20.10.2009

Hinowa leads the way

Italian aerial lift manufacturer Hinowa, will launch what it claims is the first all battery-powered tracked spider Lift later this month.

In order to achieve the battery life required to cope with the heavy power demands of an outdoor tracked machine, the company has equipped the Goldlift 14.70 with a 2,000 Watt, 48 Volt AC motor and Lithium Ion battery pack. This is the first manufacturer to fit such a power pack to a production aerial lift.

The new unit will be unveiled at SAIE in Bologna next week and Batimat in Paris the week after.
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The Hinowa Goldlift 1470 Battery

The lithium ion battery pack is already widely used in the automotive industry and while prices are coming down it is still vastly more expensive than traditional lead acid or gel batteries.

The benefits include a 60 percent plus reduction in battery weight, allowing the machine to remain under 1,700kgs.

The battery pack fitted to the Goldlift is said to offer around three times the life of a regular aerial lift battery pack and are not prone to any memory effect. On top of this recharging time from empty to full is said to be almost half that of lead acid batteries, while requiring very little maintenance.

Hinowa expects the 14.70 battery to be particularly well suited to
Applications such as, airports, hotels, shopping centres, hospitals, museums and public buildings such as schools etc…

In addition to the dramatic breakthroughs above, Hinowa will also show a modified Goldlift 1470 aerial lift fitted with a WLP 410 dust suppression device. The device is like a giant nebulizer which pumps a fine mist of water droplets 20 or 30 metres into the air where dust is being produced such as in quarries.
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The Hinowa with dust suppressing device

The fine droplets attach them selves to the dust particles and take them to the ground, unlike water cannon and other methods the dust suppressor uses substantially less water and does not dump significant volumes of water on the ground, thus avoiding the puddles and mud so typical of other equipment. The unit can cover an area of up to 2,800 square metres.
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The WLP410 and Hinowa GL1470 can supress dust over an area of 2,800 square metres

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A WLP unit at work

Vertikal Comment

While the Hinowa Goldlift 14.70 looks very similar to its regular spider lifts, however under the skin it is revolutionary. It breaks new ground with its battery pack and electric power unit. While the cost will probably prevent this unit being a high volume unit, it does shine light on the future.

There is a strong trend for larger machines, including rough terrain lifts, to be battery powered, the combination of better batteries – such as lithium Ion - and AC drive is likely to be the solution that will make the technology more practical and accelerate the trend.

The key impediment is the cost of the technology, but as with all such developments the price is likely to come down as take-up increases.