Handel Sollevamenti's objective was to design a structure that could comply with the stringent dimensional limits imposed by the configuration of the Elifriulia maintenance site, but at the same time ensure operators could work safely, thanks to the possibility of rotating on itself and positioning itself correctly for use according to the activities to be carried out on the helicopters.
"We provide helicopter services for private individuals, large companies and public authorities, operating in an extremely demanding and competitive market that requires vehicles that are always perfectly efficient and maintained according to the strictest international standards," said Claudio Girardi, maintenance manager, Elifriulia.
"We turned to Handel Sollevamenti to help us optimise handling procedures related to helicopter maintenance activities, in particular, the replacement of engines, which are located in the upper part of the aircraft below the blades. Specifically, we were interested in creating a structure that would allow us not to be forced to dismantle the engines to carry out some of the more recurrent maintenance activities.”
The structure was built using a box girder with S355J2 sheet metal and consisting of two fixed upper heads and two lower heads for the motorisation housings, linked together by two diagonal legs and bracing made of tubular.
Since the entrance to the smaller hangar dedicated to helicopter maintenance is only 40 cm wider than the diameter of the blades. At the same time, the height of the door is only slightly higher than the maximum height of the helicopter, absolute precision, and reliability of the movements of the structure and the lifting system were essential prerequisites for the success of the project.
"The guiding principle of our company has always been to create solutions with attention to every detail and tailored to the individual needs of each of our customers. In this specific case, after a careful inspection and analysis of the requirements in collaboration with Elifriulia technicians, we opted for a gantry crane on steerable wheels equipped with eight motors: 4 dedicated to rotation/steering and another four dedicated to moving the structure from one hangar to another," said Federico Alcido, area manager, Handel Sollevamenti.
"For the lifting unit, we used a Eurobloc VT model Verlinde electric wire rope hoist with a capacity of 3200 kg. We chose it for its renowned reliability and for the lifting speed, which had to be minimal to avoid any kind of handling error during helicopter maintenance activities."
The entire structure is radio-controlled to make it easier for operators to manoeuvre it, through a series of PLCs that use drives and encoders on the motors to guarantee extreme precision in steering movements.
"The facility built by Handel Sollevamenti has met our expectations perfectly, facilitating our maintenance work to offer our customers a fleet of helicopters with the highest levels of efficiency. We also greatly appreciated Handel's expertise not only in customising the structure but also in choosing components of proven quality and reliability, of which the Verlinde hoist is an excellent example," added Girardi.
Founded in 1971, Elifriulia is the longest-established helicopter service company in Italy and is one of the top five helicopter operators nationwide. Since 1992, it has been the reference point in Friuli Venezia Giulia for the helicopter service, also at night, in addition to operations in search and rescue in hostile environments and in preventing and fighting forest fires.
