1. Reference Story
lifting high – fast and safely
Safety and reliability are key issues in vertical access sys- port Engineer at Vacon Benelux, recalls: “RAXTAR asked us
tems, especially when operating at great heights. RAXTAR to conduct joint tests with them to see if the performance of
designs and manufactures high quality construction hoists the Vacon AC drives met their requirements for the passen-
for passengers and materials, industrial lifts and transport ger hoists. The total weight load of the hoist is about 5,500 kg
platforms. Vacon AC drives are needed for motor control. (12,125 lbs), and it has a net load of 2,700 kg (5,952 lbs). The
hoist was lifted by two motors, a gearbox in open loop with a
RAXTAR − based near the city of Eindhoven in the south of total power of 76 kW and a Vacon NXS drive of 90 kW. After
the Netherlands − manufactures vertical access solutions some slight modifications we succeeded in running the hoist
that are based on decades of experience and meet the high- without problems.”
est quality and safety standards. Compared to conventional
hoists, RAXTAR’s customers save significantly on mainte- However, RAXTAR had a challenge for Vacon: they wanted the
nance costs thanks to the robustness of the hoists and their hoist to run always at the highest possible speed. “Our team
flexible design based on open standards. at Vacon Benelux designed a software application that deter-
mines the load of the hoist and adjusts the speed according to
RAXTAR’s passenger and material hoists operate at the heart the load, so the hoist runs at the highest possible speed when
of the logistics on construction projects. RAXTAR construc- needed,” Mr Kant continues.
tion hoists guarantee the supply of materials and personnel
around the clock, at the right time and in the right place (and
Major projects from New York City to Milan
height).
One of the biggest challenges and most successful coop-
eration projects between RAXTAR and Vacon is the recon-
Adjusting the speed according to the load of the hoist
struction of one of the world’s most famous buildings, the
RAXTAR’s hoists and lifts use Vacon AC drives for motor One World Trade Center (formerly called Freedom Tower) at
control. “The choice of Vacon is based on the reliability and ground zero in New York City, USA. The customer demanded
quality of Vacon’s solutions. Reliability and quality are the key hoists that could carry 3,200 kg (7,055 lbs) up to 300 m (984 ft).
values for our products and solutions,” says Pascal Matheeu- This required a hoist with three motors and a total power of
wsen, CEO of RAXTAR. 110 kW. A total of twelve RAXTAR construction hoists, travel-
ling at a maximum speed of 92 m (302 ft)/min, are equipped
The first contact between Vacon and RAXTAR was at the end with Vacon NXP drives of 132 kW and provide the logistics for
of November 2007 when RAXTAR was urgently looking for a this remarkable project for 16 hours a day, six days a week.
new drives solution for their hoists. Vacon proposed a Vacon The 132-kW Vacon NXP drives are provided with Open Loop
NXS unit (205 A/110 kW) for testing. Dick Kant, Sales Sup- Control and an OPT-AF card*.

2. At the same time, RAXTAR is providing construction hoists
for one of the largest construction sites at the moment in Eu-
rope, the CityLife project covering an area of 255,000 square
metres (2,744,820 sq ft) in the centre of the former trade fair
area in Milan, Italy. Seven RAXTAR hoists with a payload of
2,700 kg (5,952 lbs) and a travelling speed of 72 m (236 ft)/
min guarantee safe access for people and material to differ-
ent buildings at the site. The customer’s choice of RAXTAR is
based on both the quality and flexibility of the solutions.
In Mr Matheeuwsen’s view RAXTAR and Vacon have many
things in common: “As well as sharing a common vision on
quality, the relationship between Vacon and RAXTAR is based
on a cultural fit. Day-to-day co-operation between Vacon and
RAXTAR personnel guarantees the highest level of service,
relating to both the reliability and flexibility that we need to
provide for our customers globally.”
Hoists feeding energy back to the network
Today, RAXTAR and Vacon have an open partnership where RAXTAR’s construction hoists at the One World Trade
the expertise of both companies is used to develop new and Center building project (formerly called Freedom Tower)
innovative world-class solutions for the construction and in- in New York City. Each RAXTAR hoist cabin can lift 3,200
dustrial markets. kg (7,055 lbs) and travels at a maximum speed of 92 m
(302 ft)/min. All RAXTAR’s solutions are either CE marked
RAXTAR and Vacon are now developing a hoist that will re- and certified according to European Norms and Regula-
duce energy consumption. When the hoist is going down, it tions or comply with North American Standards. Photos
will supply energy back into the network instead of feeding courtesy of RAXTAR.
it into the brake resistors. For RAXTAR’s customers this will
bring energy savings. The first two hoists were installed on
construction sites in The Netherlands in June 2011. BAM
Group and Dura Vermeer, two leading Dutch construction
companies, were the first to work with this “green” solution.
Modular design of Vacon drives
Since modularity is important for RAXTAR, the top drive unit
can also run conventionally with brake resistors, so the hoist
can be used in every situation. Vacon’s modular design makes
it possible to replace the active front-end unit with brake re-
sistors, so the hoist can also be run on a generator supply.
Frank Kennis, Head of Technology & Innovation at RAXTAR,
says: “In order to competitively develop, design and manu-
facture the kind of solutions RAXTAR offers to the market, we
often need to let go of conventional thinking. RAXTAR mixes
and matches innovative technologies to create solutions that The Vacon NXP was the perfect fit for the tower construc-
answer to − or even exceed − our customers’ demands for tion project in New York City. The total weight of the hoist
safe and reliable vertical access systems. Long-term rela- loaded is about 7,300 kg (16,094 lbs).
tionships, in which each party clearly understands this re-
quirement, are crucial for achieving this goal.” *Thanks to Vacon’s advanced lift software it is possible to control
the hoist in Open Loop. The AF card was integrated to improve
security and to reduce the number of components.
Vacon Group
Runsorintie 7
65380 Vaasa, Finland
RS000144A
Tel. +358 (0)201 2121
Fax. +358 (0)201 212 205
E-mail vacon@vacon.com
www.vacon.com