Cranes need drives. And drive specialist Bonfiglioli has a unit to suit most crane applications. Here’s why.
Cranes are a key piece of infrastructure in DCs and warehouses. They are responsible for making sure SKUs are handled correctly and dispatched to their destination with minimal fuss. For a crane to work at its maximum, it needs many moving parts, none of which are as important as a drive. A drive is the workhorse and helps make sure a crane works at its maximum effectiveness.
The National Sales Manager for Bonfiglioli Australia is Harry Singh. He knows how crucial drives are in making sure warehouse and DC operations are running smoothly. While drives are an integral part of a crane’s make up, there are other issues that are at the forefront of Harry’s mind when discussing drives.
“The first and the most important point comes to my mind always is safety,” he says. “That’s because with a crane you’re lifting something. The first thing we ask ourselves with a crane is, ‘what is the client going to do with this crane? Which environment is going to be using inside or outdoor? And then most important question is; what is the FEM (The European Materials Handling Federation) class of the crane?’ These all have a relation to safety in terms of the operator being able to do their job properly without coming to harm.”
Harry said that it is important when choosing a drive to make sure the user knows the parameters that are required to make it work effectively and efficiently.
“If any of these parameters change, the product category can change,” he said. “Based on our past 25 years’ experience in Australia, our HDP series of drives are popular, especially in overhead versions, such as gantry cranes and bridge cranes. They are reliable and safe because the service factor on these gearboxes is high and so far, we haven’t had a single failure in the past 25 years with this product.”
Having the capacity to handle high loads is also an important ingredient for a drive. DC and warehouse work can be intense, so clients expect a lot out of their plant and machinery.
HDP series offers output torque range up to 210,000 Nm. Some of the crane drives we supply can be as big as 4.5 tonne. These machines are designed to work hard and work long hours.
As well as warehousing, other materials handling capabilities where Bonfiglioli drives are used include boring machines for tunnelling, which have been in uses in projects in both New South Wales and Victoria. The drives need to be big for such developments because the cranes are also huge. One latest application was on the WestConnex project near the ANZAC bridge in Sydney.
“When the boring machine digs inside, it also adds panels/frames around the shaft, so the structure doesn’t collapse,” says Harry. “These cranes have two functions. One is that they can move those frames and other heavy machinery to go in the tunnel. Secondly, They are also used to remove excavated material out of the tunnel and load on trucks. They will design a crane of 100 tonnes for fast speeds, and a 550-tonne unit for slow speeds.”
HF series
While the HDP range is an integral part of Bonfiglioli’s offerings, it also services the needs of smaller cranes, with the new HF range of gearboxes. Relatively new to the local market, this series was designed in Bonfiglioli’s factory in India. HF series was developed for cranes with 500kg- 7 tonne capacities.
“The benefit of this new product is that it has a motor with a brake inside, but you also have the option to add a secondary brake at the back of this drive,” said Harry. “It’s a double safety feature. We’ve been selling this product in Australia for the past two years, and the response to it has been very good. This year we doubled the turnover on this product in Australia and APAC. It’s ideal for small warehouses and factories where you need to move a smaller weight – between half a tonne and five tonne max.”
Availability
While quality is a key part of Bonfiglioli’s range, availability is also something that needs to be taken into consideration for clients. The local company has that covered, too, says Harry.
“We have $10 million worth of stock on the shelf in Australia,” he said. “The bigger HDP series gearboxes we can build within one to two working days.”
Maintenance and back-up service
These pieces of kit can be expensive, so having a maintenance plan in place is paramount.
Harry said that every three months the maintenance people from the crane company generally do a visual check and maintenance as required. They check critical things such as signs of unusual wear & tare, vibrations, noise and oil leakage around the drum area.
“Most customers normally ask for a gearbox lifespan between two to three years for a tunnel project with maybe a maximum of five years,” Harry said. “However, we design everything around a minimum of five years lifespan, and it can go up to 10 years if you maintain it properly. Some places have been running gearboxes in the crane for more than 25-30 years without a problem. They just do regular maintenance and oil changes.”
He said the quarterly maintenance is done in situ, while every five years they will remove the drive from the crane for an inspection & overhaul by a certified repair centre to make sure it meets Bonfiglioli’s strict quality specifications.
“With the 12-month check they take an oil sample from the gearbox and get an external third party to see if there is any impurity or abnormalities in the oil,” said Harry. “They report the results to us, and we will have a further look if necessary. After five years they send the gearbox back to Bonfiglioli for a major overhaul. We strip down the gearbox fully – down to even a single bolt – and check everything in detail. We change all of the bearings and seals, inspect each gear stage internally, rebuild it, repair it sent back to the client and it will be good for another five to 10 years.”
In Australia, Bonfiglioli has it head office in Sydney, while there are branches in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. It also has more than 90 distributors and resellers facilities throughout Australia so it can support clients in regional parts of the country too.
To read more about Bonfiglioli, click here