Pilequip recently introduced a range of Pile Lifting Devices (PLD) to their vibratory hammer packages, which are designed to increase the productivity of cranes during the installation of piles during the construction process. David Hopkins, National Sales Manager Pilequip Australia explains more.
“The PLD is a device that attaches to the side of our ICE & PVE Vibro hammers. It’s essentially a winch system that is hydraulically powered and controlled by the existing vibro hammer system.
“Typically to pitch a pile, whether it be a steel sheet pile, or a tubular pile, you need an auxiliary crane. Or you need to take the piling hammer off the crane to be able to pitch the pile, put it in place, into a gate or whatever it is going to be, and then you separately pick up the vibratory hammer,” he said.
“Our PLD allows you to pitch the pile with the vibro hammer. This is possible because it has a winch on the side of the hammer which runs down to a plate which splits the chain. In effect, you’ve got chains either side of the clamping device, you then roll the winch out and the chains connect to the pile via a pitching hole, with a toggle piece, while the pile is laying down.
“The Dogman threads the chain, enabling you to then lift the hammer which will lift the pile. When you’ve got the pile in the air, you’ll then engage the winch. The winch pulls the pile into the clamping system, at which point you can then clamp the pile. And then it’s just a matter of putting the Vibro hammer into place where it can pitch the pile,” said Hopkins.
“And because you’re already clamped to the pile, you don’t have to spend considerable time lining up the freely-suspended hammer with the pile, which can be tricky, particularly on tubular piles, where you’ve got to get two clamps up,” he said.
The big advantage of PLD system, is that it allows the user to either eliminate a second crane, or eliminate all the off-hook time that comes with having a single crane and a vibro hammer says Hopkins.
“Traditionally you couldn’t pitch with a crane suspended unit, you had to do it separately with a separate crane or remove the vibro from the hook, which can make the whole process a bit tedious.
“You take the vibro hammer, lay it down, lay all the hoses down, take it off, then go over, pick your pile up, place it, then let go of that. Then come back over to your crane and hook it up, then lift it up, get your hoses out, get all the hoses right, come back over, line the pile up.
“That all just takes time. But with the PLD, it’s all in one movement. The PLD comes down, picks up the pile, the winch is turned, pile goes onto the vibro hammer which places the pile and starts to drive. You’ve got less crane movements, which is a massive advantage for any piling site,” he said.
Compared to the cost of hiring a vibro hammer, a hiring a PLD is not going to cost a significant amount.
“We are still working out what that rental price will be, but it’s going to probably add $1,500 to $2,000 a week to your rental which isn’t really a significant cost. We are not sure how much time it could save a customer, we’ll see when these units arrive.
“A conservative number, I’d say maybe 30 per cent in terms of time savings. That $2,000 really becomes insignificant on a weekly basis. We are going to have initially two lifting devices in the fleet, one for the bigger vibros, so our ICE 1412, 82NF, and PVE 70VM, with a 20t lifting capacity. And on our smaller ICE 55NF vibro, and PVE 40VM which has a capacity of 10t swl.
The PLDs are Manufactured and shipped from the Netherlands, from Pilequip’s parent company Dieseko which is the same company manufacturing Pilequips’ ICE & PVE vibratory equipment. The PLDs is an additional piece of kit for the vibratory hammer.
There are similar products, but none with an independent winch system.
“The only other product, that I’m aware of, on the market relies on the auxiliary line of a crane. So you’d have obviously your main line with the vibro, but then a secondary auxiliary line to come down and to pull the pile up. So no, I don’t believe there to be a system that exists that uses the same winch system that we have, which is integrated into our power pack, so it all can be independently controlled by the operator of the vibro,” said Hopkins.