Buitink Technology has developed a concept for the lifting and floating of roof constructions, for example silos.

By using floaters the roof of a silo during construction can be raised simultaneously with the erection of the walls. This is an alternative to the hoisting of the roof construction. Additional advantage of this system: when de-flated and folded the floats can be removed from the silo through a man hole.

An inflatable floating set is composed of two inflatable elements linked by a sheet. The set is attached to the roof construction (on two fixing points). To give extra stability, light weight composite strips are added at the outside of the floating set.

Concept drawing and longitudinal section and top view