The very latest SafeVac Lifting Systems SV400i makes its debut at the APGA Convention and Exhibition.
As the annual APGA Convention and Exhibition approaches, Austrack Equipment is furiously putting the final touches to its very latest SafeVac Lifting Systems vacuum lifter. This will be the third model the company has released since the first public showing of the SV400 at the Perth convention in October 2023.
When Austrack embarked on its journey almost five years ago to design and build what was to become its most ambitious excavator attachment, it had no idea where that path would lead. It developed into a circuitous and sometimes complicated journey involving design, fabrication, testing, redesign and more testing of the SafeVac Lifting Systems SV400.
Once all the necessary standards were met, the mechanical components were installed, and the sophisticated electronic control system had been integrated, Austrack knew that it had created something exceptional.
The company was so confident, in fact, that an IP patent for the machine was lodged on completion in mid-2023. This leg of the journey culminated in June this year, when Austrack received notification of the patent approval for a number of design elements of the SV400 model.
Another milestone came this year with official Australian Made certification, allowing all SafeVacs to sport the trusted kangaroo logo. For Austrack, the certification confers high levels of recognition and trust in the marketplace.
The SV400 vacuum lifter was released in 2023 just before Austrack’ first ever participation in the APGA Convention and Exhibition held that year in Perth. Two years on and the SV400 is approaching 100,000 safe lifts.
Then, the following year in Adelaide, Austrack unveiled its second model: the SV200, a smaller unit on a wheeled Hitachi ZX170 excavator. This combination is intended to service vacuum lifting activities on gas gathering works in places like the Surat Basin in Queensland, and has been steadily gaining admirers among contractors and gas producers there.
The striking innovation in this design is the natural void in the excavator dipper arm has been cleverly engineered to function as a vacuum chamber which eliminates the need for a conventional spreader bar. This delivers weight-saving benefits that translate into increased lifting capacity. The integration is so seamless it is hard to see where the excavator ends and the SafeVac unit begins.
Austrack set the tone for the 2024 APGA Convention when it transported a fully operational SV200 unit onto the exhibition floor to give attendees an up close and personal look at the machine.
The SV200 has all of the control systems and safety smarts of the SV400 but is capable of ground speeds of up to 35km per hour, giving it the speed and flexibility to handle lighter HDPE pipes quickly, efficiently and safely. It is equally at home with concrete culverts and steel plates as it is with HDPE, and indeed anything its vacuum seal can latch onto.
Returning to the present, Austrack will once again return to the APGA Convention in 2025 in a big way, this time armed with its brand-new model the SV400i.
The new unit is possibly the company’s most innovative to date, combining the very best elements of its predecessors.
As with the SV200, the dipper arm has been converted to provide a vacuum chamber which in single shoe mode dispenses with the requirement for using a spreader bar. This frees up more than a tonne of lifting end weight, resulting in the excavator being able to safely lift weights not previously possible. The intelligent design delivers an immediate efficiency payoff.
“We have been working hard on the development of the SV400i for the best part of twelve months, and I am happy to confirm we will have a unit on display at the show,” Austrack Operations Manager and SafeVac Project Leader Dylan Gamble said.
“We are very excited by the prospect of showing off our very latest model in our hometown and giving everyone at the show the opportunity to see the unit at close quarters.
“The development of the dipper arm as a vacuum chamber in the SV200 opened up the possibility of using that technology with larger tracked units, allowing us to take advantage of the lifting benefits that this design change produced.”
Gamble said the new unit will be impossible to miss at the convention.
“This time we have fitted the unit to a Komatsu PC360LC. A 36-tonne excavator with an emerald green dipper arm will definitely stand out,” he said.
“We are really pleased with our newest model and the best news is that all the safety benefits of the original SV400 are retained in the SV400i.
“The approach at Austrack is to constantly look for new and better ways to do things – and our vaclift project has very much followed that philosophy.
“Come and visit Austrack at the show and witness the very latest in pipe vacuum lift design.”
For more information, visit the website.
This feature also appears in the September edition of The Australian Pipeliner.