THE first Hinowa Lightlift 33.17 aerial platform in Scotland has been sold to Aurora Energy Services.
The machine, bought from Access Platform Sales (APS), will be used across Scotland on a wide variety of tasks including wind farms, telecoms, and renewables projects.
Aurora’s lifting and machine services director Alasdair Noble met with APS sales director Shane Paver at the recent ScotPlant exhibition to mark the landmark deal.
The machine was whisked from ScotPlant straight to Aurora’s base in Inverness for operator training, and then to its first job, supporting a tower project up to 30m.
The hybrid machine can be used both indoors and outdoors and can be hired with fully trained operators throughout Scotland.
The ‘robust and flexible’ model boasts a maximum working height of 32.5m and horizontal reach of 16.5m. Lift capacity is 230kg.
Shane Paver said, “We work on a slightly different system on this model. The original ones work on the scissor system. This one works on two booms, with two types of telescopics.
“The outriggers are set for narrow jacking or wide jacking, so it can work in a very confined space. The chains are kept inside the booms, so you don’t have any damage from that side of it. The longest section of hose is 3m all the way through the boom. What that means is if we get a hose break, we’re not taking 33m of hose all the way out the boom.
“This machine has a diesel engine and lithium battery pack. The lithium battery pack has a BMS (Battery Management System) so is constantly monitoring the cells.
“On this model, we have an LED display which tells you the weights, the configuration, where you are. This one also runs a remote activated monitoring system.”
The machine bought by Aurora is also geared up for remote diagnostics of potential problems, potentially saving time and the cost of sending engineers on long trips for minor issues.
“We’ve got a GPS system already built into it, so if an operator has a problem on site, as long as we’ve got a signal to where they are, we can actually look at where the machine is, what it’s doing, where it’s failing, and whether it’s an operator error or a machine error,” Shane added.
