Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Transport Technology
A.A. van den Dool Containerspreaders.
Literature survey, Report 93.3.TT.4202, Transport Engineering and Logistics.
The spreader is important in container-handling on terminals. The spreader is a hoisting device and is placed in the highest crane category according to NEN 2018.
The last 25 years, the spreader has gone through a great evolution, especially caused by changes in the operational environment. At the same time, the claim for better performance, higher reliability and lowering of repair- and maintenance costs forced this evolution.
The spreader is a hoisting device which is used in combination with several machine-tools for transshipment and stacking, such as cranes and trucks. The main subject of this report is the telescopic spreader for gantry cranes.
For the main spreader frame of the telescopic spreader there are three fundamental solutions. For choosing the construction a number of arguments are of interest: compact construction and a relatively low weight, torsional loads and good survey for the driver. The spreader is calculated on strength; the fatigue-calculation is for verifying the results. The light-weight spreader, by using high-tensile-steels, as a solution for a lighter spreader does not seem to be a good one.
The growing significance of the spreader as a hoisting device appears from the increase of the ratio of the number of spreaders per crane. This fact and the relatively severe circumstances in use demand special attention.
From investigations it seems that faults on the main spreader of the crane are the most important cause for the total downtime of the crane. Most faults appear in the electrical part or signal processing, apart from faults caused by negligent usage. For these problems there both structural and organizing measures are available.
Due to the development of the measurements of containers and growing importance of automation the spreader has to develop in the future furthermore. Reports on Transport Engineering and Logistics (in Dutch)
