Industrial Lift Used for State of the Art Facility from Alimak Hek

Australia's first Alimak SC-45 industrial lift is installed at Downer's new Wingfield Asphalt Plant.

Australia's first Alimak SC-45 industrial rack and pinion lift is installed on Downer's new state-of-the-art Wingfield Asphalt Plant. Alimak Hek worked closely with Downer, engineering the SC-45 lift to fit the plant's pre-designed vertical lift shaft.

Construction of Downer Infrastructure's Wingfield Asphalt Manufacturing Facility was completed in June 2013, with the new facility designed to replace two 40-year-old plants nearing the end of their operational lives.

The manufacturing facility is the first of its kind outside of Europe, and marks a new benchmark in asphalt manufacturing in Australia, incorporating the latest recycling and process technology to reduce energy consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce Downer's carbon footprint.

Located in Adelaide, South Australia, the new Wingfield plant will have the capacity to produce asphalt mixes with up to 75% reclaimed asphalt pavement material (recycled road).

In August 2013, Alimak Hek completed the installation and commissioning of an Alimak SC-45 industrial rack and pinion lift on the manufacturing facility. Located on the batch plant, the Alimak SC-45 will provide personnel access and materials transport to the 5 levels of the plant structure, reducing crane lifting requirements and improving safety of operations on site.

In designing the Wingfield Asphalt plant, Downer enlisted the design capabilities of the Amman Group, a European company specializing in the design and construction of standardized asphalt mixing plants. As the plant structure had been pre-designed to a template, an allowance for only a small 500kg materials-only hoist had been specified into the initial designs.

Alimak Hek's challenge was to fit an Alimak industrial lift, capable of materials and personnel transport, into the existing lift-shaft design. In doing so, Alimak Hek engineered the lift to meet all structural load calculations provided for the pre-designed 500kg hoist, while ensuring compliance with Australia Lift Standards (AS 1735: Part 9).

To meet these requirements, the Alimak SC-45 industrial lift was selected. As the first SC-45 installed in Australia, the lift was chosen for several reasons:

• A 1300kg capacity would reduce crane requirements during the lifting of replacement parts on the plant;
• A car size of 1.4 m x 2.4 m would accommodate the dimensions of an emergency stretcher, improving site safety and emergency response;
• The flexibility of the SC-45 design allowed it to be easily configured to fit the pre-design requirements and load calculations of the plant.

Based on a one-size-fits-most-applications design, the Alimak SC-45 is perfectly suited for installation on new plants and retrofitting to existing structures. To meet the structural load calculations of the 500kg materials hoist template, Alimak Hek designed the SC-45 lift ties and fixings so that no more than a 6kn load would be placed on the existing structure.

Alimak Hek used the Wingfield plant's existing stair tower for the fixing of the mast ties and brackets, while a vertical pipe enabled the lift to be set back from the landings for better access. It is this unique 'Virtual Shaft' system that enables the SC-45 lift to be installed quickly, with minimal work required to existing infrastructure.

While much of Downer's Wingfield Asphalt Manufacturing Facility is automated, routine maintenance and inspection of equipment is conducted daily. The Alimak SC-45 industrial lift provides a safe means of gaining access to the upper levels of the batch plant in all weather conditions, and reduces crane lifting on site for the movement of replacement parts and equipment.