The new units will replace all PRG's existing motor control stock in the UK, standardising the control platform across its substantial rigging department which has over 2000 motors.
Kinesys were one of three companies that pitched for the design commission of this project which was managed by Dave Weatherhead for Kinesys, and for PRG by PRG's UK head of asset management Paul Weaver and Summit Steel's Jon Bray - who have co-ordinated an overall upgrade for all equipment in PRG's rigging department.
Together, they came up with a list of requirements and a basic spec from which the DigiHoist was developed as the most suitable product for concert touring and systems for shows and events of all sizes.
Following the product's official launch at the recent 2010 PLASA exhibition in London, the DigiHoist is now also available as an off-the-shelf production model from Kinesys. It is aimed at the professional rental market, offering optimum flexibility, several neat technical features and additional safety functionality like limit halting and group halting .... whilst being very easy to use.
"The product is designed to be received on site by riggers who might not have used it before, but will immediately understand how to use it without specialist training," says Dave Weatherhead.
A digital communications link is at the hub of the system, which enables up to 12 DigiHoists to be linked together via one cable (for up to 96 channels of control). A single data cable is then required to connect to a remote pendant, which can be used to control anything from 1 to 96 hoists via a cable run of over 100 metres if required.
Safety features include hoist presence indication and limit monitoring on both upper and lower limits. When activated, the Group Halting function will stop any moving hoists if any chain hoist hits a limit - and inform the operator - making problem-solving quick and simple.
Says Paul Weaver, "Having a lightweight and economical control cable rather than the traditional multi-pinned analogue cabling was an important feature for us.
Jon Bray comments, "We wanted a product that could be configured into large systems, and Kinesys already had digital comms running in their other products, so that was a big advantage. We were also already familiar with their vari-speed motor controllers, Vector and K2 automation software and the quality engineering and robust build associated with the brand."
(Jim Evans)
