A significant performance upgrade: The new Liebherr SX boom system

8 minutes | magazine 01/2018

Not a vision, a visionary

With its new SX boom system, Liebherr has achieved a significant performance upgrade in terms of hoist height and lifting capacity for its LR 1750/2 and LG 1750 lattice boom cranes.

30 percent higher lifting capacity

For the SX boom, lattice sections measuring 3.5 metres wide rather than 3 metres are fitted to the bottom section of the main boom on crane models LR 1750/2 and LG 1750. The SX2 and SX3 versions are additional extensions. With these, two or three lattice boom sections 6 metres wide and 14 metres long are fitted to the bottom section of the main boom. "The SX2 stabilises the boom and produces a massive increase in lifting capacity", confirms Heiner Kluck, a crane driver at Hüffermann Krandienst. "That is particularly good for turbines which have a hub height of 150 to 160 metres." The improved lifting capacity values raise the 750-tonne cranes to the next higher class with a lifting capacity of around 1000 tonnes.

So what is the secret? During transport all the lattice sections remain within the low cost width of 3.5 metres. For this purpose the 6 metre wide boom sections were designed in two halves which are bolted in the centre. For transport they are put together so that they engage in each other like gear wheels. This enables them to be transported efficiently all over the world.

Fit for the future

The SX2 stabilises the boom and produces a massive increase in lifting capacity.
Heiner Kluck, crane driver at Hüffermann

Daniel Janssen, Managing Director at Hüffermann, was one of the first owners of an LR 1750/2 with the new boom."Actually, at Hüffermann we were not previously involved in the crawler crane business", he explains with a smile. But the company from Wildeshausen near Bremen has a clear strategy: "We love innovations which prepare us for future areas of business such as wind energy. The SX2 boom enables our LR 1750/2 to achieve peerless lifting capacity values." Crane driver Heiner Kluck is also delighted and, after using the new system a few times, commented: "The crane reacts very delicately and sensitively. The controller is fantastically easy to use!"

The increase in lifting capacity is significantly higher than the required investment.
Uwe Frommelt, Crawler Crane Design Department Manager

Faster, higher, further?

We are not trying to break any records. Our aim is to find the best solution for you. The best is difficult to define. It is different for everybody. But perhaps faster, higher or further is exactly what we all want? In any case efficiency gets you a long way if you want to get better or stay better.

But what exactly is efficiency? Achieving a great deal with few resources. Low cost for us is also low cost for you. Generally the environment also benefits from these low resource ideas. But they require more than just the will to find them. They need expertise, intelligence, combined forces and the courage to approach something from a different perspective.

"Sometimes you have a vision and that gut feeling that the idea is a really good one. After you play around with it a little with your colleagues, it can turn into a highly promising concept," says Uwe Frommelt, Crawler Crane Design Department Manager. When he talks about how the SX boom started, he can say one thing for certain: "As it turns out it is now clear to everybody that it is a really fantastic design."