CHANGSHA, China, April 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 20th, the world's largest tower crane, which integrates 158 innovative scientific research achievements and 305 patents for invention, rolled off the production line at Zoomlion Tower Crane Intelligent Factory in Changde. The world-record-breaking crane marks a major breakthrough for Zoomlion, the Chinese construction machinery manufacturer, in its global drive for expansion in the field of advanced manufacturing.

Advanced technologies contribute to "the world's largest, and strongest tower crane"

As the world's largest tower crane, the R2000-720, can lift 500 cars to 130 floors with its 20000 t/m rated torque, 720-ton capacity, and 400-meter height. It integrates 158 innovative scientific research achievements and 305 invention patents, including over 60 core and 12 world pioneering technologies. After delivery, the 2000-720 will be used in the construction of the three-tower cable-stayed bridge with the world's largest span – the Ma'anshan Yangtze River Highway-Railway Bridge.

"R2000-720 has made innovations and breakthroughs in balancing weight, structure, intelligent control and other technologies, solving multiple global challenges for ultra-large tower cranes under extremely complex working conditions, such as strong wind, high humidity and heavy load, meaning it's not just the world's largest, but also strongest tower crane", said a spokesperson for Zoomlion.

R2000-720 uses Zoomlion's pioneering mobile balancing weight technology to accurately move with hoisting torque, improving hoisting performance by over 60%. R2000-720 also innovates by using a high-load-bearing lightweight structure and a heavy-duty split structure, and reduces the upper structure of tower cranes by more than 20% compared to conventional solutions, making transportation, installation, and disassembly easier.

Additionally, Zoomlion has invested heavily in intelligent control technology to improve tower crane agility. It does this through the development of an advanced control system that uses 50 intelligent technologies to achieve a millisecond response.

Intelligent production line

Despite being the world's largest tower crane, the R2000-720 project had a relatively short delivery cycle of only 8 months from design to production at Zoomlion Tower Crane Intelligent Factory in Changde. This was achieved through intelligent manufacturing, where Zoomlion controlled eight key control projects, evaluated and developed 18 parallel projects, and set a new record in delivery time by being two months faster than the W12000-450.

Zoomlion's success in producing the R2000-720 is a result of 67 years of continuous innovation in the field of engineering machinery. This has enabled them to create the world's leading research, development, and design platform in the field, and build the world's largest tower crane intelligent factory.

Zoomlion Tower Crane Intelligent Factory boasts 40 intelligent production lines, including 12 unmanned black light production lines, equipped with flexible tooling, high-precision heavy-duty machining equipment, and nearly 1000 skilled tower crane craftsmen. Through intelligent manufacturing, Zoomlion has achieved breakthroughs in both quantity and quality in the manufacturing capacity of ultra-large tower cranes. The factory can fully cover the production of 13 models of large tower cranes (500-20000 t/m), meeting almost all the needs of current large hoisting projects.