MATERIAL HANDLING

Bases on Design features and operational characteristics, material handling equipment may be broadly classified as:

Hoisting Equipment’s:

It constitute a group of equipment which are employed mainly for lifting or lowering of unit load or piece goods in batches. This group of equipment’s can be further sub classified into:

1. Pure Hoisting Machineries

• Jack
• Winches
• Hand Hoists
• Pulley Blocks

2. Cranes

• EOT Crane
• Jib Crane
• Cantilever Crane

3. Elevators

• Lift
• Bucket Elevators

Conveying Equipment’s:

It comprises of a number of equipment which are employed for handling principally bulk load (occasionally piece goods or unit load may also be handled) in continuous flow. Such machines do not have separate lifting or lowering gear. This group of equipment also can have further sub classifications as:

1. Belt Conveyor

2. Hydraulic Conveyor

3. Pneumatic Conveyor

4. Apron Conveyor

5. Screw Conveyor

6. Flight Conveyor

Surface/ Overhead Equipment’s:

These are the group of equipment’s which are employed for handling unit load or bulk load in batches on a horizontal surface. This group of equipment may be further sub classified into:

1. Truck and Lorries

2. Railway Cars and Wagons

3. Fork Lifts

4. Overhead mono-rail / Equipment

5. Scrapers and Skidders

Types of Material Handling Equipment Loads:

It usually classified into:

1. Unit Load

2. Bulk Load

Unit Load:

Unit loads are those which are counted by numbers or units. A component of a machine, a complete machine, a structural element, a beam, a girder, building block are some examples of unit load.

Sometimes certain quantities of free flowing materials can be placed in a container and can be handled as unit load. Hoisting equipment are primarily used for handling unit load. Unit loads are usually specified by it’s weight.

Bulk Load:

When the load is in the form of particles or lumps of homogeneous materials or powder like materials, which can not be counted by numbers, it is called as “Bulk load”.

Examples are:

Sand, Cement, Coal, Mineral, Stone, Clay etc.,

A bulk material may be classified by it’s:

1. Bulk Density

2. Lump-Size

3. Flowability

4. Abrasiveness

5. Miscellaneous Characteristics

JIB CRANE

Jib crane have the following motions:

1. Hoisting motion
2. Derricking or luffing motion
3. Slewing motion
4. Long travel motion

Hoisting motion:

It is used to lift or lower the load. This is usually achieved by steel wire ropes being affixed to a crane hook or a grab hanging from the outer end of the jib. The rope is applied through some receiving arrangement and controlled and operated by a winch system.

Derricking or Luffing motion:

It is imparted to the inclined member or the jib to move in a vertical plane so that the angle of the jib may be changed in order to bring the load line nearer to or further off from the centre of the crane.

Slewing motion:

It is imparted to the whole super structure of the crane including the jib, so that it can turn about a central pivot shaft w.r.t. the non-revolving parts. This motion enables the crane to shift the load line to revolve round the crane.

Long Travel Motion:

It may be required when the whole crane structure has to be shifted to a distant place along a rail track or along a road.

Jib crane consists of an inclined member supported by a rope or any other type of structural member attached to a vertical mast or frame. Load is usually suspended from the outer end of this inclined mast. The outreach of the jib may be fixed or variable. The cranes as a whole may be either fixed or moveable. Various sub-classification of these cranes are possible.

Lifting capacity of such cranes may vary from 1/2 ton to 200 ton and outreach from a few meter to 50 meter. Such cranes find various applications in port area, construction site, and other outdoor works.

For handling general cargo, lifting capacities are usually 1  1/2 ton to  5 ton with maximum outreach of 30 meter. Jib Cranes provided with grabbing facilities have usually a capacity ranging from 3 to 20 tons operating 50 to 100 cycles per hour. Lifting heights may be 30 meters or more.

Jib crane used in ship yards for lifting heavy machinery and equipment, weighing 100 to 300 tons, are usually mounted on pontoons. Frequently these cranes are provided with two main hoisting winches which can be employed singly or together to lift a load. For handling light loads these cranes may have auxiliary arrangement.

Types Of Jib Crane:

Depending on the use, jib cranes are classified into a number of varieties, primarily on the basis of their mountings.

These are:

1. Hand Operated Scotch Derrick Type
2. Wall Mounted Jib crane
3. Portal / Semi-portal cranes of different varieties-Wharf cranes
4. Mobile jib cranes consisting of truck mounted and crawler mounted cranes

Scotch Derrick Type / Wall Cranes:

Wall cranes are used in ware houses for handling light weight and when there is little or no wharf between them and the water front. Slewing or rotational motion of the crane is possible within restricted angle and the motion is slow. Hoisting and lifting speeds are comparable to those of wharf cranes. In some modified version these cranes can have travelling speed along the wall.

Wharf Cranes:

These are used in shipyard and port for handling unit and bulk load. These are usually self propelled balanced level luffing type with full circle slewing motion facility. Wharf cranes may be of different types, depending on the type of structure on which it is mounted.  The choice of structure for mounting depends on site condition.

The principal types of wharf cranes are:

• High pedestal
• Full Portal
• Semi-portal

Portal Cranes:

Portal crane is a fixed or revolving type jib crane mounted on a portal frame fixed in location or arranged to travel along a fixed track of rails at the same level. The portal frame consists essentially of horizontal girders connected at both ends to vertical or inclined member’s having equal lengths.

Semi portal Crane:

Semi portal crane is a fixed or revolving type jib crane mounted on a semi portal frame fixed in location or arranged to travel along a fixed track or rails at different levels. The semi portal frame essentially consists of horizontal girders connected at both ends to vertical or inclined members which constitute a shorter side and a longer side. The shorter members may consist only of the trolley running along the elevated rail.

Mobile crane:

Mobile Crane ( Power Driven ) includes all type of travelling jib cranes, such as truck mounted, crawler mounted, locomotive crane on rails.