Vlentec vacuum pipe lifters are Saudi Aramco accepted and are used on many Aramco projects
Following many years of collaboration and testing with Saudi Aramco, we proudly received Aramco’s full acceptance for Vlentec’s vacuum pipe lifters. This demonstrates the safety of our products. The testing of vacuum lifters took place during various stages in the construction of pipelines.
One of Vlentec’s prestige projects is the handling of 48 inch and 56 inch pipes with lengths of over 24 meters and a wall thickness up to 1 inch. The heaviest pipes handled with the vacuum lifter were 23 000 kg. The ‘Master Gas Pipeline’ has over 1 200 km of pipe to be handled. A number of vacuum pipe lifters set up on mobile cranes and loaders were supplied to make work as efficient as possible.
Vlentec’s SC250N lifting beam is used in combination with a heavy-duty suction pad to quickly handle the pipes in the stock piles and coating yards. The SC250N lifting beam can be fitted to a crane by its two integrated lifting lugs. These lifting lugs are 2.4 meters apart and connect with slings to the crane’s hook. By having two lugs, the operator can handle the pipe quickly and stable.
Some of the SC250N lifting beams have also been used on Cat 988 wheel-loaders. These vacuum lifters are fitted with an additional attachment between the lifting beam and suction pad. When using the vacuum lifter on a loader, it is more challenging to fully align the unit above the pipe. By fitting vertical and diagonal chains to the suction pad, the pad can align itself on the pipe while the loader is not fully aligned with the pipe. The diagonal chains keep the load stable when lifting.
23 000 kg double-joint 56 inch pipes for Aramco’s Master Gas Pipelines are being handled with Vlentec vacuum pipe lifters.
