the upgrade.

The upgrade of the LR 1600/2-W consists of extra lattice sections, and a software update, which allows operating with maximum control and safety with the new boom configuration SL13. With the upgrade, the LR 1600/2-W can reach a hook height of 165 meters and a maximum capacity of 73 tonnes within a radius of 22 meters, which meets the current demand from wind farms.

“The possibility of increasing the load tables of our equipment was what at first drew our attention to this solution,” informs Ivo Boff Junior. “In some situations, with the upgrade, we can have heights even greater than we have with an 800 tonne crane and maintain the ease of operation the LR 1600/2-W have in the wind farm, which normally has narrower accesses. In this sense, having a leaner crane, with wider capacities, helps a lot in the work.”

The 600 tonne crawler crane LR 1600/2-W is developed especially to serve the wind power generation industry. It has a narrower chassis with in total 5.8 metres, improving accessibility to wind farms, and boom systems that allow semi-assembled translation, making them more agile for this operation.

I.V. Guindastes has already acquired the second upgrade to the LR 1600/2-W in a period of 12 months. “With this upgrade, in addition to being able to use the LR 1600/2-W in wind farms on the new generation of wind power towers, which have generation capacity from 4MW to 6MW, with heights that can vary from 100 meters to 130 meters, we can also use this equipment in other applications, such as in the pulp and paper industry and in the Oil & Gas market,” Ivo Boff Junior adds.

Charles Boff, I.V. Guindastes Commercial Director highlights: “With the upgrade we were able to have a new range of contracts, due to the new capabilities of the equipment, which until then were limited to the use of mobile lattice boom cranes LG 1750. With the upgrade, we reached capacities very close to that, expanding our application possibilities and, consequently, improving our offer to our customers.”

The upgrade of the LR 1600/2-W also brought an improvement in the process of I.V. Guindastes: the possibility to lift the complete nacelle up to the top of the tower, which was already showing a trend in good practices in the assembly of wind towers. Igor Boff, I.V. Guindastes Technical Director explains: “Without the upgrade, we would lift each part of the nacelle individually and finish its assembly there, at the top of the tower. The great advantage of hoisting the fully assembled nacelle to the top is the saving of time. In a wind farm, the wind windows that enable the execution of the assembly and maintenance projects are short, so, lifting it completely, saves us time and improves operational efficiency.”

I.V. Guindastes and Liebherr have been in a partnership since 1993. “We have Liebherr as our main equipment supplier, since we started working with cranes. We opted for the brand and today we see that it is the company that has the best products for wind projects works,” explains Ivo Boff Junior. “Among the biggest benefits we highlight the customer service area, service engineering – which provides technical backup for complex applications from the factory engineering, and fast parts logistics”.

I.V. Guindastes was founded in 1986, by Mr. Ivo Boff (i.m.) and today is managed by his sons, Charles, Igor and Ivo. The rental company has a fleet of 30 cranes, which feature two LR 1600/2-W and four all-terrain mobile cranes, LTM 1500-8.1. With about 200 employees, I.V. Guindastes today focuses its activities in the area of Lifting, Assemblies, Commissioning and Maintenance of wind towers.