Electric Wire Rope Hoists

Wire Rope Hoists Components

There are mainly bridges, crane walking systems, hooks, hoists, trolleys, and electrical equipment.

Crane Bridge

 The cross-bridge of an overhead crane runs longitudinally alongside crane tracks or crane rails which are laid on runway beams over the square operating area. Crane Bridges are manufactured from steel plates or steel beams which are contacted with end carriages or end girders kits to move on the runway.

Hoisting Trolley: wire rope hoist, electric chain hoist, winch

The lifting trolley consists of the lifting mechanism which contains the overhead crane parts and components such as a brake, motor, reducer, drum, and set of pulleys. The motor drives a drum that rotates through the reducer to power the wire rope or chain that lives up and down the load. And also the lifting trolley of an overhead crane can be grouped in the wire rope hoist trolley, electric chain hoist trolley, and processed open winch trolley which is usually used in heavy-duty applications, such as in steel mills for hot ladle handling, etc.

Driving Mechanism: Motor, Reducer, Wheels & Brakes

The driving mechanism of overhead cranes can be grouped into two parts, one is for the long traveling of the overhead crane and the other is for the crossing traveling of the lifting trolley.  Various types of motors, reducers, wheels, and brakes are adopted for different uses and applications.

Power Supply: Conductor Bar, Festoon System & Cable Reel

The power supply is very important for the complete overhead crane system. There are mainly three types of power supply systems by using conductor bars, festoon systems, and cable reels.

The major types of overhead cranes adopt electricity as the driving power and there are all other types of power supply such as pneumatic power and hydraulic power. As for the electric overhead crane, the supply systems have mainly consisted of the following crane parts and components such as festoons cable, conductor bars, or reel cables to deliver power to the crane runway,  bridge crane control, and trolley and hoist.

• Conductor Bar – A conductor bar system is adopted on the crane‘s runway or monorail. They can be established on crane runways with more than one bridge. The electric power is supplied through a sliding shoe collector system, the safer way of power supplier for overhead cranes.
• Festoon System – A festoon system can be mounted on a track, I beam, or square rail, which can be grouped into flat or round cables. The festoon system is used for the power supply of the crane trolley which moves along the track and the festoon cable hangs below the track and expands or retracts with the position changing or traveling of the trolley.
• Cable Reel – Spring-loaded cable reels or motorized cable reels are widely adopted to release, retrieve, and store the conductor cable, for mainline power along a runway or monorail.

Controls

Each and every operation or movement of overhead cranes are managed by crane controls. Based on different applications or types of overhead cranes, the overhead crane is operated by different crane controls. Namely, there are three types of crane controls are used, the pendant crane control, the wireless remote control/radio control, or driver’s cabin control, which also can be classed into various types.  

For heavy-duty overhead cranes with 24 hours working time or applications that are not suitable for human operation, the automatic crane control is realized by software programs, which is namely used on automatic cranes.

Runway

Crane runways are important crane travelling components and parts.  Based on the crane application conditions and types of overhead cranes, the most suitable crane runways will be selected among the top running runway structure, ceiling-mounted runway, wall-mounted runway, or free-standing runway, etc.

How to select the right crane runway for your crane? The factor that needs to be confirmed is the length of the runway, which determines the speed and movement of the trolley and hoists up and down the runway. For more information, please feel free to contact us. The installation of a crane runway is challenging work depending on the type of supporting structure or mounting support where the bridge crane will be installed.