How EOT Cranes Enhance Safety and Efficiency

Janifha Evangeline | Friday, 28 January 2022

Electric Overhead Travelling Crane is a crane attached either with numerous girders or only a single girder bridge with a fixed/movable hoisting mechanism. It travels on a fixed structure with most of its functions being powered by electric motors. EOT (Electric Overhead Travelling) cranes are majorly used for moving materials in assembly lines, construction sites, power stations, production halls, and similar sectors. An EOT’s design varies as per the motion type, type of load, weight, etc.

The surge in migration of people to the urban area results in demand for a new residence and the need for efficient transport facilities that in turn leads to a sizable rise of infrastructure projects and escalating demand of the EOT crane market.

The proliferation of construction projects across the world is anticipated to bolster the market growth for EOT Crane in the days to come. An increase of wind energy projects across the world will need Electric Overhead Travelling cranes for their installation and therefore, have a greater number of opportunities in on-shore as well as off-shore.

Challenges

“Indian market started accepting the crane technology in the light of the infrastructure project development in the country. The last two years have been good and the market is steadily growing. Though due to the pandemic COVID-19 there was a setback during the lockdown, the market has revived back, and the demand has started gearing up with acceleration. The challenges faced are getting the right material at the right time,” says Clifford Sanctis, Managing Director, Hydrolift.

“Due to the lockdown, the suppliers are also are facing the challenges of meeting the supply-demand as there has been a migration of resources and some of the ancillary units have closed down. We have been sourcing from alternate suppliers and these are small-time suppliers who cannot meet the demand of large quantities,” he adds.

EOT cranes are largely classified into three categories that include:

• top running double girder bridge cranes,

• top running (T/R) single girder bridge cranes and
• under running (U/R) single girder bridge cranes.

Furthermore, they are divided into:

• gantry cranes,
• monorails and
• single & double girder cranes.

A Single bridge crane’s trolley runs on the bottom flange of the bridge girder. It has only 1 supporting bridge girder, whereas the trolley of the double bridge girder crane runs on the top flange of the bridge girder. It has 2 bridge girders to support it. Furthermore, in the gantry electrical cranes, the trolley is actually supported by numerous legs that are fixed on runways/rails.

The Monorail cranes consist of only a trolley hoist. It does not need a bridge girder for any support. While these types of cranes are mostly used in the segment such as production service lines and assembly lines, EOT (Electrical overhead traveling) cranes are mainly used in iron smelting, construction industry, mining industry, motor vehicle manufacturing, steel manufacturing industries, port operations, etc. The Electrical overhead traveling cranes are used for container handling in port and shipyard.

“An industry as vast as material handling needs absolute dedication to establish expertise upon. Technologies in this domain evolve with time, thus keeping up with the requirements of the generation. The crane manufacturing segment is an integral part of the material handling industry,” says Rohit Goyel, Managing Director, Reva Industries.

Applications

The EOT cranes are used in ship building, construction industry, textile industries, ceramic industries, foundries, transport industry, petrochemical industry, dairy industries, power plants, petrochemicals, steel plant, fertilizers, cement industry, In Assembly line, etc.

“There was earlier material availability from neighbouring countries and with the restriction on imports from these countries; this has also led to a different challenge. Though there are new ventures coming up in India to cater to that gap of demand, it will take some time to stabilize the supplies,” affirms Clifford.

Efficient load bearing & maneuvering

Owing to its efficient load bearing & maneuvering, the implementation of Electric Overhead Travelling cranes in heavy industry sectors that include engineering equipment, metallurgy, and automobiles in transferring as well as lifting heavy weighted loads from one region to another has been another significant end-use of Electric Overhead Travelling cranes. Not just that, EOT crane has also observed a huge amount of implementation in inland ports as well as other regions of sea logistics.

Furthermore, the improved global economic condition has increased investments in infrastructure projects. This has increased the demand for bridges and therefore, resulted in the growth of the cranes market. Owing to its capability of lifting comparatively heavy loads for a longer span and the rigid construction the double girder cranes are in trend in recent years.