Teufelberger Launches soLITE Fiber Ropes into Production

soLITE Fiber Rope

April 3, 2019 - Unlike other manufacturers that offer conventional fiber ropes for lifting applications, Teufelberger, in cooperation with Liebherr, has chosen a different approach, especially when it comes to mobile, crawler, and tower cranes. The key is a unique kernmantle construction called soLITE.

According to the company, Teufelberger is the only steel wire and fiber rope specialist to have developed and implemented a fiber rope that features a unique, innovative, and patented fiber-rope-based steel wire rope construction. They designed it by using extremely lightweight, high strength synthetic fiber. The result is a combination of the advantages of a high performance steel wire rope with those of a high-strength fiber rope.

Teufelberger, in a joint effort with Liebherr, has not only conducted intensive testing on test rigs, but also used soLITE successfully in the field since 2016. Since the start of this project, 85,000 m. of test rope of various diameters have been produced, and 87,000 hours of development work have been put in.

In tests conducted on about 20 cranes – tower, mobile, and crawler cranes – the rope's low weight helped achieve multiple advantages: in many cases, it is possible to fit soLITE on the crane by hand and without auxiliary reeving winches. In addition, re-reeving the hook block becomes easier and can be done faster. Thanks to the plastic fibers, the rope does not need to be lubricated.

While in the case of steel wire ropes, the point of discard can be determined according to DIN ISO 4309 based on broken wires, damage patterns, or corrosion, and this has not been reliably possible for fiber ropes. However, SoLITE fiber ropes now permit the redundant determination of the point of discard.

The protective cover consists of fibers of various colors, which, due to their consistency, wear differently. As soon as the red core becomes visible, soLITE must be discarded. In combination with the bending cycle counter on the crane or the machine, soLITE can be used on almost any reeving system. At the time when the point of discard has just been reached, soLITE still has 100% of its breaking load, making it safer than a steel wire rope.

Following numerous successful field tests, soLITE for tower cranes is now available for series production. Starting at bauma 2019, it can be ordered exclusively from Liebherr. For this purpose, Liebherr has designed a special "fiber crane" that brings to bear the benefits of the fiber rope.