Pile lifting tool

The demand for equipment to handle long pilings at sea continues to rise, while the number of suppliers remains small. The expanding wind turbine market needs equipment to lift the driven piles that provide the foundations for the turbine. These foundations can be many metres in diameter and tens of metres long, with no lifting eyes or flanges provided. Similar equipment is also needed when installing concrete bridge pilings or when dismantling oil and gas platforms and other offshore constructions. "We have identified a need for a new supplier in this market," says Arjan Boezeman.

Idea design and build pile lifting tools which can grasp a piling either internally or externally. For situations where it isn't possible to slide the tool along the piling, Idea have developed a split version which can grip the piling halfway along its length. "The hard part is coming up with the right concept. We devise simple but clever equipment that can be produced easily at a competitive cost."

Boezeman demonstrates a device using eight lifting beams arranged around a 5.5 metre wide concrete piling. It looks like a mobile you might see in a child's bedroom. This has been developed for an ambitious bridge project at an as-yet undisclosed location. Traditionally a concrete structure like this would be lifted using wedges. "Unlike wedges, these lifting beams distribute the forces equally. With the wedge system, so much pressure can be applied on one wedge that the concrete is damaged. You need to be absolutely certain that you have tight hold of the piling, but without damaging it."

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