Barnhart Powers Forward in Transformer Transport

Market: Nuclear PowerLocation: PennsylvaniaThe ChallengeA customer contracted Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co. to ... http://bit.ly/f0ssas

Transport and Setting of Turbine/Generator in a North Carolina Project

Market: Power

Location: North Carolina

The Challenge

Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co. won a bid on an already-in-progress job, which included the hauling, lifting, and setting of steam equipment, and the customer urged the team to finish the job on a very tight schedule. On top of that, very wet and extremely cold weather made the project even more difficult, not to mention a very constricting site gave the crew very little real-estate in which to work.

The Solution

Creative planning, hard work, and timely deliveries all helped Barnhart meet the deadline. In addition, clever engineering enabled the team to connect the Marino girder to the Barnhart gantry track, and as a result, saved much time and money.

The Description

The customer contracted Barnhart for the onsite transporting and setting of the turbine in addition to a generator. The job required the team to lift, haul, and set these massive pieces to an alternative location on the job site.

The project was already underway when the crew won the bid, and the customer desired a quick finish. Barnhart engineers then focused on quickly submitting the project plans. Other engineers on the site also flooded the team's engineers with questions, and Barnhart's quick responses kept the job on schedule.

Barnhart's engineers also developed a plan to connect the Marino girders with the Barnhart gantry tracks. This allowed the team more flexibility and availability with its equipment and saved quite a bit of time and money.

The rest of the crew suffered through cold and wet weather. In fact, the site conditions heavily constricted the equipment because of minimal space to navigate machinery. The crane operators and workers pressed onward with hard work and overcame the dreary setting.

A subcontractor also delivered integral parts and equipment to Barnhart right on schedule. This timely delivery, matched with Barnhart's creative engineering staff and diligent crew, allowed Barnhart to start a job behind schedule and finish ahead of the deadline.

Major Equipment Used

• Goldhofer Trailer
• Stator Frame
• 500T Hoist

Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company Services:

• Crane Service
• Heavy Rigging
• Heavy Cargo Logistics
• Heavy Lift Cranes
• Machinery Moving
• Modular Lift Tower
• Transportation Solutions

 

Despite Difficult Hurdles, Barnhart Races to Quick Finish in Generator Heavy Haul

Market: Power

Location: Tennessee

The Challenge

A customer called on Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co. in the "11th hour" for a heavy haul job, including the transportation of three combustion turbines and three combustion generators. One of the most difficult routes a Barnhart team has ever maneuvered and the need for a quick permit obtainment called for a perfect performance by the company.

The Solution

Barnhart quickly secured the required permits from the State of Tennessee for this difficult job. After quickly obtaining the permits, Barnhart won the job for the original bid value, but that only allowed them to leap the first hurdle in this job.

Next, Barnhart's careful planning, ingenuity, and friendly negotiations helped them save time, secure their routes, make tight turns, and safely navigate steep hills and narrow roadways.

In fact, Barnhart conducted numerous pre-mobilization and operation meetings, in addition to daily job hazard analyses, to successfully complete the job.

The Description

After being called in late by the customer, Barnhart won the bid on the heavy haul job because they quickly secured the required permits while the competitor failed to do so. Friendly relations with the state and a commitment to safety and government guidelines quickly allowed the team to obtain the permits.

The original schedule for the job called for a delivery every ten days. However, the team compressed the schedule to one delivery every seven days to ensure timely completion. This seems even more impressive when one considers the team covered a 74-mile haul route and two cities during every delivery.

The crew faced its first obstacle with a faulty railroad crossing. A careful inspection led to an engineering effort to shore up the bridge, ensuring a safe crossing.

Next, Barnhart negotiated terms with a do-it-yourself car wash because the car wash blocked Barnhart's route on a tight turn. The car wash agreed to demolish the building, and the trailers safely maneuvered the turn. In fact, the road on which the car wash sat was perhaps the tightest road Barnhart has ever had to squeeze through!

The last part of the route included a five percent grade and a road width of nineteen feet. The dolly transport itself stretched just under eighteen feet wide! After numerous meetings and careful transport, the team safely completed the job.

Barnhart's hard work and careful planning ultimately led to an extraordinary achievement with this job. Despite the tight schedule and daunting obstacles, the team managed a near perfect performance!

Major Equipment Used

• 16- and 20- Line Dolly Transporters

Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company Services:

• Crane Service
• Heavy Rigging
• Heavy Cargo Logistics
• Heavy Lift Cranes
• Machinery Moving
• Modular Lift Tower
• Transportation Solutions

 

An Unwieldy Dome Did Not Circumvent Barnhart's Efforts to Successfully Complete Removal

Market: DOE

Location: Washington

The Challenge

A customer contracted Barnhart Crane & Rigging Co. to remove a containment dome. However, the thin walls of the dome caused the dome to flex and bend during removal, making the project very difficult to complete.

The Solution

The Barnhart team engineered temporary hold-down and tightening brackets to stabilize and easily remove the dome.

The Description

A customer assigned Barnhart to two tasks: removing a containment dome and transporting a polar crane. The dome extended 80 feet in diameter and weighed around 145,000 pounds.

The team conducted a shell analysis on the dome and found the dome to be thin and flimsy. The shell analysis led the team to engineer the appropriate brackets described above and to locate the best rigging attachment points.

Barnhart's subcontractor, Cutting Edge Services, cut the dome using a large wall saw. Once the subcontractor cut the dome, Barnhart used a CC1800 SSL crawler crane to place the dome on the ground.

The team lifted the polar crane to a transporter for shipment. And the customer left the dome on the ground to be cut into pieces for easier shipment.

Although the project lasted several months, Barnhart's expert engineering and well-trained staff finished the project ahead of schedule with no injuries.

Major Equipment Used

• CC1800 SSL Crawler Crane
• THP Trailer

Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company Services:

• Crane Service
• Heavy Rigging
• Heavy Cargo Logistics
• Heavy Lift Cranes
• Machinery Moving
• Modular Lift Tower
• Transportation Solutions

 

Transformer Offload, Transport, and Replacement

Market: Power

Location: Mississippi

The Challenge

A customer contracted Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company to receive, offload, and stage four 520,000 pounds Hyundai transformers in Mississippi for the 2012 Extend Power Uprate (EPU) outage in 2012. Potential problems with the dock, where the Barnhart team would offload the massive EPU equipment, put a small hiccup in the schedule.

The Solution

The water at the roll off site suffered from siltation pollution. This simply means that the water contained higher concentrations of sediments and soil buildup than normal. This problem brought the dock's integrity into question, but a professional engineering review found the dock's structure perfectly stable to withstand very heavy weights.

The Description

The EPU outage allows the power plant to update their components and equipment in order to produce more power. The customer contracted Barnhart to help with the power plant's uprate.

After finding the dock to be absolutely safe, Barnhart assigned its newest fleet addition, the LR 1700 Barge Crane Big Al, to the task of offloading the massive transformers.

The Barnhart team than loaded the four transformers to a 195' x 35' deck barge that eventually hooked up with Big Al at a local port.

Once the team secured the barge to two dolphins near the new dock destination, the crew spent a day in setting up the ballasts for lifting operations. Big Al then successfully relocated the huge transformers from the barge to an awaiting 16-line PSTe trailer on the dock. By using Big Al's nifty winch system, the team perfectly aligned the transformers atop the Goldhofer.

The trailer transported the four transformers to a staging location just a short distance south of the dock. The intermediate staging allowed the Barnhart crew to offload all four transformers in a single day!

Next, Barnhart will move the transformers to a much more distant staging location, where the team will dress them out in preparation for the upcoming EPU. During this scheduled EPU outage, the team will replace the plant's old transformers with the new ones Barnhart has transported.

Major Equipment Used

• LR 1700 Barge Crane "Big Al"
• 16-Line Goldhofer PSTe Trailer

Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company Services:

• Crane Service
• Heavy Rigging
• Heavy Cargo Logistics
• Heavy Lift Cranes
• Machinery Moving
• Modular Lift Tower
• Transportation Solutions

 

Traveling Screen and Stoplog Removal from Reactor Pump

Market: DOE

Location: Washington

The Challenge

A customer contracted Barnhart to remove six traveling screens and one stoplog from a nuclear reactor pump hose. The original contractor unsuccessfully removed the traveling screens because decades of immobility tightly wedged the screens in the filtering system.

The Solution

Barnhart's top of the line pull-up gantries allowed the team to shake the screens loose, remove them from the pump hose, and successfully complete the job.

The Description

Originally, the customer contracted a competitor to remove and dispose of the old traveling screens and stoplog by means of a 2250 crawler crane. Nuclear reactor pumps use traveling screens as a net to collect debris from incoming water, and a stoplog allows the engineers to adjust the amount of water flow into the pump.

The customer wished to retire the old equipment, but however, as stated above, the numerous years of wear-and-tear lodged the screens in place. The customer and competitor invited Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company to assist in the project's completion.

The project leaders originally thought that the screens weight may have exceeded the crawler crane's capacity, in addition to the screens' firm positions. Barnhart brought in a Pull-up Gantry that effectively dislodged the stubborn traveling screens.

As it turns out, the stuck screens were the only problem, as the other team easily removed the screens with the 2250 crawler crane. Similarly, Barnhart used the pull-up gantry along with climbing jacks to initially unfasten the stoplog, and the other team successfully removed it with the same crawler crane.

Major Equipment Used

• Pull-up Gantry
• Climbing Jacks

Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company Services:

• Crane Service
• Heavy Rigging
• Heavy Cargo Logistics
• Heavy Lift Cranes
• Machinery Moving
• Modular Lift Tower
• Transportation Solutions

 

Barnhart Makes Special Appearance in 2011 Super Bowl Commercial

Most of us are aware of the product placement advertising that sneaks its way into popular television shows and movies. In fact, the clever folks at Bud Light poked fun at the marketing methods during this year's Super Bowl commercial lineup:

Copyright 2011 Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Source: Bud Light's Official YouTube Channel.

But does product placement work in commercials themselves? I don't think many marketing teams have attempted it.

However, Chrysler's 2011 Super Bowl commercial "Imported from Detroit," featuring Rap Artist Eminem, inadvertently promoted Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company with a quick product placement shot.

That's right. Those are official Barnhart cranes. You can't see the Barnhart name, but they made the commercial.

Here's the full commercial below. The crane shot appears in the first ten seconds of the video.

Copyright 2011 Chrysler Group, LLC. Source: Chrysler's Official YouTube Channel.

So, how does Barnhart stand to benefit from this subliminal product placement? We can only hope that anytime someone sees a Chrysler vehicle or listens to an Eminem song, this image will flash in their minds:

While you're here, we invite you to peruse Barnhart's inventory of equipment. You might even see some crane service photos that resemble the image above.