Tilting and Anti-sway Devices for Rail-Mounted Container Gantry Cranes

Compared to quay cranes and tire-mounted container gantry cranes, rail-mounted container gantry cranes have simpler tilting and anti-sway devices. Generally, only planar slewing is required, and anti-sway devices are not equipped. However, some anti-sway devices are installed to improve production efficiency and reduce the labor intensity of workers.

(1) Slewing Device. The top surfaces of containers loaded on railway container cars and container trucks in yards and storage areas are relatively flat, so the spreader does not require longitudinal or lateral tilting movements; however, container trucks may tilt when running and stopping, so a planar slewing device is required.

For wire rope drum hoisting mechanisms, the planar slewing mechanism can be composed of wire rope, pulley blocks, wire rope connectors and hinge points, rocker arms and supports, push rods, etc. Push rods come in two types: screw rods and hydraulic cylinders. When a hydraulic cylinder is used as the push rod, a hydraulic control system is also provided. For rigid telescopic hoisting mechanisms, in addition to planar rotation via power, the spreader can also float (without power) in both longitudinal and lateral directions to adapt to the tilt of the container's upper surface.

Planar rotation can be achieved by driving with hydraulic cylinders on both sides.

 (2) Anti-sway device. If a rail-mounted container gantry crane needs to be equipped with an anti-sway device, two methods are generally used.

① When the hoisting mechanism is a wire rope drum type, the anti-sway device is achieved by two diagonally connected thin steel cables, one end of which is connected to one corner of the spreader, and the other end is wound onto a damping drum. When the trolley or crane starts or brakes, the inertial force of the spreader and the container is transmitted to the damping wire rope, and its swing energy is absorbed by the damping drum. The damping force of the damping drum is generally achieved in two ways: torque motor, friction drum combination system, and hydraulic damping system.

② Rigid anti-sway device. The rigid anti-sway device is mainly achieved through a rigid hoisting frame and guiding device.