News & Case Studies
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Crosby|Straightpoint has launched its multifaceted INSIGHT software that allows users to monitor up to 126 load cells from up to 700m (2,300 ft.) away, before and during a lift.
Using the multi-channel display and data logging mode, users can view and log load data from connected individual and multiple load cells, live on-screen and directly into a .csv file for later analysis at speeds of up to 200Hz. The visualisation mode is designed for more complicated lifts and allows import of a photo of the lift, in addition, to drag and drop load cell displays. In other words, it makes the screen look like the lift. Proof load testing capability allows real-time graphing of load tests and auto-generates test certificates. Finally, INSIGHT can be used to weigh and calculate the centre of gravity of large items and structures.
David Mullard, business development manager at Crosby|Straightpoint, said: “Each of INSIGHT’s main features represents cutting-edge load monitoring technology in their own right, but what really distinguishes the system is its ability to perform all of those tasks—from multi-channel data logging to centre of gravity—with one single software purchase and wireless dongle. Compared to alternative solutions on the market, INSIGHT offers superior functionality and user-friendliness. What we’re delivering is therefore unprecedented.”
Mullard explained that INSIGHT is used to scan for wireless load cells within a 700m (2,300 ft.) area, which allows an entire site to be monitored, or a select number of load monitoring products on a planned critical lift. Users can select load cells within the system based on their serial numbers. “You can remotely wake-up load cells that are already rigged in the application, get the signal, and start monitoring to keep equipment, loads, and people safe.”
INSIGHT utilises Crosby|Straightpoint’s Proof Test plus software to record data gathered by a Radiolink plus load cell, load shackle or compression load cell, for example. It can create a pass or fail certificate that includes test data and graphs charting data from the load versus time throughout a test.
Another INSIGHT feature is a visual and audible alarm that indicates overload, underload, low battery and communications errors. “The user might want to know when a 1t capacity hoist is at or approaching capacity, and / or a 5t capacity crane is nearing its working load limit. All data can be captured and presented in a report or verified on a certificate, giving users and their customers' complete insight and traceability,” added Mullard.
INSIGHT is separate from Crosby|Straightpoint’s Handheld plus device and Bluetooth app. Mullard said that the transition to INSIGHT will typically happen when more than four load cells are being employed and monitored.
- More information on INSIGHT software is available here: https://www.straightpoint.com/insight-software.html
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Heavy lifting specialist Sarens is using a 100t capacity Radiolink plus load cell from Straightpoint (Crosby|SP), a Crosby Group brand, to complete delivery of seven 85t Christmas trees for a major oil and gas company. It also utilised Crosby|SP’s 1,000m (3,280 ft.) range SW-HHP handheld reading device.
The trees (an assembly of valves, spools and fittings) are being stored in Nacala-Porto, a city on the northern coast of Mozambique, from where they will be sold on by an oilfield services company.
Sarens, a provider of crane rental services, heavy lifting and engineered transport, is responsible for offloading the trees from a vessel, transporting them to the site, and offloading them prior to temporary storage. Sarens, which boasts an extensive crane fleet in the region, selected a 250t capacity Demag CC1100 crawler crane to complete lifting operations.
Julio Paco, lifting operations supervisor at Sarens, said: “Generally my role includes preparing the daily lift plan, supervising each lifting operation, leading talks with the personnel involved in each operation, and sending weekly and monthly reports to the office.” He explained that the company’s scope of work also includes testing and inspection to ensure that the trees are working properly before they are moved onto a jobsite.
The trees are identical and measure approx. 17.8 ft. (5,438mm) by approx. 16.6 ft. (5,068mm). For each, Paco and his team utilised various items of rigging gear including chains, slings and shackles, which were sourced from Sarens’ local stock, where products range from low capacity up to 250t items.
Paco said: “We had to supply two crane operators and two banksmen to cover two shifts. As is always the case in this sector, speed and efficiency of service is paramount to delivery of our services. Knowing the weight of items as they follow their supply chain to the point of use is a necessary component of that work. With the Radiolink plus we can take readings at a safe distance using a [handheld] device.”
Crosby|SP also offers an extensive range of ATEX / IECEx products; it recently enhanced the ATEX Handheld plus with a number of standout additions: overload and calibration warnings are now displayed on an improved, larger screen. Also, it is now possible to read up to four SP load cells simultaneously, allowing the operator to monitor a multi pick-point lift from a single handheld system. This capability suits the product even further to the diverse applications that end users deliver at the coalface. Existing features remain including the product’s suitability to hazardous zones 0, 1 and 2, commonplace on oil rigs and in petrochemical plants.
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Straightpoint (SP), part of The Crosby Group, has named Thunder Oilfield Services (TOS) a distributor of its full range of force measurement equipment in Thailand.
TOS specialises in the fabrication, training, inspection, maintenance and repair of lifting equipment and components used in the offshore energy industry. It operates throughout Asia Pacific and the Middle East, with a strategic service centre located in Thailand; other key sites are widespread, including facilities in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Travis Dupre, CEO at TOS, said: “We place the highest priority on the health and safety of all stakeholders and protection of our partners’ assets and the environment. Supporting our business with technology that provides accurate information about loads at a safe distance—utilising state-of-the-art Bluetooth and other wireless technologies—is a natural fit.”
SP’s load cells join an extensive fleet of lifting and rigging gear that is stocked across TOS’s global hubs, where they will be used in support of day-to-day activities, offered for rental and direct sale. They will work alongside a comprehensive stock of Crosby rigging hardware as the company delivers services related to offshore operations, onshore support and training. Fabrication, inspection and maintenance of cranes and other lifting equipment in the offshore energy sector will cover the majority of the workload.
Thailand-based Dupre said: “The timing of onboarding the [SP] equipment hasn’t been perfect because we’ve encountered unexpected slowdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic just as we were starting to gain momentum. However, that is a short-term issue; longer term, we are confident that the equipment will be integral to continued growth of the business as the offshore sector in Thailand and further afield returns to normality—and prosperity—particularly as we enter the second half of the year.”
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Straightpoint’s (SP) Impact Block, which measures the shock load and weight of branches as they are cut during tree felling or maintenance, is being used for education and site work in Finland.
It is another example of the product filling gaps in knowledge about the forces put through rigging equipment and the weight of loads as they are cut away from trees. It has proven as important as a training device as it is a practical onsite tool, once again.
Utilising wireless dynamic load monitoring electronics and strain gauge technology, real time data can be displayed on a handheld controller, tablet or laptop at speeds up to 200Hz. Importantly, this eliminates the estimation work that often goes into arborist applications. Further, the aesthetic curves of the Impact Block combine with strength and durability to ensure a rope-friendly surface.
Mika Vainionpää, a climbing teacher at Finnish arborist school, Sedu (based in Ähtäri), said: “Unlike crane-related or other typical rigging scenarios, in tree applications professionals do not always have an anchor point above the lifting point. It’s a type of negative rigging. Every tree is different. There are no labels in a tree that say to the climber how much the rig can take. You have to study and learn where those limits are. Branches are one thing—leaves and smaller branches can limit the force—but logs can be more unpredictable.”
Vainionpää, who also owns an arborist company (arborist.fi), recently utilised a 60 kN version to measure how big the heaviest weights are during a normal climb and recorded the weights of the top and base anchors. Impact Block can be installed at the top of a tree or lower in the canopy before starting to cut limbs off. Vainionpää said he predominantly uses 12mm or 14mm Teufelberger Sirius Bull ropes.
He added: “The Impact Block adds weight and rigging to our projects, but that is outweighed by the education it gives us. Trees are very complicated and normal rigging rules don’t apply. However, we are at the lower end of our learning curve with this technology and must continue to conduct tests and deliver education before it can make a widespread difference across arboriculture. For that reason, it remains more of a training product than a site-only tool.”
Impact Block is an integral product in Vainionpää’s armoury, which includes a 27-tonne metre knuckle-boom crane that can be fitted with a grapple saw or bucket; a mobile elevated work platform; stump grinders; and a machine for pruning branches and removal of felled loads.
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RSB Rigging Solutions (RSB) used a Bluetooth-enabled 6.5t capacity Straightpoint (SP) load shackle for load tests aboard a luxury super-yacht at Maritimo, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The specialist supplier of rope and running rigging to the luxury yacht sector used the wireless load shackle and water bags to test and certify the side access rail system and davit crane on the Motor Yacht Halo, a 40m luxury explorer super yacht. The work was carried out in accordance with Lloyd's Register maritime classification.
The Sanguineti Chiavari CE RINA-approved 2,000kg capacity, 360-degree rotating fly bridge deck crane is used for the deployment and recovery of the yacht’s smaller onboard “tender” vessel, which is used for excursions, taxi to shore and rescue situations. The Harken R27 access rail systems are installed to the side of the vessel to allow easy and safe access for crew during maintenance.
Anthony Eland, load test manager at RSB, said: “Two tests were performed on the deck crane: a static test at 1.25 times safe working load [2,500kg] and a dynamic test at 1.1 times safe working load [2,200kg]. The access rail system was tested to 600kg at the start, middle and end of each 3m section of track.”
Eland explained that the water weight system from Seaflex can be filled to the desired capacity to meet the weight requirements of the item to be tested. When filled with water, he said, 1kg equals 1 litre. “It is the safest and most efficient method of load testing these pieces of lifting equipment,” he added. “The [water weight] load bag uses a number of smaller shackles in its construction in order to connect the bag to the masterlink.”
He continued: “We use the load shackle for its ease of use as no connecting strops are needed. We frequently work with limited space so every centimetre in height saved is very beneficial; the compact design of the shackle minimises the length of our total test assembly and in some cases, it wouldn’t be possible to do the test without it. Also, the wind can cause instability when lifting a load and the compact bow shackle design helps to minimize the pendulum effect created.”
Two versions of the wireless load shackle are available: a long range, 2.4Ghz version providing a wireless range of 1,000m or 3,280 ft. to SP's SW-HHP handheld or software options; and, as RSB used, a Bluetooth product that can be connected to any smart phone running the free HHP app on iOS or Android at ranges up to 100m or 328 ft.
Eland said: “[Bluetooth] was one of the selling points of the product. Receiving load test data wirelessly is essential when the load is suspended. Downloading the [HHP] app to our company phones eliminates the need for a separate dedicated receiver.”
RSB regularly supplies and facilitates the installation of Harken Access Rail Systems for the suspension of people and crane cables / lifting accessories for the marine industry. In this case, it delivered the testing and inspection package for a regular customer that has subscribed to its biannual certification service.
