A mobile crane is a special equipment, which is a lifting mechanism mounted on a mobile vehicle chassis. Its main purpose is to mechanize loading and unloading and construction work. Buying a mobile crane https://machineryline.uk/-/mobile-cranes--c120 is a great idea for your business if you provide construction services, but to understand the principle of the mechanism is to consider in detail the device crane and all of its components.
Mobile cranes: purpose and types
Since mobile lifting mechanisms are designed to perform various types of work, the UK now offers mobile cranes with a fairly wide range of load capacity -- from 14 to 1200 tons. It is worth noting that for standard work, a crane with a lifting capacity of up to 25 tonnes will do.
In view of the rather high cost of mobile cranes, you should turn your attention to buying a used mobile cranes, because this kind of purchase can save your budget very well, and with proper selection and is not inferior to the new samples.
What is a mobile crane?
Any mobile crane consists primarily of load-bearing welded steel structures, complete with hydraulic and mechanical equipment which has pivoting and non-pivoting parts. Its main working mechanism is the boom on which one or more hooks are attached to the loader on a special trolley that moves up and down.
The main functional elements of a mobile cranes are:
- base vehicle chassis;
- operator’s cabin;
- boom;
- slewing platform;
- lifting mechanism.
Base chassis used for mounting crane systems
The running gear of any crane installation with any lifting capacity is the basic truck chassis. The higher the lifting capacity of the crane, the more important it is to reduce the load on the chassis. For this reason, cranes with lifting capacities above 50 t always use special chassis with 4, 5 or more axles.
Truck Crane Boom Arrangement
All mobile cranes for sale today have a multi-sectional boom (from 2 to 7). The number of sections has a direct impact on the lifting capacity. For instance, a mobile crane with a lifting capacity of 10 tonnes has a boom with two sections. This means that the more sections the boom has, the higher the lifting capacity. The extension of the jib is achieved by using a steel rope or by using hydraulic cylinders. Wire rope is usually used in lifting applications where flexibility is needed to some extent (lifting of loads that are not too heavy but bulky). Hydraulics are more suitable for work where strength and rigidity are important, i.e. when lifting heavier loads.
To understand the distance over which the load can be handled, it is important to know the outreach length of the truck crane (the distance between the vertical axes and the suspended load). It can be either normal reach or maximum reach, i.e. with the use of extensions (jib extensions).
Rotating platform for mobile cranes
The slewing platform, which is rigidly attached to the truck chassis, is the main base for attaching all the subassemblies. It consists of the following components
- swing frame;
- double legged strut;
- counterweight;
- safety guard.
The lifting mechanism of the special machine
The lifting mechanism in its turn consists of the mobile crane`s load winch, which consists of the following components
- hydraulic cylinder;
- hydrodistributor;
- slewing ring;
- truck crane power take-off box;
- swing mechanism;
- hydraulic system.