Major developments in rope technology and its implications for transforming hoisting performance

November 2015, Dr. Oliver Fries

Agenda

Who are we?

Trends in the crane rope industry

Steel wire ropes

Hybrid ropes

Synthetic ropes

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• Steel wires• Steel wire ropes• Electro mechanical cables

• High performance wire ropes for crane and mining markets

• Leading manufacturerof synthetic ropes

• High performance wire rope forcrane and fishing market

• Synthetic rope manufacturer

• Steel wires• Wire ropes• Low cost manufacturing

• Synthetic rope manufacturer• Engineered products• Manufacturer of nets

• Global oil & gas wire ropes• Specialty crane ropes• Mining ropes• Engineered assemblies for OEMs

Who are we? Significant dates in our history

• Structural projects

In addition to these acquisitions, we have grown in the past few years by providing the best quality, innovation and service.

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Trends in the crane rope industry (1/2)

Basic requirements - sufficient for most of the smaller cranes types

– Rotation resistance for low lifting heights

– Spooling behavior on drums

– Corrosion resistance

– Meet breaking force

– Diameter tolerance

Performance requirements - demands are increasing with new cranes

– Higher rotation resistance needed for higher lifting heights

– Diameter tolerance over complete length

– Wire quality (spec. above standard; limit of wire grade)

– Excellent crushing resistance on drums

– Higher MBL (benefit from smaller rope diameter)

– Special features (high compaction, swaging, plastic)

– Higher Lifetime

No special

trend

Permanent

improvement of

existing designs

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Technical trends in the rope industry (2/2) Special requirements for solving problems

– Early discard on drums of bigger mobile cranes

– Limit of rotation resistance with high lifting height and low reeving (high MBL)

– Rope diving on drums (low pretension)

New innovative designs and material

– Hybrid ropes

– Synthetic ropes

– Smart Rope (Future)

EN 13001-3-2 new version (CEN/TC147 in 2014)

– New: Proof of static strength and fatigue strength

– Life time calculation is not accurate in the new standard

– ISO 16625 in combination with M-class definition in ISO 4301 are based on long term experience

Cost saving initiatives by the OEM

– What is the most cost effective rope for the application

– Where are compromises concerning performance and quality possible?

Addressed by

EWRIS/DSV/

Universities and

FEM working

group

High focus area

New design ideas

necessary

High attention in

the market.

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Steel wire rope – Flattening of wires (1/4)

Some hoist ropes on bigger mobile cranes (crawler and all terrain) are facing issues with flattening of wires mainly in cross over zones of the drum

Mainly with newer models

This known effect was not a problem in the past in the mobile crane industry and is independent on the rope manufacturer or existing rope designs

Lifetime of ropes dropped down in some cases to 25%

Two stages: Flattening effect (1) and wire breakes (2) as a possible direct consequence

(1) Wire flattening (2) Wire breakes

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Steel wire rope – flattening of wires (2/4)

What is influencing this effect?

Crane

– Drum diameter

– Pretension on the lower layers

– Maximum line pull force

– Length and angle of the drum cross over zone

Rope

– Amount and size of the outer wires

– Smoothness of the outer surface

– Lateral E-Modulus (stiffness)

– Wire material and properties

– Rope design

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Steel wire rope – flattening of wires (3/4)

Possible solutions

Change of the Crane Drum geometry

– Existing drums cannot be changed on mobile cranes easily. Biggest impact by the drum diameter

– Increasing length of the crossover zones and decreasing angle

Reducing maximum line pull

Increase the pretension on lower layers

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Steel wire rope – flattening of wires (4/4)

Possible solutions

Increase of the outer contactsurface of the rope

– Amount of outer strands

– Swaged rotation resistant ropes.Swaging factor like Parafite.g.that is used on boom hoisting

Change of the outer wire

– Impact on wire grade (1770,1960,2160,2260,2350,2400,2xxx)

– Number of wires in the outer strands

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Parafit

16 outer strands 18 outer strands

Doublefit

1+5 1+6

Hybrid ropes – 4 Strand Hybrid (1/3)

• 4 Strand Hybrid

• Torque balanced rope

• Approx. 35% better strength to weight ratio

• LCP fiber (Liquid crystal polymer);

Vectran ultra modulus fiber

• Braided core

• Wedge socket and resin poured button

• Approx +50% in cost

Hybrid ropes – 4 Strand Hybrid (2/3)

Advantages

Approx. 35% better strength to weight ratio

Better outer protection of the fiber compared to full synthetic ropes

Easy handling during installation and rigging

High bending fatigue values

Removal criteria can be detected visually and with NDT

Outer surface properties like friction is similar to steel wire ropes

Reeving system does not need to be changed

Challenges

Lateral stiffness is lower than steel wire ropes. Rope gets a little oval form when spooling

Proper spooling needs to be done with higher pretension

Hybrid design is currently not covered in the standards

Hybrid ropes – 4 Strand Hybrid (3/3)

Hybrid ropes - Turbolite V1

• 8 Strand Hybrid• High bending fatigue performance

• Use of Aramid fibers (Technora)

• 15% weight reduction

• Developed a new manufacturing method and applied for

another patent in 2013 concerning production improvement

• Multiple versions currently in production in Kirkel for

comparison tests

Drawn galvanized

steel wires used for

compacted outer

strands Plastic Jacket

over the core

Polyester over-braid

on the Technora fiber

core

• Approx. 8% weight reduction

• Core strand made out of fiber

• Focus on mining applications

• 1-5/8” (41mm) Field trial started in

Central Plains Cement - Sugar Creek, MO

• Single drum, two skip winder 750ft

suspended length

• Rope is in use more than 30.000 cycles without issues

• Potential crane applications

• Further field trials mid of 2016

Hybrid ropes - Turbolite V2

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Synthetic crane ropes

Since Conexpo 2014, this topic is discussed in the mobile cranes

Thanks to Samson, Manitowoc and DSM to show a product on a crane

Some market facts:

– 22mm rope replaced 19mm steel wire rope (70t RT crane)

– 12 strand construction with stiff core

– No major changes in the hoisting system

– Price is 2-3 times higher than steel wire rotation resistant ropes

– Positive feedback from crane driver during our investigation

– Several years of testing before release

– Other rope manufacturers are also working on this topic

– Activities started more than 5 years ago

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Synthetic crane ropes – WireCo example

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Synthetic crane ropes – WireCo example

Special drum design needed (patented by Deep Tek)

Used on a knuckle boom crane

Lankhorst created a new rope design with optimized fatigue and load bearing characteristics with special DSM Dyneema fiber and special coating technology

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Synthetic crane ropes – advantages (1/2)

Approx. 80% weight reduction

Actual hook load can be increased especially with high reeving

Easy to handle during installation and rigging

Can save reeving time and amount of operators

Higher safety for the worker that handles the rope

No risk of injury due to broken wires

Very good rotation resistance

Reduced wire damage on drums

No kinking or bird caging

Clean operation without grease

No re-lubrication necessary

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Synthetic crane ropes – advantages (2/2)

High bending flexibility

Corrosion resistance

Better wear resistance on sheave material

Industry experience with similar ropes and fiber material on all kind of applications existing

Good bending and tension fatigue performance

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Synthetic crane rope – challenges (1/4) Temperature range:

– Strength of the rope depends on temperature

– Below 0°C – up to approx +10% higher strength

– Strength is dropping above 0°C; limit at 60°C/70°C

– Influence of the temperature on max. bending cycles

Bending over sheaves is creating temperature dueto friction of the millions of fiber filaments

Missing standard for synthetic crane ropes

– Design, care, maintenance, inspection and discardcriteria are currently not covered

– ASME B30.30 chapter 30-2 and FEM activities

– Visual criteria. No magnetic NDT possible.

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Synthetic crane rope – challenges (2/4)

Drum spooling

– Synthetic ropes have very low lateral stiffness (80-90% lower)

– Change shape (oval) during spooling on the drum is approx. 25 x timeshigher

– Larger diameter reduction under tension

– Need to accept the complete different „look“ of the deformed synthetic ropeon the layers

– Higher sensitivity on the effect on flattening and diving of the rope to lowerlayers when spooled with low prestretching

– End connection on the drum can be a spliced eye with rope breaking force

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Synthetic crane rope – challenges (3/4)

Elongation

– Elastic: at max.load (20%MBL): approx 1.3% vs 0.3% with Steel wire rope

– Viscoelastic: Contraction of the rope recovers after some time

– Permanent: occurs within the first loads; steel wire rope also effected but lower elongation

Cut and abrasion resistance

– Risk of easy sabotage

– Sharp edges can destroy the rope immediately

– Higher abrasion on he drum flanges

– Long complex crane configurations may have abrasion points in certain combinationsand system deformations

– All kind of outside damage on the construction site

– Sharp edges on the groove of existing steel or cast drums can wear out the synthetic rope

– Jacket for outside protection vs possiblitity for visual inspection

UV influence on the exposed fibers over time. Rope is fading after some time

Creep – all synthetic ropes face a certain creep depending on material properties, time, temperature and load – in most cases for mobile cranes not an issue

Effect of ice: abrasion or cutting effects?

Crane overall balance: drum, rope, hook block

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Synthetic crane rope – challenges (4/4)

Due to temperature limit, steel sheaves for heat transfer are recommended

More dead wraps on the drum needed due to lower static friction (approx8x instead of approx 2.5x for steel wire ropes)

Not all end connections can be used so far

– Spliced with a soft eye for drum connection and thimble on the hook

Limited lifetime of the rope and possible loss of breaking strength over years

Drum design: Increased load on the drum barrel and decreased load on theflanges

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Lankodeep® AHC rope

Synthetic crane rope – conclusions

The usage or replacement of steel wire ropes with synthetic ropes for some crane segments will take time and will rather be a evolution over years but not a revolution

Technical challenges and standards need to be solved first before gaining bigger acceptance in the crane market

Need to optimize geometry of rope guiding and storing elements

Limit in substituting synthetic ropes on existing crane models

Further benefit in developing smaller diameter synthetic ropes to reduce dimensions and weight of crane components

Rope cost need to be reduced to an acceptable level

Synthetic Rope design need to be adapted to solve the challenges

WireCo Worldgroup has rope designs in place for field test

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Deliver the Right Products for Your Equipment and Applications

WireCo WorldGroup is the global leader in manufacturing, engineering and distributing

of wire rope, wire rope assemblies, wire, electromechanical cable and high tenacity

fiber ropes and strength members.

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