Hydraulic to Electric Lifting
Now that we've seen 5 failures, it's time to change the design.
Let's start with the challenge!
It is believed that the combination of loads is causing an overload of the top cable sheaves carrier. Whilst in a direct load the bolts are possibly strong enough, we do not believe they are working in a direct vertical pull. It is believed there is an element of fatigue and a bending moment caused by the rotation of the sheaves, whilst at the same time, the friction of such would be extremely high.
So what's the method of improvement?
Total Lifting Solutions has implemented two strategies to date...
We've removed the hydraulics and load bearing cables and replaced with an electric chain hoist. This method whilst successful does require more work associated to the placement of the electric hoist, caused by it's physical size.
In a TLS 2P Goods Lift, we've adopted high quality motor and gearboxes, utilizing variable speed drive technology. This allows us to have soft starts and stops which in turn reduces shock loading of all other components.
Now we need to adjust the the measurements of a TLS Goods Lift to suit that of a Liftaide Lift and effectively the VERTICAL loading of the drive assembly remains proven.
Now we need to VERIFY the Liftaide lift structure is engineered correctly for the forces being applied at the specific centre of gravity. This would vary based on the lift platform size and also the height of lift.
Solidworks Analysis With 1000Kgs
After our initial design process and utilizing Solidworks we can now do an analysis to show deflection with certain loads.
First we went to two times load to consider the safety factor.
And with 500Kgs
With the 500Kg load we got 5.4mm deflection
What i noticed was that the actual platform was what was moving the most.
We have also considered the load to have been distributed.
The next stage is to involve our external engineer for a more thorough review of the design and the analysis to ensure all factors of safety are within acceptable limits based on Australian Standards