Condra to supply overhead crane for aviation rescue training

South African crane manufacturer Condra has been appointed mechanical subcontractor to MH Automation for the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) new Rescue Simulation Centre under construction on the Doornfontein Campus.

The company is to supply a specialised crane to replicate helicopter motion by lifting, rotating and tilting an actual fuselage. The 5 ton double girder overhead crane will also position helicopter underwater escape training (HUET) simulator equipment. The centre will train helicopter crews and emergency personnel in aviation rescue under a wide range of simulated weather and flying conditions.

A four-storey-high building with 6.0m-deep wave pool is already under construction at the centre. After equipping with an AS365 Dauphin helicopter fuselage supplied by Airbus Helicopters, the crane will simulate the operational conditions of a machine hovering over either water or land by manipulating the lifting points of the suspended airframe.

Condra’s contract provides for the supply of the crane itself with hoists to simulate helicopter motion in the hover, the crane gantry, the mechanism for helicopter rotation, and fans and lighting for downdraught and different daylight conditions.

Additionally, Condra will fabricate frames for fitting to the helicopters to facilitate their hoisting. Crews and rescue personnel will board the helicopter, which the crane will then lift into position as required, manipulating it to simulate the motion and rotational movement of helicopter flight by means of the rotating mechanism and the hoists that will lift and lower the frame’s ends.

Control of all airframe movement from the centre’s floor will be by radio remote joystick via insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) variable-speed drive controls fitted to the hoist motors and provided by MH Automation.

MH Automation will also design and supply all other controls for crane operation.

UJ’s Rescue Simulation Centre will be Africa’s biggest search-and-rescue training facility, delivering a broad spectrum of staged situational environments, including rescue from a submerged vehicle and/or airframe. A high-speed fan fitted above the overhead crane will deliver pseudo rotor downwash to make training conditions as close to real as possible. There will be a wave simulator to produce the disrupted water surfaces of flood conditions.

The AS365 Dauphin airframe and HUET simulator will be stored in tandem on a raised platform above the pool area, the crane positioning them as required.

The airframe and HUET are expected to arrive in April, after which the crane will be tested at Condra’s workshop prior to installation and commissioning. Project handover is scheduled for July of 2023.

Immediately prior to the centre’s official opening, Condra and MH Automation will train the client in crane operation, including how to exchange the different airframes used for rescue training and underwater escape.