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How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

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Re: How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

#21

Post by theklub »

fh973 wrote: post #3
aylons wrote: post #2

Zeppelins could solve transport scenarios just like this one, where you must transport a huge cargo from/to specific locations far from the shore: http://rt.com/news/aeroscraft-revolutionary-airship-cargo-18... However, after hearing about this comeback for at least a decade, I'm a bit skeptic it will ever come true.

One of these efforts graced the Berlin, Germany area with a huge hangar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CargoLifter Luckily, they found a new use for the structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Islands_Resort

This seems like a project for Elon Musk

Re: How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

#22

Post by dublinben »

iamjdg wrote: post #12
tim333 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming they could even get permission for a land route given the usual max weight is 40 tonnes, not 200.

they must have, they went by land to and from the sea.

Not according to this article. They went by river to and from the sea.

Re: How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

#25

Post by andyjohnson0 »

sp332 wrote: post #15
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard to see how ten helicopters could maintain enough horizontal separation to work safely while carrying the load. An airship might be a better alternative.

They could build a wide platform beneath it so the anchor points would be further apart.

Assuming the 10 helicopters fly a 3-2-3-2 formation at the same height.

Consider a line of three helicopters. According to Wikipedia the rotor diameter of the Mi-26 is 32 metres. Assuming that each helicopter is separated so that the tips of the rotors are also separated by 32 meters from its neighbours [1]. This gives us a distance of 128 metres between the rotational centre of the two outermost helicopters.

The corresponding distance between the front and rear rows of helicopters would be 160 metres.

So you'd need a 128x160 metre frame to carry the 24 metre long spectrometer. Due to its size and the need to support the 200 ton weight of the instrument, the frame itself (including the necessary cross-braces) will be extremely heavy. So you'd need to add more helicopters to lift the frame, which means it would have to be bigger to allow for their necessary separation... And making it bigger makes it heavier...

[1] A guess. I suspect they'd need more than that.

[2] I am not a mechanical engineer

Re: How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

#27

Post by astrodust »

pjc50 wrote: post #14
iamjdg wrote: post #8

I really have a hard time believing there was no lower cost solution for a 400 km trip by land as opposed to a 9000 km trip by land, sea, and land. What about an off road heavy transport trailer for the sections of road they can' t fit through. Or a quick build bridge structure similar to what is used by the military? Or some sort of land version of a lock (water transport)?

This is the middle of Germany. "Off road" means "across someone else's property, destroying a large strip of it". It looks like they had enough trouble getting it the last 7km. I presume the height of it means it won't fit under bridges on either road or canal.

Germany is also home to enormously gigantic machines like the Bagger 288 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_288) that are so enormous you can see them from space.

The scale of this thing is staggering. In one incident it accidentally scooped up a bulldozer: http://imgur.com/gallery/rU3XU

Also shown there is what it looks like when it's on the move along a carefully planned and prepared route: http://i.imgur.com/51x5NIR.jpg?1

I'm sure the budget for moving a scientific device isn't as huge as something involved in mineral extraction where time equals money.

Re: How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

#28

Post by aragot »

astrodust wrote: post #26
nilsimsa wrote: post #23

Shouldn't this have been better planned out before they built it? Or was there no other choice?

I'm sure they had one of those "Oh..." moments when they realized there was something that didn't quite work out.

There are a few moments in recent history where I wish I had been. This is one of them, along with the day after the 2007 iPhone keynote in the Android 1 offices, and when the French company realized they'd built their trains 1cm too wide for a thousand platforms [1].

[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-rail-o...

Re: How to move a 200-ton spectrometer across Europe

#29

Post by trhway »

Aardwolf wrote: post #6

Is it possible to have multiple helicopters work together to lift one object? If so, 10 of these could have done it :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26

only 5 of these

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-12

or just one of this, though you'd need to arrange for transport to/from the airports

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya

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