Moving 100t Boilers With Precision
To The Millimeter

Following its successful installation of a 133t cold box for the new oxygen plant at the Mufulira Copper Mine in Zambia, Vanguard followed this record breaking non-crane assisted heavy lift with further innovation during the installation of three tube boilers at the plant’s newly constructed boiler house.

Weighing 100t, 12t, and 45t each, the tube boilers were manufactured in Germany, constructed on site at Mufulira and had to be lifted into place fully assembled. What made this task highly challenging was the fact that the 60m high boiler house, constructed from 350t of steelwork by Murray & Roberts, provided extremely tight manoeuvring space during installation – as little as 50mm clearance over the 60m lift of a 100t object.

To make this possible, Vanguard designed and built a bogey consisting of 4 Hillman rollers and a hydraulic power pack and ram, with a pushing/pulling power of around 200t. The bogey was mounted on railway lines welded to the steel hanging rods at the top of the boiler house, from which the boilers were to be suspended. Once a crane had brought a boiler into position at the base of the boiler house, the weight would be transferred to a strand jacking system mounted on the bogey and, via remote control, precise lifting and positioning could continue. By staggering the Hillman rollers, Vanguard ensured equal weight distribution and prevented the suspension beams from flexing or being distorted.

“Unlike a crane, this equipment setup allowed us to move these huge objects backwards and forwards millimetres at a time to prevent damage to either the structure or the boilers, ensuring precision installation,” explains Vanguard Project Engineer, James Robinson. “It took around 4 hours per boiler unit to complete the lift, which contributed to us completing the installation in 6 effective working days. From design to completion, this project took less than 3 months.”

“I think this project ideally demonstrated both the high level of engineering experience offered by Vanguard, as well as our ability to innovate and find the best possible solution for every heavy lift,” Robinson concludes.