In response to a request from ARCELOR MITTAL GROUP, Powlift have recently designed and manufactured a fully motorised coil lifting grab with slewing head to lift a pack of slit coils on a pallet from storage and position onto a lorry with the operator out of harms way.

The grab has the facility to rotate the pallet and pack to the correct orientation to allow a fork lift truck to remove the pallets from the lorry.  The grab is radio controlled and fully mechanised and the body of the grab is designed to a minimum dimension to allow the grab to pass between a stack of coils eye to the sky without interfering with adjacent packs.

Motorised Internal Coil Lifter

The image shows an aluminium ingot grab used to withdraw aluminium ingots from the casting pit vertically to lift, rotate through 90 degrees and laydown to the horizontal position in the ingot cooling area.

The grab was one of two recently produced in 2011 for a UK aluminium company, part of the ELVAL group.  The grab has a built in slewing head to provide a very low operating headroom.  The opening and closing of the grab is electromechanical whilst the final grip is purely mechanical.

Powlift designed and fitted the electrical control systems into the crane to include safety features to prevent unintentional, or accidental release of the grip.

The grab is electrically interlocked to prevent the operator inadvertently opening the grab and also included is a load limiting system to prevent the grab being opened when a load is applied.  A system of lights helps the operator confirm that the system is correctly operated.

A safety design feature of mechanical wedgelocks is included to prevent unintentional releasing of the load should the ingot be bumped on the floor.

Ingot laydown grab with slewing head

The grab shown is designed to lift ingots from a scalper milling machine.  The slabs are gripped across the ends, lifted horizontally, and rotated through 180 degrees before being replaced on the scalper machine to enable the other side of the ingot to be scalped.  The grab then removes the ingot in the horizontal position and places into storage.

The opening and the closing of the grab is electromechanical.  The final grip of the grab is purely mechanical.  The unit can have either single or double suspension.  This grab was manufactured for the ALCAN GROUP in the UK.

Horizontal Ingot Rotate Grab

Powlift were asked to provide a motorised telescopic sheet lifter to handle packs of sheet without damage and utilise the minimum manpower with the maximum safety.  The lifter basically comprises of a pair of legs driven by a rack and pinion arrangement.  A motor and gear box, housed in the main body of the lifter supply the power to chain drive the pinion shaft thus providing an open and close motion to the legs.  The legs open to pick up a maximum pack width of 2 metres and close down to handle a minimum pack width of 1 metre.

At the bottom of each lifting leg a pair of sliding feet.  Each pair of feet are manually adjustable from 1 metre to 1.5 metres, giving more stability on the longer packs.  The lifter has a single suspension point which is a withdrawable lifting bobbin pin.  This ensures the lowest headroom possible when using the sheet lifter.

Powlift have recently supplied an adjustable 4 leg lifting beam to service press tools to 25 tonne capacity for the automotive industry.  The beam has simplified the safe handling during the lifting of the press tools.  The beam provides a considerable advantage that the lift is purely vertical with no bending moments applied to distort the press tool.

The centres of the lifting chains are fixed at 3.5 metres longitudinally and in the alternative attitude they are manually adjustable from 2.5 metres down to 1 metre centres.

The success of the first beam led to the purchase of a second beam.

Powlift were approached by a Nigerian company to provide a grab to safely and efficiently handle rows of aluminium billets in their casting shop. The grab that Powlift supplied was a purely mechanical type that is suspended from an overhead crane and relies on the hoisting motion of the crane for its operation. There were therefore, no electrics on board.

The billets handled vary in size from 6” / 9” diameter and 99” / 105” long.

The grab in its held open position is lowered over a line of billets and lowered until it rests on the top of the billets. Further lowering of the crane disengages the mechanism that holds the grab in the open position, and when the crane is raised the lifter closes and the angle feet move under the line of billets. The line of billets can then be safely lifted and transported to the required destination.

The grab will handle a maximum row of 17 billets weighing 6 tonnes.

Powlift Chock & Roll Lifting Beam

Powlift has supplied many pieces of equipment for use in rolling mills over a period of many years.  The lifting beam shown is for lifting work rolls and chocks weighing up to 110 tonnes.

At each end of the beam are 2 sets of alloy chains each terminating in a customised dolly that fits into a location hole in the side of the chocks giving a safe 4 point lift.

The longitudinal centres of the chains is adjustable for handling a range of rolls and chocks.

This type of beam has also been supplied to handle top and bottom work rolls and chocks in tandem, i.e. one on top of the other, and this equipment has been utilised for handling back up rolls also.

Sheet Pack Up Ender with Slew.

The quality of the sheets used in the automotive and domestic appliance industries is of major importance.  Therefore the sheets have to be inspected on both sides which necessitates the packs of sheets being turned over.

At first glance the cheapest method of turning over packs would be by using soft slings, but over a period of time this has proved not to be the case.  This method is labour intensive, time consuming, and potentially dangerous.  Because the slings fit around the sharp edges of the pack damage to the sheets may occur and damage to the slings will without doubt frequently occur presenting a potential hazard to the operators.

The photograph shows a Powlift Pack Turnover Unit that was supplied to the automotive industries.  Packs are loaded into the mouth of the unit by means of a forklift truck.  The truck withdraws and the base of the mouth upon which the pack sits is raised up by a hydraulic scissor table until the pack is gripped in the mouth of the machine.

The hydraulic pressure is set so that the pack does not slip during turnover, and when that pressure is detected by a pressure switch, the cylindrical drum of the unit can be rotated, thus turning over the packs.

The unit shown also has a slew facility incorporated into the base so that when the packs have been turned over, the unit can be rotated through 180 degrees, and the packs can be unloaded from the same location that they were originally loaded, when the hydraulic table has been lowered.

The turnover unit in the image is located in a safety compound which is fitted with sensors to prevent the unit operating whilst the forklift truck is still in the compound.

The system can be automated so that once the truck leaves the compound, an automatic cycle begins that clamps the pack, turns it over, and rotates it ready for unloading.

This method of pack turnover is by far the safest means of doing so and has proved within 6 months of purchase to be the most cost effective method also.

Dockyard Handling Equipment

Powlift have worked with most of the major docks in the UK to supply them with materials handling solutions in order for them to safely load and unload containers.  The image shown features a Powlift beam with high yield self gripping plate clamps for handling long horizontal packs of steel sheet.  This enables the steel sheet packs to be stored with a 75mm gap between each pack.  The gap is bridged with steel batons to prevent lateral movement within the ship.

Automatic Duplex Anode Tong

Powlift have supplied many automatic tongs over the years throughout the World.  Automatic tongs have the function to grip and then release on alternative lifts of the crane.  This allows the operator to be remote from the lift taking place and therefore affords a much safer method of handling.

The automatic tong shown in the picture is a duplex tong (i.e. 2 lifting tongs separated by beams).  Duplex tongs allow longer loads to be lifted safely.  This particular tong was supplied to one of the largest aluminium producers in Greece and is used for handling anodes by gripping them on the inside profile.

For many years now Powlift have supplied automatic duplex tongs not only to the aluminium industry but also to the steel, automotive and paper industry ranging in capacity from 0.5 tonne up to and exceeding 100 tonne.

Motorised Multi-Position Sheet Lifter

Earlier this year Powlift developed a below the hook multi position sheet lifter for Jansens & Dieperink in Holland.   The lifter was designed to handle sheet packs up to 2.5m wide and 8m long and also to remove them from the back of lorries through the top of a curtain side enclosure.  The lifter comprises of a central housing from which beams extend to carry a sheet lifter at each end.  The end motorised sheet lifters each have their own drive to open and close the lifting legs to accommodate various widths of pack.  The legs and feet are lined with aluminium to protect the sheets. The central housing also has its own drive to enable the end lifters to be adjusted from 2.5m centres out to 5m centres to suit different lengths of sheet.

Our customers inspectors visited our works when the grab was completed and subjected it to rigorous tests all which were passed to their satisfaction.  The lifter has since been commissioned in Holland and has proved to be hugely successful.

The lifter can be utilised in either the steel industry or aluminium industry where mill duty lifting equipment may be required. It is only one of many types of materials handling equipment that Powlift have supplied over many years not only to the steel mills and aluminium plants, but also to the nuclear industry and paper mills.

A wide range of handling solutions has been applied over the years to produce lifters, grabs and automatic lifting tongs for handling aluminium coils, steel coils, aluminium sheets, steel sheets, aluminium ingots and carbon blocks. Powlift have also supplied flue wall handling equipment such as flue wall lifters, flue wall demolition grabs and flue wall straighteners. As can be seen by our website over many years Powlift have covered the complete spectrum of lifting and handling equipment.

80 Tonne Automatic Backup Roll Tong

The image shows an 80 tonne WLL heavy duty automatic tong for handling backup rolls that Powlift supplied to the Middle East a number of years ago. The tong is of a robust construction and is operated by a heavy duty automatic mechanism that allows the tong to be held open and then closed on alternative lifts of the crane. The lifting jaws of the tong are manufactured from cast and machined aluminium bronze and any other contact points that the tong has with the backup rolls are also lined with bronze to prevent damage to the rolls. This particular automatic tong is a duplex type and grips the rolls along with the chocks on the barrel of the rolls. The tong has fabricated outriders that locate on the outsides of the chocks and prevent rotation. The tong has twin suspension links to suit the customer’s ramshorn hook and Powlift have developed a system to engage the hook in the links without any manual assistance from the operator.

So successful was the tong in production that the customer placed an order for an identical tong within the next two years.

Automatic Flask Handling Tong

In 2010 Powlift designed and manufactured a 3 legged automatic tong to safely handle 2.5 tonne nuclear waste flasks. The tong is fully automatic in design to facilitate remote operation. The tong was designed and manufactured in accordance with the stringent standards and stage inspections required by the nuclear industry along with all of the appropriate documentation.

Stainless Steel Anode Recovery Tong

Over the years Powlift have designed and developed many types of automatic tongs. Automatic tongs have a mechanism housed within them that allows the tong to be held open and then closed on alternative lifts of the crane. Therefore the operator can operate the tongs from a remote position. The tong shown in the image is one of many that Powlift have supplied to the Alcan group. It is completely manufactured from stainless steel thus making it none magnetic and heat resistant. This particular tong is used in a very hot, arduous, hostile environment, and its function is to recover anodes. The automatic tong is rigidly attached to a mast connected to the customer’s forklift truck which imparts the raise and lower motion to the tong rather than the normal crane hook.

Motorized Telescopic Coil Lifter.

Over the years one of Powlift’s most successful lifters is the motorised coil lifters. This has been sold worldwide to the Steel, Aluminium and Automotive industries.

Coils up to 35 Tonnes capacity are lifted in the bore by motorised telescoping legs, providing a safe and secure lift. Many types of coil protection features can be incorporated in the grabs to prevent coil damage. the coil lifter shown also has a “Safe to lift” system incorporated that indicates by a systems of lights mounted on the grab that the lifter is positioned correctly in the coil before lifting takes place.

Also shown is the Powlift Slew Head which allows the coils to be rotated trough 300 degrees, continuous rotation can also be achieved if required.