AISTECH PREVIEW
pre-set the designed drum speed under normal operation and if that speed does not align with the transmission speed, the system would respond. It is necessary to stress that, while we have some ongoing projects on 200-ton-plus capacity applications, in the steel sector, we shouldn’t isolate this guidance for larger cranes. Though the large tonnage gets attention or raises eyebrows, emergency stop brakes can also be installed on applications as simple as process or handling cranes, that could be in environments where precious cargo / loads are being handled, and redundancies exist. It does not have to be a steel, military, or nuclear crane; the conversation should be more readily about: “What do we do if this happens or this gear or bearing fails? How do we get the load down safely to the ground?” The concerning lack of awareness around the importance of installing emergency brakes on cranes in the steel sector is improving, albeit slowly. We have seen a slight increase in requests for emergency brakes on new crane builds and have worked with many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), embracing these braking concepts for the first time.
It’s also true that we have seen a large increase in
retrofits, where we are adding the SF brake and disc or a band brake (when there is no headroom to add an additional disc). As end users have discovered, these units are designed to be very compact, meaning few machinery alterations are required to the existing layout of the hoist and trolley area.
Nucor Steel and ArcelorMittal take the lead Nucor has recently retrofitted some of its ladle and charging cranes at several U.S. locations, and ArcelorMittal has been a pioneer for the technology more globally. It’s always reassuring to see such large brands being proactive versus reactive. Imagine the catastrophic scene when, say, a gear shaft should fracture, and a load is dropped. All too often a major incident leads to an investigation that exposes the lack of an emergency brake—but then it’s too late. Understandably, many OEMs remain unlikely to propose this cost-adding feature when it could inflate their bid in a competitive tender situation. This means that we must continue to drive these outreach campaigns by pointing to case studies of incidents at the end-user level. Engineers and plant maintenance workers must be central recipients of this messaging; they can and do listen to their peers in other market sectors. In the ports sector, where ship-to-shore (STS) cranes
are used for loading and unloading containers from ships, the cranes are routinely fitted with emergency stop “low speed” brakes on both the hoist and boom motions, as standard. In wind, we have seen a huge rise in redundancy
in brakes and hydraulics; at some of our offshore wind farms, OEM brands insist on three electric motors for triple redundancy on the hydraulic power unit, if a motor failure was to occur. We know that mining is another sector coming around to a similar way of thinking.
Our phones ring constantly from market managers of different business units and end users. In decades of working in the EOT crane market, emergency brakes are a constant hot topic, especially after an incident has occurred. Hopefully it doesn’t take as long to achieve their ubiquity, at least on Class E and F cranes.’
About the authors Joel Cox is global sales director—wind, at Dellner Bubenzer Group (formerly managing director of sales for Dellner Bubenzer USA and global sales director for the Americas). He has spent nearly 30 years in the EOT crane business and has been extensively involved in OSHA inspections in addition to the design, build, fabrication, installation, modification, and load testing of lifting equipment. He dedicated a decade of his career to the high-level modernization of some of the largest, heaviest duty overhead cranes in North America. A troubleshooting specialist, Joel is also an expert in custom control panel building. Another 10 years were spent in the power industry, where the nuclear, hydro, fossil, and renewable sectors benefitted from his expertise. He has been around Dellner Bubenzer products for 20 years but has worked for the manufacturer since 2012. Joel is a member of the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) TR-11 Committee and Crane Technology Committee, and the Port Equipment Manufacturers Association (PEMA). Mike Astemborski is executive sales manager at Dellner Bubenzer USA. He has spent 47
years in the EOT crane business dating back to 1976. The first 26 years were spent in electrical engineering and application sales roles at Harnischfeger – P&H Crane in Milwaukee, WI, USA. For the past 21 years he has been involved applying brake technology in the EOT crane and movable bridge markets. He has been with Dellner Bubenzer for the last eight years. Mike is a member of the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) TR-11 Committee and Crane Technology Committee and is also a member of Heavy Movable Structures.
Joel Cox
Mike Astemborski
www.ochmagazine.com | Spring 2024 | 23
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