Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66D—CAPSTANS; WINCHES; TACKLES, e.g. PULLEY BLOCKS; HOISTS
  • B66D1/00—Rope, cable, or chain winding mechanisms; Capstans
  • B66D1/28—Other constructional details
  • B66D1/36—Guiding, or otherwise ensuring winding in an orderly manner, of ropes, cables, or chains
  • B66D1/38—Guiding, or otherwise ensuring winding in an orderly manner, of ropes, cables, or chains by means of guides movable relative to drum or barrel

Definitions

• the present invention relates to ' an industrial equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to an industrial equipment usable in combination with a winch. In more detail, the present invention relates to an industrial equipment usable in combination with a winch and provided with a guiding device for guiding a wire rope actuated by this winch.
• winches To install large industrial structures, especially off-shore structures, the use of winches is well known to move particularly heavy bodies, for instance bodies with mass of more than 10 tons, using wire ropes with high breaking load.
• these winches comprise a drum; this drum has a longitudinal extension usually comprised between 1 m and 2 m and is designed, in use, to roll, along the whole longitudinal extension thereof, a wire rope orderly in adjacent turns in a plurality of superposed layers.
• the wire rope pulled by the winch engages a return member, for instance a sheave, whose axis of rotation is fixed and preferably parallel to the axis of the winch.
• the fleet angle is the angle having the vertex at the return sheave and whose sides are respectively the rope direction when the most external turn thereof on the drum is winding and the direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the same drum.
• the term "fleet" indicates half the drum axial length.
• the width of this fleet angle changes .according to both the winding layer and the longitudinal exit position of the rope from the drum; in the winches used for offshore installations this width is usually comprised in a range of ⁇ 5°.
• the rope entry angle onto the drum shall be smaller than or equal to 1.5°; to avoid the inconveniences resulting from fleet angles of more than 1.5°, the large industrial winches are therefore provided with a guiding device for guiding the respective wire rope.
• Figure A illustrates an example of this guiding device, through which it is clearly apparent that this device can comprise a movable equipment designed to reciprocate parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum. Particularly, this reciprocating motion of the movable equipment is synchronised with the drum rotational speed to facilitate a correct winding/unwinding of the rope.
• these guiding devices usually comprise a pair of return members carried in a freely rotating manner around axes that are preferably perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the winch with such a centre-to-centre distance to allow the passage of the rope.
• the rope engages the space between the two rollers; during winding, the rollers limit at both sides the entry angle of the same rope onto the drum, thus reducing the fleet angle given by the same drum.
• the rollers force the rope portion close to the drum to move simultaneously with the movable equipment according to a reciprocating motion along the whole longitudinal extension of the drum.
• the current guiding devices for wire ropes have an inconvenience that makes the use thereof potentially dangerous.
• This inconvenience is associated with the same nature of the large wire ropes and in particular of the so-called “spin-resistant” or “non- rotating” wire ropes.
• these ropes are produced by twisting a plurality of strands distributed according to a plurality of axially concentric layers. Each strand is, in turn, produced by twisting a plurality of wires according to a direction preferably contrary to the twisting direction of the strand layers. Thanks to this structure with twisted strands, the rope has both high tensile and compressive strength and is therefpre capable to maintain, also in use, each respective circular cross-section unchanged.
• each rope is subjected to shearing stress when it interacts with a respective return roller of a guiding device, and the intensity of this stress depends upon both the load applied to the rope and the ratio of the roller diameter to the rope diameter.
• this shearing stress is applied by the rollers in an equal manner on substantially each single strand stably maintained into contact with the roller outer shell. The stress applied on each of these single strands tends to be transmitted to the inner layers of strands of the rope.
• the present invention relates to an industrial equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to an industrial equipment usable in combination with a winch. In more detail, the present invention relates to an industrial equipment usable in combination with a winch and provided with a guiding device for guiding a wire rope actuated by this winch.
• a further object of the present invention is to provide a method validly usable for guiding the motion of a rope during the winding/unwinding thereof by means of a respective winch.
• a guiding method for guiding the motion of a rope, whose main features will be described in at least one of the appended claims .
• FIG. 1 shows an industrial equipment provided with a rope-guiding device of the prior art
• FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an industrial equipment according to the present invention.
• figure 2 is a first side elevation view of a detail from figure 1, in enlarged scale;
• figure 3 is a second side elevation view of a detail from figure 1 in a plurality of distinct operating positions;
• figure 4 shows a second preferred embodiment of a detail from figure 3.
• number 1 indicates, in its entirety, an industrial equipment usable in combination with a winch 100 designed to wind and unwind a rope/a cable 2, preferably, although without limitation, of the spin-resistant type produced according to the prior art described above using a plurality of strands arranged in concentric layers.
• a winch 100 designed to wind and unwind a rope/a cable 2, preferably, although without limitation, of the spin-resistant type produced according to the prior art described above using a plurality of strands arranged in concentric layers.
• Each cross-section of such a rope 2 has an essentially circular shape that, in use, remains substantially unchanged even when subjected to high tractive stress.
• the industrial equipment 1 comprises a first frame 5, which is arranged, in use, near the winch 100 and is integrally maintained in stable position with respect to it.
• This first frame 5 extends along a longitudinal direction L preferably parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum 101 of the winch 100.
• the first frame 5 supports a moving group 15 designed, in use, to translate a movable equipment 11 with a reciprocating motion along the longitudinal direction L. It should be specified that the width of this reciprocating motion is substantially equivalent to the longitudinal extension of the drum 101 in order to facilitate, in use, the regular winding of the rope 2 onto the drum 101 in turns arranged orderly adjacent to one other.
• the moving group 15 comprises, preferably although without limitation, one first and one second cylindrical shafts 16' and 16' ' parallel to each other and to the longitudinal direction L.
• the movable equipment 11 comprises a base 12 carried by the first shaft 16' in a freely sliding manner, and screwed to the second shaft 16''.
• the second shaft 16' ' presents centrally a double- threaded screw stably engaged with an abutment member, that is known and therefore not shown for the sake of practicality, and that is carried rigidly by the base 12.
• the second shaft 16' 1 is connected with the drum 101 by means of one first drive device 18 of the known type and is driven into rotation, in use, by the same drum 101 so that the rotation of the double-threaded screw of the second shaft 16'' drawn into reciprocating rectilinear motion the base 12 of the movable equipment 11, free to slide on the first shaft 16'.
• the first drive device 18 is preferably mechanical and may comprise, for instance, although without limitation, a chain drive.
• this first drive device 18 has a given reduction ratio, preferably defined during the design phase according to the features of the winch 100 and the rope 2, so that the reciprocating motion of the movable equipment 11 is correctly synchronised with the rotation of the drum 101.
• the first drive device 18 may be therefore interpreted as a device for synchronising the motion of the movable equipment 11 with the rotation of the drum 101 and, for the sake of simplicity, this synchronising device will be indicated with the same number 18.
• the base 12 carries one first bracket 21 in a freely rotating manner around the first shaft 16'.
• This first bracket 21 presents a substantially bridge-shaped profile and is provided with a pair of first arms 21', that are arranged preferably, although without limitation, in a mirror-like/symmetrical manner with respect to a transverse median plane of the base 12.
• the base 12 also carries a second bridge-shaped bracket 22 in a freely rotating manner around the second shaft 16''.
• This second bracket 22 is provided with a pair of second arms 22 ' , that are arranged preferably, although without limitation, in a mirrorlike/symmetrical manner with respect to a transverse median plane of the base 12.
• first bracket 21 and the second bracket 22 are connected to each other in an articulated manner by means of a pair of connecting rods 23 arranged preferably, although without limitation, in a mirror-like/symmetrical manner with respect to a common transverse plane of symmetry of the first and second brackets 21 and 22.
• each connecting rod 23 is arranged between a first arm 21' and a second arm 22 ' to couple the first and second bracket 21/22 together.
• each connecting rod 23 presents preferably, although without limitation, a cylindrical intermediate portion 23' and a pair of end portions 23'' arranged to couple to respective first and second arms 21' and 22' in a freely rotating manner around an axis of rotation parallel to le longitudinal direction L.
• each end portion 23'' may be preferably, although without limitation, . substantially T- shaped to act as a coupling head 23' ' designed to engage, in -a substantially form-fitting manner, a respective first seat 24 (shown in figure 4) associated with a first or second bracket 21/22 and, particularly, provided in a first end portion 21'' of each first arm 21' and in a second end portion 22'' of each second arm 22' .
• each coupling head 23'' is coupled in a rolling manner to a respective first arm 21' or to a respective second arm 22' coupled through the interposition of roller bearings designed to react to loads acting both axially and radially so as to limit the friction of the rotating coupling between the first bracket 21/the second bracket 22 and the connecting rod 23.
• each of the seats 24 may be provided preferably, although without limitation, by means of a pair of forked members arranged parallel to each other and spaced from each other by such a dimensioned distance to house a respective coupling head 23''.
• each first seat 24 may be provided by means of a pair or holed plates designed to house with clearance side extensions of a respective coupling head 23'' that may be T-shaped.
• each connecting rod 23 may present a cylindrical intermediate portion 23', axially delimited by respective threaded ends, each designed to couple to one respective head/end portion 23'', for instance provided with a respective axial seat, grooved and adequately sized to house the same intermediate portion 23' .
• each connecting rod 23 finely and substantially continuously by acting on the respective threaded coupling between the intermediate portion 23' and the end portions 23'', and therefore to adjust the distance between the end portions of the first and second arms 21' and 22', and therefore the angle between the first plate 21 and the second plate 22.
• the set of the base, of a first arm 21' , of a second arm 22' and of the connecting rod 23 arranged between the respective first and second end portions 21'' and 22'' may be interpreted as an articulated four-bar linkage that is associated with the movable equipment 11.
• the movable equipment 11 therefore comprises one pair of articulated four-bar linkages 25 that are adjacent to each other.
• the base 12 carries one pair of articulated four-bar linkages 25, arranged in a mirror-like/symmetrical manner with respect to a transverse median plane of symmetry of the movable equipment 11 and therefore able to change continuously the inclination of the respective connecting rods 23 following the movement of one of the first arms 21' or one of the second arms 22'.
• the base 12 of the movable equipment 11 may be also interpreted as a second frame 12 for each articulated four- bar linkage 25.
• first and second bracket 21 and 22 connecting respectively the pairs of first arms 21' and of second arms 22' in correspondence of the respective first and second end portions 21'' and 22'', forces, in use, the first and second ends 21'' and 22'' of the first and second arms 21' and 22', therefore of the ends of the connecting rods 23, to move with a substantially identical angular motion.
• the aim of the first and second brackets 21 and 22_ is therefore to time the angular movements of the first and second arms 21' and 22'.
• first and second brackets 21 and 22 represent therefore timing members for timing the operation of the two articulated four-bar linkages 25 suitable to maintain the connecting rods 23 of the two articulated four-bar linkages 25 constantly parallel to each other.
• each intermediate portion 23' of a connecting rod 23 carries, in a freely rotating manner, a respective return member 26, preferably a sheave 26 provided with a respective groove 26' for the wire rope 2.
• the movable equipment 11 particularly comprises a pair of sheaves 26 adjacent to each other, substantially coplanar and arranged near each other so that the two grooves 26' face each other and define a substantially circular second seat 27, whose diameter is slightly greater than the diameter of the same wire rope 2.
• the two sheaves 26 may be substantially identical, or one of "the two sheaves 26 may have greater dimensions than the other sheave, so that, as illustrated in figure 2, the respective groove 26' houses, inside itself, the outer edges of the other sheave 26.
• each groove 26' preferably presents a radius slightly greater than the radius of the rope 2, so as to maximise the side surface of the groove 26' engaged, in use, by the same rope 2. In this way, the shearing stress that in the prior art devices is concentrated, in use, onto a single strand of the rope 2, in the equipment 1 according to the present invention is distributed on a larger portion of the outer surface of the rope 2 and therefore on more strands. Consequently, the rope 2 is subjected, in use, to a reduced specific pressure with reference to the respective portion wound onto one of the two sheaves 26. This obviously allows to minimise the risks of breakage or damages of the strands due to a prolonged use of the rope 2.
• each articulated four-bar linkage 25 may be interpreted as an articulated support device for at least one respective sheave 26.
• the set of the moving group 15 and the movable equipment 11 provided with at least one articulated support device 25 and at least one sheave 26 defines a guiding group 10 for guiding the motion of the rope 2 actuated by the winch 100.
• each connecting rod 23 has lower longitudinal extension than the transverse dimension of the second frame 12 of the respective articulated four- bar linkage 25, whilst the first and second arms 21' and 22' have substantially identical longitudinal extension.
• Each first arm 21' and each second arm 22' may be therefore interpreted, respectively, as a first and a second rocker arm for the respective articulated four-bar linkage 25 and, for the sake of simplicity, these first and second rocker arms will be therefore indicated with the same reference numbers 21' and 22'.
• the rope 2 is able to exert a traction on the guiding group 10 transversally to the longitudinal direction L, and this traction causes, substantially in an automatic manner, the sheaves 26 to be re-directed so that the rope 2 is constantly coplanar to the median plane of symmetry of the same sheaves 26 and aligned with the respective grooves 26'.
• this way it is possible to minimise the friction that occurs in the rope- guiding devices of the prior art when the rope changes the layer of winding onto the drum of the winch.
• the equipment 1 comprises a balancing group 30 of the known type, carried at the bottom by said articulated support group 25 and able to prevent, in use, an articulated four-bar linkage 25 / a sheave 26 from being actuated by the only gravity.
• this balancing group 30 may comprise preferably, although without limitation, a counterweight balancing device 300 suitable, in use, to balance the natural tendency of the articulated support group 25 to move downwards under the weight of the sheaves 26.
• this balancing device 300 preferably comprises a respective articulated chain provided with a first lever 31, carried rigidly by the base 12 and pivoted at opposite side on a 1st class second lever 32 carrying, at one its own end, a respective counterweight 35.
• This second lever 32 is pivoted, at opposite side from the counterweight 35, at a third lever 33 that is, in turn, articulated with a fourth lever carried rigidly by the first bracket 21 of the movable equipment 11.
• the moving group 15 may comprise one or two prismatic guides of any shape, not necessarily cylindrical, and a known drag device actuated in a mechanically independent way by the drum 101, but anyway in synchronised manner with the rotation of the drum.
• the balancing group 30 may comprise, instead of "the counterweight device 300, a return elastic device 301 arranged, in use, between the base 12 of the movable equipment 11 and the winch 100.
• This elastic device 301 is provided with at least one return member 36, for instance a helical spring 36, presenting one first end connected to the base 12 of the movable equipment 11 and one second end connected to a prolongation of a first, or second arm 21' /22' extending at opposite side from the respective connecting rod 23 with respect to the corresponding first or second shaft 16'/16''.
• the first end of the return member 36 is connected to the base 12 through the interposition of a screw 37 housed in a respective third threaded seat 38 provided in an abutment integrally connected to the same base 12.
• a screw 37 housed in a respective third threaded seat 38 provided in an abutment integrally connected to the same base 12.
• the use of the industrial equipment 1 is clearly apparent from the description above and does not require further explanations; however it should be advisable to further specify that the use of this equipment allows to minimiser the side loads and the shearing actions exerted, in use, on ropes actuated by means of winches, above all when the fleet angle is particularly wide. Therefore the use of the industrial equipment 1 according to the present invention allows to prolong the operating life of the ropes and to prevent accidents and injuries due to a sudden breakage of these ropes.
• the present invention also relates to a method validly usable for guiding the motion of a rope during the winding and/or unwinding thereof by means of a respective winch.
• This method comprises a first step of axially inserting one rope 2 inside the respective second seat 27 peripherally delimited by the grooves 26* of the adjacent sheaves 26.
• the method of the present invention further comprises a step of moving, in a reciprocating motion along the longitudinal direction L, a portion of the rope 2 arranged, in use, near the drum 101 so that the rope 2 can be wound or unwound onto the drum 101 in an orderly manner.
• the step of moving a portion of the rope 2 in a reciprocating motion along the longitudinal direction L comprises a sub- step of .synchronising the translation motion of the movable equipment 11 with respect to the rotary motion of the drum 101.
• this method further comprises a step of changing, preferably in a continuous and automatic manner, the inclination of the sheaves 26 with respect to the base 12 of the movable equipment 11 through the pull action of the rope 2.
• This step can be interpreted as a step of rotating the median plane of symmetry of the sheaves 26 with respect to the base 12 and therefore with respect to the return plane of the movable equipment 11 delimited by the axes of symmetry of the first and second shafts 16' and 16 1 '.
• this step of continuously changing the inclination of the sheaves 26 is associated a simultaneous step of rotating at least one connecting rod 23 of an articulated four-bar linkage 25 caused by the change in the pull direction transmitted by the rope 2.
• this step of adjusting the longitudinal extension of at least one connecting rod 23 has the following advantages: first of all, it allows to facilitate the assembly of the connecting rods 23 that, due to the fact that they are provided with roller bearings for the connection to the first and second brackets 21/22, require to meet reduced assembly tolerance. Furthermore, the opportunity of adjusting the extension of the connecting rods 23 allows to change the rotation of the plane of the sheaves 26 following the change of the winding layer of the rope 2 onto the drum 101. In this way i"t is possible, during installation, to adapt the industrial equipment 1 to the actual distance between each return sheave 26 for the rope 2 and the winch 100.
• the equipment 1 and the respective guiding method for guiding the motion of industrial ropes allow to solve the technical problem in question, i.e. they allow to prevent undesired damages and to prolong the operating life of industrial wire ropes actuated by means of respective winches .

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Citations (6)

• 2012
  • 2012-12-21 IT IT000027A patent/ITRA20120027A1/it unknown
• 2013
  • 2013-12-20 EP EP13834330.6A patent/EP2935083B1/en not_active Not-in-force
  • 2013-12-20 NO NO13834330A patent/NO2935083T3/no unknown
  • 2013-12-20 WO PCT/IB2013/002855 patent/WO2014096946A1/en active Application Filing

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