Twelve metres out of service: Liebherr’s 620 HC-L takes the HC-L range into the 600 metre-tonne class
Liebherr has added a 600 metre-tonne machine to its luffing jib range. The 620 HC-L 18/36 lifts 18 tonnes in single-fall and 36 tonnes in two-fall operation on a 65-metre jib, and parks at an out-of-service radius of just 12 metres.
Capacity and the Load-Plus function
The 620 HC-L 18/36 sits above the 440 HC-L and takes Liebherr’s luffing jib programme into the 600 metre-tonne segment. Maximum capacity is 18 tonnes in one-fall operation and 36 tonnes reeved two-fall, with a jib length of 65 metres. A new Load-Plus function raises capacity on specific load charts by up to 76 per cent — a substantial figure, and one that will be worth checking chart by chart against the lifts a given site actually needs.
Footprint is the real argument
What defines a luffing jib crane in a city is not its capacity but how much airspace it occupies when nobody is working. The 620 HC-L has an out-of-service position of 12 metres and a minimum operating radius of 4.1 metres. On a constrained site that determines how many cranes can be set up and how close they can be worked without an oversail agreement with the neighbours.
The crane runs on the 24 HC 630 tower system, reaching a freestanding height of up to 74.3 metres. The 440 HC-L uses the same tower sections, so an operator running both models can share tower stock between them — and the tower design is intended to reduce the need for building tie-ins, which on a rising structure is one of the slower items in the crane’s programme.
Erection and controls
Liebherr quotes ten transport units for the crane at full radius including counter-ballast. Hoist and luffing ropes arrive pre-wound on their drums as ready-to-use assemblies, and a plug-and-play arrangement with a central switchgear cabinet and quick electrical and mechanical connections is intended to cut the time spent on site during erection.
Drives are Liebherr’s own, with the EMS-4 control unit and the TC-OS platform on a 12-inch display, including a configuration wizard for setting the crane up. A radio control unit with a 3.5-inch display gives the operator Load-Plus, Micromove and electric weathervaning directly, so the crane can be worked from wherever the load can actually be seen.
Liebherr also lists aramid fibre guying for use with the luffing jib among the crane’s features.
Source: Liebherr — Photos: Liebherr
Crane facts
- Model: Liebherr 620 HC-L 18/36
- Capacity: 18 t single-fall, 36 t two-fall
- Jib length: 65 m
- Load-Plus: up to 76 % more capacity on specific load charts
- Out-of-service radius: 12 m
- Minimum operating radius: 4.1 m
- Tower system: 24 HC 630, freestanding to 74.3 m
- Transport: ten units at full radius incl. counter-ballast
- Control: EMS-4, TC-OS on 12-inch display, radio control with 3.5-inch display