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Envelope Control — you may have run across this term while reading about the latest advances in boom lift technology. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s an explanation of what it is and how it benefits you and your customers.

Envelope control regulates the maximum boom outreach and lift height on select Genie^® Z™- and S™-booms. This feature allows these machines to achieve greater vertical heights without having to increase the weight of the machine significantly.

Another way to think about it is like this: The weight of the machine acts as a counterweight to the boom. When the boom is a vertical position, directly above the machine, less weight is required to offset the height of the boom. However, the amount of counterweight required will increase throughout the boom’s lift path — requiring the most counterweight when the boom is extended all the way out. So without envelope control, we would have to either limit maximum lift height or significantly increase the weight of the machine to accommodate outreach requirements. Instead, the machine is able to optimize how far the boom will extend with outreach positioning.

Envelope control gives the operator the best of both worlds: By limiting the outreach of the boom based on boom positioning, manufacturers can build boom lifts that extend higher while keeping the operating weight of the machine low. This reduces the costs and makes it easier to transport boom lifts.