The Power of Vacuum Lifting

In the blockbuster movie,” Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”, there is a scene where Ethan, played by Tom Cruise, climbs the side of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, using a pair of gecko-like suction gloves. Was this fantasy or reality? In the Myth buster’s 54th episode, presenters Adam and Jamie proved that this was no myth. Adam climbed an air duct using Suction Cups. Not to be outdone, the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory presenter, Jem, scaled the side of the aluminium cladded BBC building using ‘Spiderman’ style vacuum gloves. Inspired, a 15-year old Cambridge schoolboy did the same thing, but on a brick-faced building, and used two domestic vacuum cleaner motors. Until these events took place, it was believed impossible. “Vacuum lifters are perfect solutions for handling of goods on the factory floor. May it be loading or offloading manufactured goods, packing a pallet or transporting goods within a workspace, as Vacuum lifters make heavy lifting easy.” In South Africa vacuum lifting technology is still relatively new. However, in the USA, Europe and the Far East, vacuum lifting equipment is widely used in many industrial sectors for the lifting and handling of materials/components, no matter the surface texture, smooth, dusty, wet or rough as there is a variety of different suction pads that adapt to the surface. There are hardly any limitations on weight or material such as metal, glass, concrete slabs, pipes and tubes, plaster boards, bottles small & large, plastic laminates, cement or sugar bags, kegs, drums and so on.

These products can be easily lifted and handled using vacuum lifting equipment fitted with suction pads that attach to and lift loads as much as 45 000 kg in weight, and more. No doubt the usual sceptics will say this is impossible. The pictures below tell a different story.

• Vacuum Tubes lifters (VTL): A lifting system, which consists of a blower, a vacuum tube with suction pad/s used for lifting the goods. The unit is activated by a handgrip, similar to an accelerator on a motorbike. By “accelerating” you activate the vacuum through the tube and with a “break” you deactivate the vacuum and release the goods. • Vacuum Lifters (VL): Is a lifting equipment that needs to attach to an independent equipment such as a crane, jib crane, pillar mounted crane, overhead rail system, a hydraulic excavator arm or forklift truck. The VL is used for lifting/ placing/ positioning of the load while the independent equipment is used to maneuver the whole VL assembly. The major difference between a VTL and a VL is that VTL is used for handling of porous material whereas the VL is used for airtight materials.

• Fast and simple handling: The vacuum’s sucking and releasing steps only need a few seconds to complete activation. • Reduction of production costs:

Higher productivity is achieved through the use of this fast, easy to use technology that requires less man power and that has a lower energy consumption rate. • Reduced wastage: No matter the load, this technology allows for damage free lifting and alleviates damages, such as scratched materials. • Safety first: With double safety factors giving a reliable safety provisions even in the case of power failures/load shedding.

Loading/offloading of sheet metal is usually a challenging process, which requires much care. Using the more traditional methods, one simple error and a slipped sheet can severely injure an employee even cut a man in half. Thinner sheets have proved particularly difficult to handle due to its flimsiness. VL allows large and over length sheets to be quickly picked up and moved to the next phase in the production process with ease and proficiency. The simplicity, with which the vacuum lifter can be operated, from an adjustable or angled handle to a pivoting range from 90° up to 270°, one hand operated to utalise the second hand for crane manipulation, makes sheet metal handling a breeze. Warping or even bending of the transported sheet metal is avoided through proper configuration of the suction plates to suit any custom sizes. Depending on the application, each VL is custom made to client’s specifications and needs to allow for maximum productivity, safe, damage/ and hassle free lifting. Whether the sheet metal is being used to manufacture shelving, computer cases or big ships, handling light to very heavy metal loads is no longer a burdensome process.

Whether you are off-loading/ palletizing or boxing your goods from cement/ sugar bags, plastic bottles to rubber blocks the VTL is ideal for these kinds of tasks. How does this work? It is quite simple with a continuous supply of vacuum being created through the use of a vacuum blower. The suction pads are manufactured from a wide variety of materials such as rubber, a sponge like material or high heat resistant materials allowing them to shape into the surfaces they are being placed. VTL’s can be found in a number of different industries such as food processing, molding, cement and stone, pharma and chemicals, wood working, Barrels, Buckets, Canister and warehouses and logistics. VTL’s can also be utalised in hazardous environments, where volatile chemicals are mixed together or processed, that require additional safety standards such as ATEX.

Cladding of roofing and walls, window repairs and installation has never been easier either. Tailor-made variations of VTL and VL equipment can be used for countless applications, even in glass-cladding of high-rise building construction using UV-resistant suction pads. Battery operated versions of VL for construction sites are also available. With companies such as Group 5, Bell Equipment, EuroSteel, MacSteel, HG Molenaar, TW Profiling, TFM, Foseco, Danone and Bridgestone already using Vacuum Lifters in their day-today-day manufacturing processes, they obviously don’t doubt the capabilities of this amazing technology. Clearly, Ethan Hawk’s antics with vacuum power are no longer the realm of movie fantasy. It’s time to be stuck onto real power.

+27 (0) 11 315 2226, info@whlifting.co.za, www.whlifting.co.za