The South African branch of US-based high-pressure equipment company Enerpac has received significant interest in two of its products at the Electra Mining Africa trade show, which was held at Nasrec Expo Centre, in Johannesburg, in September.

One of the products, the high-capacity hydraulic jack Pow’R-LOCK (PL) portable lift system, is not even available in the country yet.

Enerpac SA director Neil Watson tells Engineering News that information on the new lift system is available only in a brochure, but interest from potential clients exceeds his expectations.

The PL lift system is suitable for use in the mining vehicle service industry and comes in two models, wth differing strokes of 14" and 24.5". The system can lift 200 t and is ideal for servicing large heavy haul trucks, otherwise known as off-highway trucks.

Significant benefits of these new jacks include using the PL lift systems even when a tyre is flat. “This is where our competitors fall short because their products will not fit under an axle of a vehicle which has a flat tyre, owing to the decreased ground clearance,” says Watson, adding that Enerpac reduced the stroke from 27" to 24.5" to accommodate this requirement.

The PL lift systems are fully self-contained, with the only power requirement being a compressed-air supply of between 55 psi and 100 psi. “The system uses air to power the hydraulics,” notes Watson.

He tells Engineering News that a major benefit of the PL systems is its self-locking mechanism which engages whenever the operator ceases operation. “Other similar products require the operator to manually access systems to install locking mechanisms to prevent those systems from lowering once the jacks have reached the required height,” says Watson, adding that this activity increases the risk of injury, as it exposes technicians to safety issues under the load.

Further, the self-locking action also serves as a fail-safe mechanism, should air supply be lost or a component within the system fail.

The PL lift systems are mounted on a wheeled platform for easy transportation and the jack is operated through a simple two-button pendant that enables the operator to use the system from up to 20 feet away.

Production of the PL-series lift systems began in the US during August, and the lift systems will be available from Enerpac SA at the end of this month.

Watson states that the lift systems have been sold in the US and Australia. Market acceptance is good and there is keen interest in the product’s safety features.

Origins
The PL-series lift systems are based on an existing heavy-duty lift system, the dozer lift system (DLS), currently offered by Enerpac.

The DLS is designed to lift construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar’s D10 and D11 dozers by their axles for heavy maintenance procedures.

Other lift systems would take about two days to set up before technicians could begin work on these dozers, but the Enerpac DLS allows for dozers to be fully raised by only employing two units – one at the front and one at the rear – within 16 minutes to have them locked in place and ready for stripping of components.

“The success of the DLS units led to the PL-series lift system being created, which brings simplicity and ease of operation,” states Watson, adding that the DLS units are approved by Caterpillar for use on its dozers.

Further, work is currently under way by Enerpac to introduce another DLS unit that can handle Caterpillar D8 and D9 dozers.

Split-Flow Hydraulic Pumps
Enerpac SA also launched its range of 700 bar split-flow hydraulic pumps (the SFP-series) at Electra Mining, with the heavy lifting industry showing significant interest in the product.

“Our range of SFP-series pumps have a great accuracy of between 4 mm and 0.5 mm, depending on the unit,” boasts Watson, adding that this accuracy is a great advantage for construction clients working with large, fragile, preassembled concrete structures that need to be moved into position.

Enerpac products were used to construct the Olifantsfontein and the R21 Flying Saucer bridges, both near Pretoria.

The SFP pumps are available in configurations of two, four or six valves, which enable the use of four or six hydraulic lift cylinders. Meanwhile, the EVO PLC controlled systems can be configured to have an unlimited number of valves, depending on client requirements.

“Our accurate EVO pumps are currently being used in the construction of State-owned power utility Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile power stations,” he says, adding that, at Medupi, four EVO pumps are being used to operate eight hydraulic jacks tasked with lifting the steel sections up the chimneys to a height of 235 m, with an accuracy of 1 mm.