September 2012 – Capco Crane and Hoist Inc. of Rowley, MA was approached recently by a long time customer who needed a sophisticated cleanroom crane. The client, a defense contractor that makes specialized equipment for the U.S. military, had a new project requiring a cleanroom crane to lift massive parts – up to 20 tons – as high as 45 feet in the air. This crane had to span the entire room (which was 60 feet wide) and travel the full length of the room – about 200 feet. Due to the large capacity involved, this crane would require other special features, all of which would mean some intricate engineering and layout.

Capco Crane & Hoist has built some clean room cranes in the past – a few at one ton and a few others at three tons and five tons – but nothing on the scale of this very large cleanroom crane. Capco worked with a major specialty hoist manufacturer in the Southwest to design a stainless steel, twenty-ton trolley hoist. All the moving parts were to be stainless, including the drum, sheaves, rope and wheels. On top of that, the hoist was VFD, Flux Vector controlled, to be run with a speed variation of 1000 to 1, from the lowest creep speeds to the high speeds and all the steps in between. The bridge and the trolley motions were also VFD controlled. The crane had a full-length service platform and a radio control with a push-button backup.

Finally, the most unique feature on the crane was the design and engineering of a special HEPA vacuum system. The system has hoses that travel throughout the bridge and are attached to a collection of wands that are mounted and articulate in any areas with moving parts and wheels or drums – any possible area on the crane that can turn, rotate, rub or move. These wands point to the area and the vacuum system sucks up any particulate or debris that might be created. Debris is minimal because the stainless steel construction, but are vacuumed up anyway, ensuring that a minimal amount of dust, debris, or particulate matter comes off the crane at any given time, no matter what motion the crane is running. This is a great system and a great design, all created for this particular project by the Capco Crane engineering group.

Are you facing a big challenge on any crane job? No worries, call Capco Crane & Hoist. If they haven’t already done a similar project in the past, they will figure a good way to do it… no doubt!

Capco Crane & Hoist, Inc., of Rowley, MA, is a service organization located in the suburban Boston area specializing in the sales, installation, manufacturing and inspection of overhead bridge girder cranes and hoists. They are a member of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America and the Material Handling Industry of America. Capco has been a premier electric overhead bridge crane manufacturer/service provider in the New England region since the mid-1990s. For more information about Capco’s facilities and services contact David Caputo (Sales Manager) at 58 Forest Ridge Drive, Rowley, MA 01969, toll free at 800-422-7261, fax at 978-948-2294