Terex Boom Booster for Sarens

The first unit of the distinctive large boom of the new Terex Cranes Boom Booster was undergoing testing at the factory in Germany at the end of March prior to delivery to first customer Sarens. The Belgium-headquartered company said it was a key driver in development of the system first revealed by IC in December 2013. As one of the largest heavy lifting, crane rental and specialized transport companies, Sarens has the world’s largest fleet of CC 8800-1 cranes.

Sarens is awaiting delivery of the first Boom Booster kit and a second unit will follow. A primary application is erection, maintenance and dismantling of ultra large wind turbines, for example, the Enercon E-126. The other main application is the petrochemical industry, for erecting flare stacks, boiler racks and modules that require a typical vessel lift configuration. Configured as pictured, with a heavy duty 12 metre fixed jib on an 88 metre main boom, capacity is 945 tonnes to a 20 metre radius and the hook height is 94 metres, Sarens said.

“For a lift application with 156 metres of main boom, the standard CC 8800-1 lifts 267 tonnes at 30 metres radius, while with the Boom Booster this capacity is almost doubled, to 465 tonnes,” Hendrik Sarens, Sarens director, told IC. Comparing the Boom Booster with alternative solutions, Sarens continued, “The CC 8800-1 with Boom Booster out lifts the CC 9800 and the LR 11350 with P-Boom and it can also be used with the LF and VL attachment.

The Boom Booster is designed to combat the limiting factor of lateral deflection in a crane’s boom. It widens the load bearing chords of the boom to increase the limit given by lateral deflection. It gives its greatest advantage at steep boom angle configurations with a luffing jib.

As its name suggests, the 72 Boom Booster Kit is a set of components to build a 72 m system. Other length kits will be available. The 72 kit is upper and lower 11 m adaptors and five 10 x 10 x 3.2 m intermediate sections. It is pinned together rather than bolted for faster assembly and dismantling. The work at height safety system, as found on other large Terex lattice booms, is also standard.

Easy transport is a major requirement and this one is designed to fit in standard open-top shipping containers, which is one of the cheapest possible methods. Sarens said that the 72 m system needs 10 containers. Without weight restriction, that number can be reduced. The containers are loaded from the top and Sarens designed the stackable racks and the pre-assembly platform. The components for each of the five intermediate sections fit into a 40 foot container. Each of the adaptors requires two containers. The 3.2 m height of the assembled boom means that the intermediate sections can be moved by road as flat panels and do not have to be fully dismantled.

To fit the Boom Booster on an existing CC 8800-1 a couple of changes are required. A second backstop cylinder is fitted on the lower luffing back mast and minor modifications are needed to a 6 metre boom insert, Sarens said. The system also needs the 800 tonne super lift tray, which some owners already have. Sarens estimates that rigging will take five days with three people, a 130 tonne capacity assist crane and a telehandler.