Liebherr’s New LR 1700-1.0 Crawler Crane Debuts On A German Wind Turbine Project

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“The VarioTray divisible derrick ballast and V-Frame allow us to work with 66 tons of derrick ballast during the entire assembly of the turbine, so we don’t have to carry out any time-consuming ballasting,” says Hofmann crane operator Christoph Bergmaier. (Photo courtesy of Liebherr.)

Liebherr’s brand-new LR 1700-1.0 lattice boom crawler crane, the successor to its LR 1600/2 model, recently performed its inaugural job at a wind farm near Paderborn of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The manufacturer says that the 770-ton (700-metric-ton) crane performs like an 827-t (750-mt)-class lattice boom crane with the inexpensive transport properties of a 661-t (600-mt)-class crawler.

Stays On Task, Even In The Wind

The new LR 1700-1.0 has a maximum hoist height of 643 feet (196 meters) and a maximum radius of 525 ft (160 m). The 544-horsepower (400-kilowatt) crawler has a top driving speed of 0.75 mph (1.2 km/h). Its travel gear has a four-way drive.

Paderborn-based crane company Hofmann Kran-Vermietung GmbH & Co KG used the LR 1700-1.0 for its first job erecting a Nordex Delta 4000 wind turbine. The jobsite was the Holzhausen wind farm approximately 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) east of Paderborn. The crane set up the prefabricated 315-ft (96-m) concrete tower for the turbine, which had a hub height of 538 ft (164 m). The 79.4-ton (72-mt) nacelle was the heaviest component of the turbine. The new LR 1700-1.0 is a “powerful crane and really user-friendly!” says Hofmann crane operator Christoph Bergmaier.

As wind farms are built in windy places, Liebherr offers LR cranes with special wind power equipment that raises their maximum wind speed for safe operation. The wider H (Heavy) Version lattice boom sections available for the LR 1700-1.0 and other current LR models increases their wind tolerance from 20 mph (9 meters per second) to 25 mph (11.2 mps). This admirable wind tolerance ceiling can even rise to 30 mph (13.4 mps) with a slightly reduced maximum load, Liebherr says. This allows work to continue under conditions that would force a lesser crane to stop.

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Liebherr’s 770-ton LR 1700-1.0 lattice boom crawler crane offers more lifting power in a package the size of its predecessor, the LR 1600/2. (Photo courtesy of Liebherr.)

Timesaving Features

The LR 1700-1.0 can reuse many components from the LR 1600/2. The new crane’s derrick system includes Liebherr’s new M-Wagon modular ballast trailer, as used on the LR 1800-1.0 and the LR 11000. It saves time on the jobsite with a continuously adjustable V-frame ballast and the VarioTray detachable ballast system.

“The VarioTray divisible derrick ballast and V-Frame allow us to work with 66 t of derrick ballast during the entire assembly of the turbine, so we don’t have to carry out any time-consuming ballasting,” Bergmaier says. The crane’s large ballast pallet only needs to be docked while erecting or dismantling the lattice boom. In addition, it takes just 10 minutes and four bolts to hang 413 t (375 mt) of counterweight from the derrick boom.

The LR 1700-1.0’s new base machine offers 10 to 15% more lifting capacity, according to Liebherr. Moreover, it can be transported in loads of less than 9.8 ft (3 m) of width, including the pivot section. The machine’s crawler carriers feature a stronger structural steelwork and larger rollers that mitigate travel wear.

Source: Liebherr