aimondi has launched a gear system that replaces a four-fall reeving system. Instead, the crane switches between a fast hoisting speed and a slow one, both on two falls of rope. Because it relies on a button-press, the switching system is easier than manually changing a tower crane from two-fall to four-fall operation, Eugenio Torello Viera told Cranes Today.
‘When you install four-fall reeving, because it takes work and time, you tend to leave it if expecting to make big lifts,’ he said. ‘By doing that, you are halving the speed. Between two lifts of 10t, you may have 50 lifts of 1t, and you do them at half speed.’
The system consists of a standard motor and standard Brevini gearbox with a special clutch manufactured by Raimondi in between. High and low gears have a 2:1 ratio.
Although Raimondi showed the new system on its new MR 210 topless city crane at the SAIE exhibition in Bologna, Italy, in October, the system will not be available before March or April next year, Viera said. When available, it will be able to be fitted to all new Raimondi cranes over 100tm capacity. (Smaller cranes, older cranes and cranes from other manufacturers will not be able to be fitted).
The system will also require that the crane is fitted with a larger wire rope. ‘In Italy we must use wire ropes whose breaking force is six times the maximum load. We will use whatever it takes to comply.’
