Dark Grains Dryer Lifting Beam

The Client

A grain distillery located in the middle of a bustling city. The distillery, which is small by footprint but huge by output, uses wheat to distil spirit which is incorporated in various whisky blends known throughout the world. Having previously supplied and installed grain handling machinery as well as complex structural steel, the client reached out to Abdie Solutions to handle their latest project.

The Brief

• Install a lifting beam above each of the spent grain dryers’ drive ends so that pieces of drive equipment could be easily removed for maintenance.
• Replace a personnel size door with a set of 3m tall bi-folding doors which suit the geometry of the new lifting beam and don’t inhibit access to the walkways.

The Project

At first glance this looks like a simple Project Brief, however due to the complexity of the existing steelwork & machinery and the precise operational requirements of the beam & door arrangement, a traditional solution of ‘making parts to suit whilst on site’ would prove almost impossible.

The works included the design, fabrication and installation of:

• Two 5 metre long lifting beams, each with one custom mitred end to maximise beam height whilst suiting the haunch of the existing building steelwork.
• Custom bi-fold doors with:
• unique dimensions to suit each opening,
• a cavity for acoustic insulation to reduce noise in the personnel areas,
• a notch engineered into the design of the door to accommodate the lifting beam,
• 180 degree opening capability so as to not restrict a walkway,
• a castell safety interlock system incorporated.

The onsite phase of the project lasted two weeks, however the planning & design process spanned several months prior to this, so that time required onsite was minimised. The team utilised CAD software to create a digital model showing key elements of the site as well as the modifications Abdie Solutions were proposing.

Challenges and Solutions 

Challenge –  A need to gain maximum height below the lifting beam while constrained by the steelwork of the floor above.

Solution – Working with accredited structural engineering partners, Abdie Solutions designed one end of the lifting beam with an angled end plate to suit the haunch of the steelwork of the floor above.

Challenge – The area that the new doors would open into was a tight space as well as a personnel walkway.

Solution – Abdie Solutions proposed a 3-door configuration; one side single leaf and the other side bi-fold. The bi-fold however was designed to fold open to 180 degrees instead of the conventional 90 degrees. This was achieved through a design process utilising 3D CAD to engineer a complex and innovative runner system at the top of the doors.

Challenge – Due to the load requirement and span of the lifting beam, each beam weighed over 200kg. The space-restricted and crowded environment meant that it was difficult to manoeuvre and lift the beams into place.

Solution – Abdie Solutions put a lot of thought and planning into the beam installation. This involved creating a lift plan which made use of a small but versatile cherry picker to attach a beam clamp and chain block high up in the building. In addition to this, a second lift point was rigged to allow the team to slew the beam laterally into place once it was lifted to the correct height.