When you need to buy new overhead cranes, the following things is must knowing:
TOTAL NUMBER OF CRANES - How many cranes will need to be designed, built, and installed?
CAPACITY – The capacity is the maximum load which may be applied to the crane, the hoist, or below-the-hook lifting device, in a particular working configuration and under a particular condition of use.
LIFT HEIGHT – Lift height is how high into the air your material needs to be raised. When a team is calculating the lift capabilities of a crane, the following is taken into consideration:
NUMBER OF LIFTS PER HOUR – What is the duty cycle of this crane? Will it be making 2-5 lifts per hour at only 50% of its rated capacity? Or, will it be making 10-20 lifts per hours at, or near capacity, each time?
HOOK APPROACH – This is how close the crane’s hook can get to the end of a bridge or runway and considerations for the trolley hook approach, as well as the crane / runway hook approach.
POWER – Will the crane be powered by electricity, hand-powered, or air-powered (pneumatic)?
OPERATING ENVIRONMENT – A severe, obstructed, or dangerous operating environment will affect the cost of an overhead crane.
OPERATING SPEED – The faster that the crane needs to operate, the more it will cost to design, source, and configure the individual crane components.
CONTROLS – Considerations will have to be made as to how the crane operator is loading or unloading material:
SPAN – The horizontal distance center-to-center of the runway rails. Cranes with large spans will be more expensive than smaller-span cranes due to the need for engineered girders.
RUNWAY LOCATION – Is there an existing runway in place? Is it sufficient to support the new crane structure?
