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Material Handling Equipment...
Material Handling Equipment...
(d) Hydraulic Jack: Hydraulic Jacks work on the principle that, the pressureexerted by a liquid on
a surface, is proportional to the area of the surface. Due to this principle, Jacks are capable of
lifting greatweight. Surface pressure exerted by a liquid depends upon the ratioof face areas of
the ram and plunger.
Hydraulic jack works on the same principle as that of hydraulicpress. These are used to
lift loads, and are commonly used or liftingautomobiles to facilitate cleaning and repair work.
These are usedto lift heavy loads through a short distance.It is provided with plunger on one side.
This plunger isreciprocated by a handle attached to it. Another side ofthejack isprovided with a
ram, by means of which loads are lifted.
Up and down motion ofthe handle reciprocates the plunger. This movement of the
plunger draws the water (or oil) from the reservoir and delivers to the cylinder fitted with the
lifting ram through the delivery valve. Both the suction and delivery valves are the non-return
valves. Addition of high pressure water at the bottom of the ram causes it to move upward.
Loads can be placed at thetop of the ram.
Load is lowered with the help of a lowering screw. By unscrewing it, high pressure water
from the bottom of the ram rushes to the reservoir, thus reducing the pressure of the water below
the ram and causes the ram and hence the load to come down.
Theoretical force on the ram = Force on the plunger x Ratio ofareas
Actual force on the ram =Theoretical force x Efficiency
Velocity ratio of Jack =
x Leverage
2. Pulleys
A pulley is a small sheave or wheel with a grooved rim usually mounted on a pin on
which it turns, a frame or block in which itruns and with a flexible rope or chain passing through
the groove.A unit consisting of one or more sheaves mounted in a frame is known as 'block'.
Block is mostly equipped with an eye, a hook or some similar device at one or both ends of the
frame, by which objects can be attached. In pulley system, fixed or movable pulleys are
connected in different combinations.
The system of pulley block is used for lifting loads through vertical distance and is most
simple and inexpensive in cost. Thisis one of the oldest system of getting mechanical advantages.
3. Winch
Winches are used to lift loads vertically by winding the rope or cable on a drum. These
can be operated manually or by power to get a much greater mechanical advantage than that
obtained with the help of a block and tackle (pulleysystem). It is frequently used in loading
heavy equipment into ships,construction industry and in similar other jobs.
Capacity of a winch can be increased by increasing the number of gear trains. These are
very useful, simple and low cost equipmentfor lifting heavy loads. Ratchet brakes may be fitted
on the winchto hold a suspended load and to prevent reverse travel of gears andthus provide
safety against accidental dropping of load.
4. Power Hoist
Fig. shows a power hoist, which is often operated between fixed guide rails, for lifting
things vertically. There is an infinite variety of hoists suitable for different purposes. The
simplest is the chain hoist, which is operated by hand. There are also hoists operated by
compressed air, diesel engine, or by electric power. The hoists are smaller to elevators except
that, a hoist does not carry the operator in it, but is operated from one or two other points.
Hoists used for short distance horizontal hauls are suspended from trolleys or carriers
travelling over an overhead single rail track, commonly a rolled I-beam. In this case trollies are
pushed by handfor capacity under 1 ton or they are fitted with hand-or mechanically operated
drives.
Electrical hoists capable of hoisting speeds between 5 and 25 m/min are available in
capacities ranging between 0.25 and 15 tons. The speed of their travel over a single-rail track
varies depending on the distance to be covered and the purpose the hoist serves.
5. Worm-Wheel Hoists
In these hoists, worm-wheel arrangement is employed with two chains. These uses two
chains, one is called the hand chain while the other as the load chain. The pull applied to the
hand chain is transmitted to the load chain after being multiplied by the mechanical advantage.
The worm is mounted on the shaft of load chain wheel and moves when this chain is pulled,
while the wheelis provided with an extended hub to which two load sheaves are screwed. The
load chain is received over these two sheaves and theload hook is secured to both ends of this
chain. As the worm rotates the rotation is conveyed to the load sheaves through the wheel, and
this raises or lowers the load depending upon the direction of pull of the hand chain.
1.11. Elevators
(1) Hydraulic Elevators
Fig. below shows a hydraulic type elevator, this is differentiated from hoists by the fact that
the operator rides with the loud.Although there are different types of drives for such elevators,
ingeneral the only important type is the electric one. Hydraulic elevators are now used only
where it is dangerous to take the chancean electric spark, as in acetylene generator houses.
Recent developments in elevators have replaced conventional rope type ordinary
elevators by Rack and Pinion type elevators. Earlier elevators (rope type) required, machinery
room for housingthe machinery and could be used only after the complete building
and the lift room have been made, which is a permanent installation. Present day elevators- rack
and pinion type can stand on their own base and go upto18 metres without any support, and
hence can start working right from the very first day the work on the construction site starts. This
can stop anywhere in between levelsor wherever we want to stop it, while conventional elevator
stopsonly at predetermined levels. New elevator is simple, rugged andeasy to maintain. Using the
same tower of this type of elevator,concrete skip can also be provided on the other side of the
tower,which can run independently without disturbing the passenger cage. For very high
structures like cooling towers, chimneys andT.V. towers, these can be made to travel even on
inclined/curved surfaces, and cango upto a height of 600 meters.
By using these elevators speed of work enhances considerably,and makes supervision
easy which otherwise by climbing such aheight becomes difficult and making sufficient and
satisfactorysupervision is almost impossible.
Because of the above mentioned advantages, and saferoperation, as these stop smoothly
in case of any fault in the system,the rack and pinion type elevator hoists are fast replacing the
conventional rope type elevator hoists.
(2) Bucket Elevators
Refer earlier section on 'conveyors' in this chapter.
(3) Monorails
In this system, loads are suspended from wheeled carriers ortrollies that are rolled along
an overhead track. The carrier wheelsgenerally roll along the top surface of the rail forming the
track,whereas trollies are supported from or within an overhead trackand connected by an
endless propelling medium such as chain orcable. These have low operating costs, require little
maintenance,utilises overhead space releasing the floor space.
The monorails are mostly used for point to point move followinga fixed path, handling
through connecting buildings, handling ladlesfor pouring molten metals. These are suitable for
low volume andlow speed handling.
(4) Hydraulic Lift
It consists of a cylinder and a ram: A platform or a cage is fittedat the top of the ram.
Load or the persons are carried from one floorto another floor by means of these platforms or
cages. Water underpressure enters the bottom of the cylinder and pushes the ramupward. Thus
ram moves up along with a case, in which load andpersons may be there. In this type oflift
(known as direct acting lift)stroke of the ram is equal to the lift of the cage. The cage
movesbetween guides and can be stayed at any level so that one can get in or out of the cage to
the floor. For lowering it high pressure wateris gradually taken out.
Direct acting lifts require deep wells for the ram and cylinder.To overcome this difficulty,
modified form of hydraulic lifts fittedwith jigger are common. By providingjigger, these lifts
require smallram and cylinder and thereby reduces the cost of construction. Thecage is
suspended with the wire rope and gets its motion by means of a Jigger, in the same way as the
hydraulic crane.
Such type of lifts are commonly known as suspended type of lifts, and is shown in Fig.
below.
Now-a-days electric lifts are very common and hydraulic liftsare not so common. But
hydraulic lifts are very useful at the placeswhere electric supply is not available.
1.12. Cranes
Cranes have wide application in construction projects,industries, shipping etc. These are
used for lifting the loads (maybe construction materials, loose materials, packages,
containers,finished and semifinished products in industries etc.) and placing them at desired
place. For this purpose the cranes have three motions in general, namely hoisting, derricking and
slewing. The
cranes are generally electrically operated, diesel operated or may have diesel-electric drive.
The cranes can be classified in following classes:
Derrick cranes.
Mobile cranes.
Hydraulic cranes.
Overhead cranes, also known as Gantry cranes.
Traveller cranes.
Tower cranes.
1.13. Transport Equipment
These are the devices which are used for horizontal motion. Transport equipment can be
categorised into following categories:
Non-Powered Equipment.
Powered Equipment.
Supports and containers.
1. Non-Powered Equipment
These are the equipment operated manually. Following aresome of the common non-
powered i.e. manually operated equipment.
(1) Wheel Barrow:
These have single or double wheel fitted generally in the front, and
pushed by a man as shown in the Fig.
(2) Hand Trucks:
The simplest transporting devices are wheel barrows and handtrucks. These are still in
use by a number of small industries allover the country. Fig. below shows a Hand truck and a
wheeler, used to carry material inside the shops.
All such equipments involve a large amount of manpower for are relatively small load.
The chief advantages of this equipment is itsvery low cost, great flexibility and easy portability
from one job toanother.
(3) Box Trolley:
Box trollies are used for transporting finished products.
(4) Platform Trolley:
This is a small low platform type load carriers with one or more small rollers or wheels.
These are used to carry low volumes forshort distances and variable paths and are suitable for
large variety of loads.
(5) Pallets:
This is a horizontal platform used as a base of assembling, storing, and handling materials
as a unit load.These are made ofwood, metals or plastic etc. and helps in protecting the goods
fromdamage during handling.
(6) Skids:
These are shown in Fig. below and are used with lift trucks. Goodsmay be loaded into
skids and then picked up with lift trucks. Theskid can be loaded as a unit and transferred from
position to position without subsequent loading and unloading. Both skids and palletsraise the
load off the supporting surface and allow the easy insertion of the conveying means.
Some materials are stored on dollies. This can be moved on their casters. Other material
is stored on skids. The most common skids, which can be picked up in either direction, consistof
a wooden platform and four steel legs.
Skids are similar to the pallets, but are heavier and stronger,and are therefore suitable for
heavier loads. These are not suitablefor stacking like pallets, due to having only one face.
2. Powered Equipment
(1) Tractors and Trollies:
These are one of the most common modes of horizontal transportation. Great flexibility is
achieved as tractors can be usedto haul such a variety of different types of trailers. Trailers can
belift-loaded and can be picked up by different tractors. This system has the advantage of great
flexibility plus all the advantages of industrial railways and there is no investment in laying
tracks. This is one of the most important methods of handling material inside the plant, or work
area, and from one building to another.
(2) Trailers:
These are the load carrying platforms mounted on four or more wheels. These are towed
by a prime mover, and steered either through turn table or through wheels.
Two types of trailers are used namely, full trailers and half(semi) trailers Pull trailers,
also known as wagons, are self-supported and are provided with a swiveling axle and a
drawbar for connecting to the prime mover. Semi-trailers are supported on their own wheels only
at the rear, while front end is supported on the prime mover. The semi-trailers have more
maneuverability as compared to full trailers. The front end of the semi-trailers has a goose neck
resting on the rear of the prime-mover(driving unit). The semi-trailers can be turned and operated
in amore limited space than that needed for a truck or for a full trailer,this can turn up to 90
either to the right or to the left without moving forward. This is of more importance in tunnel
work or on narrow mountain roads. It is suitable, where there are no steep grades.
(3) Narrow Gauge Rail Road:
In general, little use is made of such equipment because it requires a heavy investment in
the roadbed and tracks, has little flexibility and is difficult to change at a later date. These were
usedin the days before the development of rubber-tired equipment. They are still found in metal-
working industries (blast furnaces, copper refineries and steel-rolling operations) and in mining
activities,where it is cheaper or more desirable to lay tracks than to pave theentire area.
(4) Platform Lift Truck:
The lifting feature in lift trucks provide clearance in the floor to lift the skids and permits
horizontal transportation. These are generally operated by battery or diesel engine.
(5) Crane Truck:
Small crane trucks operate on the same principle aslift trucks. They are used for materials
that cannot be put on skids,or not available for skids at the present time, or too much heavy to
handle in the lift trucks. This moves quickly over smooth, even andhard ground. This can be
carried at will and to any place. In these cranes, the solid rubber tyres are used.
The cranes are rotary type, so that the load can be lifted from any position.
(6) Fork Lift Trucks:
Auto trucks need no particular explanation except for the development of tail board
called fork, which will receive the load atground level and elevate it hydraulically to the level of
the ceiling heights, so that all manual lifting is avoided. When theload is to be shifted from one
shop to another, fork trucks are used.These trucks do not require any extra man, and driver
operatingthe truck can lift, carry, unload, stack, un-stack, lower the materials.S elf-loading and
unloading can be earned out by providing a forkat the front end of the truck.
Front attachment of the truck various with the type of load to be lifted and may consist of
crane scoop, hydraulic clamp, hydraulic wood clamp, hydraulic pipe clamp or hydraulic bucket
instead of the fork.
Fork lift trucks ore widely used in workshops, stores and inconstruction works. These are
used for handling cartons, boxes,crates, bag? etc. and by using various attachment they can also
be utilised for timber handling including logs, heavy coils, sheet metal,large size tyres, drums
etc.
1.14. Containers and Supports
Based on unit load principle, material is kept in containers oron supports so as to handle
them conveniently and economicallywithout any risk of damage etc. Some of the commonly
usedcontainers and supports are described hereunder:
(1) Pallet Box:
A box is constructed on a pallet The box is made from wood,sheet metal, wire mesh etc.
depending upon its requirement i.e.permanent, detachable or collapsible. These help in easy
inventory,
easy handling of un-stackable material and minimises packing of individual items, easy storage
and arc reusable.
(2) Skid Box:
These are made of skids and are similar to pallet box.
(3) Bulk container:
Bulk container is used to transport material in bulk as a singleunit generally from 3 cum
to 6 cum capacity. These are especiallyuseful in handling powdered, granular or liquid material.
Thesecontainers are made of metal, plastic, wood etc. depending upon thetype of material. These
are transported on trucks or trailers. Sometimes these containers are made collapsible for ease
during theirreturn when empty. These are very suitable for transportingmaterial which are likely
to be affected by weather and there arechances of pilferage or contamination.
(4) Shipping Container:
These containers are designed to facilitate shipment ofmaterials or goods by large trailers,
ships or air. Duringtransportation these are sealed to avoid pilferage andcontamination. This
saves handling of individual item, reducespackaging and packing costs.
1.15. Bulk Handling Equipment
Most manufacturing concerns producing powdered or granular materials, refineries,
construction industry find it necessary totransport their materials; in some type of packages
suitable for manual handling like drums, bags etc. but these are costly to provide, fill and handle.
It is therefore become necessary to use forklift trucks, hopper bottom trucks, shipping containers,
tankers,trailers and transport them through road, rail road, air or sea. These transport equipment
have already been discussed in earlier part ofthis chapter.
For storage of these bulk materials silos, tanks, hoppers, etc.are used. Silos are common
in storing very large quantities ofpowdered materials like cement etc. These are high steel and
cement structures with circular cross -section. The material is delivered intothe top of the silo by
an elevator or a conveyor. The material is removed from the silo from its conical bottom into a
truck. A valveis fitted at the bottom of the silo to control the delivered quantity.
1.16. Feeding Equipment
During processing in any industry, it is essential for effective and efficient performance
to have a uniformly controlled feed.Uniform feeding operation and its control is obtained either
by mechanical or electrical means. Mechanical feeders are generally offollowing types :
Adjustable feed opening.
Adjustable speed.
Vibratory.
In order to control the feeding rate or to achieve the varying feeding requirements,
mechanical feeders (generally hoppers) areequipped with provision of adjusting the gates at feed
opening, orvariable speed drives. Selection of the type and size of the feeder depends upon
capacity requirement, material characteristics and size, flow ability, moisture contents etc.
Commonly used feeding arrangements are:
(a) Belt Feeders: These ore the short belts and feeds the material at uniform rates. These are
provided at the bottom of the hopper and extract the material from it. For varying the rate of
discharge the speed of feed belt is varied as per requirement.
(b) Hoppers with Adjustable Gates and Chutes: These are used for feeding the material to the
belt conveyors.These are used for uniform loading the running belt through a chute and rate of
material flow is controlled through gates at the mouthof the chutes. These gates can be controlled
either manually, or hydraulically or electrically or by means of compressed air chute isused to
discharge the material on the conveyor belt in its direction of movement, so as to reduce the
impact of material on belt. The size of the chute opening should be designed in such a way so as
to avoid spillage of material from belt, and also avoid blockage of opening by lumpy material, if
any. The inner walls of the chute should be lined with the anti-abrasive material. Toavoid the
spillageof material and guiding the material on belt, two rubber pads are
also provided on the sides at the loading point.
(c) Vibrating Feeders: When loading non-free flow materials, vibrating feeders areused.
Vibrations are produced by electro-magnetic means or mechanical means. This feeding system is
most suitable for almost all types of bulk materials: may it be dry or damp, hot or cold, orfine or
coarse size grains. The vibrating mechanism is fitted eitheron the wall of the hopper above the
chute or in case of rectangular container the device is fitted at the bottom plate to produce
vibrations.
1.17. Handling of Construction Materials
For bulk handling the construction materials, equipment usedare:
For aggregate, stones, sand, earth etc., dump trucks,dumpers etc. are used for transportation
while loaders areused for loading into them.
For excavation, lifting and loading of materials back hoe,dragline, clamshells are used.
For transportation of cement, silos are used.
For transportation of bitumen, bitumen bowsers/tankerswith heating arrangement are used.
For transportation of cement concrete, transit mixers oragitating mixers are used.
For transportation of cement and steels, trucks or trailersare used.
1.18. Ware-Housing Equipment
Main function of the warehousing is the safe keeping of goods and provides overall
control of the entire function. Over all control include economy, proper coordination of
necessary activities,facilities and manpower. Activities involved in the warehousing are
Receiving.
Identification and sorting.
Dispatching to storage.
Placing in the storage.
Storage.
Order picking.
Order accumulation.
Packing.
Loading.
Shipping.
Record keeping and control.
For mechanisation in a warehouse, above mentioned activities need be mechanised. For
this purpose various factors are requiredto be considered to identify the activities for
mechanisation and itsextent. The equipments should be selected out of a wide range tosuit these
activities.
Final selection of specific equipment is carried out after careful analysis of various
factors as already discussed for selection of material handling equipment.
Warehousing Activities and Commonly used Equipment
Commonly used equipment for various warehousing activities are indicated below:
1.19. Bulk Transport Equipment (Hauling Equipment)
These units transport the earth, aggregate, rock, ore, coals and other materials: Hauling
units may be road vehicles or rail road locomotives. Haulage mainly consists of trailers pulled by
tractorsor trucks. Trucks have high mobility and can haul various types ofmaterials. But their
performance and output is greatly hampered on rough roads and in bad weather. For better
performance, greater road maintenance with lesser grade is required. Whereas rubber tyred
tractors with separate wagons have better mobility and haulage speeds on less maintained rough
roads and can carry heavier loads than that of trucks. Crawler tractors with wagons are employed
when roads are very rough and maintenance of roads isvery costly. These are used for short hauls
due to low speeds.Locomotives are suitable for long distance haulage on a fixed route,which is
likely to be continued for a long period. These can be usedin any weather, and rail road
equipment require less maintenance.
Road vehicles used for haulage works are of two types:
On-highway vehicles.
Off-highway vehicles.
On-highway vehicles are designed to be used on publichighways, whereas off-highway:
vehicles are designed to be used onconstruction sites and mining areas, and are designed
andmanufactured to preclude their use on public roads and thus theymay or may not comply with
legal on-highway limitations.
1.20. Dump trucks
Dump trucks are open vehicles which are capable of carryingand dumping earth,
aggregate or other loose material to sites ofvarious projects such as dams, highways, ports etc.
Generallyheavy-duty machines of more than 10 tonnes payload are intendedfor on-site haulage
of construction or mine materials. Dump trucksin many sizes with pay loads ranging upto more
than 300 tonnes are available. These may have two axle or three axle, and may be 4x 2 (2 wheels
driven out of 4); 4 x 4 (all 4 wheels driven out of 4);6x4(4 wheels driven out of 6).
Special features of dump trucks usually include: heavy dutyall-welded chassis to sustain
rough ground conditions, extra largewheel and tyre to support load and give good ground
clearance, ultraheavy duty tipping bodies constructed with high tensile steel to
withstand damage from high impart and highly abrasive materials.
As mentioned earlier the dump trucks are of two types, namelyon-highway and off-
highway.
On-Highway Dump Trucks
For a construction and mining project Dump truck is a very common and essential
equipment and is available in various sizes and types. These on-highway dump trucks are
generally classified by the volumetric or tonnage payload capacity. Generally dump trucks of
capacities ranging between 3 to 25 cu m are commonly used with a speed upto 80 km per hour.
However, dump trucks ofmore than 200 cu m (300 tonnes) capacity have also been
manufactured.
On-highway dump trucks have chassis, prime-mover and power transmission system
similar to that of truck, whereas the body inthe dump truck is heavy duty type and is capable of
tilting towards one side by means of hydraulic jacks and can be operated from thecabin On on-
highway dump trucks, a tail gate is provided at therear so that while moving on the highway, the
materials do not fellon the road. The tailgate opens when the body is doing the tipping operation
for dumping the material. The speed with which on-highway dump truck, travel is high and can
be upto 80 km perhour or so depending upon the condition of the road.
Off-Highway Dump Trucks
These are used off the highway specially in earth moving and mining applications. These
are commonly known as Dumpers. The body construction is specially designed to absorb high-
impact loading. The floor of the body is of high-tensile steel to reduce abrasion damage. The
ratio of gross vehicle weight to horsepower is generally lower than for an on-highway dump
truck. Top speed of off-highway dump truck is very slow (30-40 km per hour). Since these are
used on rough roads, oversize air cleaners and filters, shockproof mounting of all instruments,
dust-proofing of electrical system, cushioned mounting for radiators etc. are provided.
To satisfy a particular set of job requirements, an off-highwaydump truck can be selected
out of various types available. Maintypes of off-highway dump trucks are:
Rear Dump trucks.
Bottom Dump trucks.
Side Dump trucks.
1.21. Summary
In this unit we have studied
Selection of materials handling devices
Types of materials handling equipment
Conveying equipment (conveyors)
Traction Type Conveyors
Cage Elevators, Escalators.
Traction Type Conveyors
Tractionless-Type Conveyors
Hoisting Equipment
Hoisting machines
Elevators
Transport equipment
Non-powered equipment
Containers of Supports
Bulk handling equipment
Feeding equipment
Handling of construction materials
Warehousing equipment.
Bulk Transport Equipment (Hauling Equipment)
Dump trucks
1.22. Keywords
Hoisting Equipment
Hoisting machines
Elevators
Transport equipment
Non-powered equipment
Containers of Supports
Bulk handling equipment
Feeding equipment
Warehousing equipment.
Hauling Equipment
Dump trucks
1.23. Exercise
1. Explain selection of material handling devices.
2. What are the different types of material handling equipments? Explain.
3. Write short notes on Conveying Equipment. List the different types.
4. Explain belt conveyors and its types.
5. Write notes on roller, chain and elevating conveyors.
6. Explain Cage elevators and escalators.
7. What are tractionless type conveyor? Explain a few types.
8. Write short notes on Pneumatic conveyors.
9. Elaborate on Hoisting equipment and machines.
10. Write short notes on Jacks and its types.
11. Write short notes on following:
a) Pulleys,
b) Winch,
c) Worm- Wheel hoist and
d) Power hoist.
12. What are the different types of Elevators? Explain.
13. Write a short notes on Transport Equipment and its types.
14. What are Containers and supports and their uses?
15. What are the different types of Feeding Equipment? Explain.
16. Write notes on Hauling Equipment.
17. What is Bulk Handling Equipment? How do you handle construction materials?