Modulift for Rolls-Royce turbine

Spreader beam manufacturer Modulift supplied equipment to lift a Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine in the UK.

The powerful turbine was installed into the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, at the Babcock Rosyyth Shipyard in Scotland.

Modulift was approached by Rolls-Royce to design and manufacture spreaders to lift the 36 megawatt (MW) MT30 turbine. The turbine weighs 50 tonnes and will provide two thirds of the 109 MW needed to power the aircraft carrier.

The Queen Elizabeth weighs 65,000 tonnes and is the largest British naval ship ever built.

Sue Caples, Modulift operations manager and head engineer, said, “The gas turbine had a 75/25 offset centre of gravity which meant that we had to design a lifting rig that would enable the turbine to be lifted level despite the extreme offset CoG.

“We achieved this by designing a ‘1 over 2’ lifting rig that had different length top slings so that the crane hook would be directly over the centre of gravity during the lift. It is important for loads to be lifted level, particularly for installations such as this one; it was a great success because the load was level within 0.2 degrees from horizontal. We are very pleased to have provided the lifting equipment for such a prestigious project”