From Viper WRL 04/27/2021 10:02:11 AM
While a wide variety of material handling equipment is used in the shipping sector, cranes are particularly important. Ship cranes are used to facilitate the heavy lifting and moving of bulk materials and cargo from one location to another. Cranes are critical machines for all types of ship work, whether it is ship-to-shore work or building offshore oil platforms.
The current manual application of cleaning and grease jib ropes on marine cranes typically requires workers to be hung by the ropes that carry lube pails and brushes.
Safety concerns for suspended workers and the possibility of injury from broken cords are of great concern. This manual lubrication method is labor intensive and there is a potential for environmental pollution from excess lubricant dripping off the ropes.
The manual lubrication process only coats the outer wires and does not allow the lubricant to penetrate the inner sections of the rope. This leads to internal corrosion and excessive friction, which leads to very short relubrication intervals. The manual method also typically does not include cleaning the ropes prior to application, resulting in less effective lubrication.
As safety standards have improved and the demand for efficient productivity has increased, it has become apparent that the marine crane industry needs a specific solution to safely and effectively lubricate the wire ropes on board these vessels.
Over the past 30 years as companies have become more safety conscious and pressures to improve productivity have been exerted, Viper WRL has seen increased demand for its products. The Viper WRL allows wire ropes to be safely and effectively lubricated while greatly improving the potential for extending their service life.
The Viper WRL eliminates manual cleaning and lubrication, reduces downtime and thus improves equipment availability. This is a safer way of lubricating wire ropes and reduces the consumption of lubricant, which has the advantage of less leakage and less contamination compared to manual lubrication. Viper WRL’s best practice solutions have established themselves as global leaders in this area and now support over 70 countries with a globally well-established sales network.
In constant consultation with the ship crane industry, the safety concerns of our customers in maritime transport were taken into account when treating lubricating wire ropes and a tailor-made solution was developed to ensure safe and effective lubrication of their ship’s edge wire ropes.
This design resulted in a solution that was tested by our engineering team on a customer’s ship. The product solution, training documentation and a comprehensive training video have been developed to provide the maritime sector with a safe, simple and effective solution for the lubrication of its ship’s edge wire ropes.
The solution provides best practices for wire rope lubrication while reducing all of the traditional safety concerns associated with marine crane jib lubrication. The Viper WRL solutions offer;
Improved health, safety and the environment
- Viper operator safely positioned on the two platforms at the end of the boom
- Viper operators have no direct contact with the lubricant
- The Viper system is cleaner in operation, excess lubricant is collected and can be reused
Reduced workload
- The Viper system requires 2 people and lubrication is +/- 7 m / min
- The Viper system lubricates the wire strands both internally and externally and typically doubles the lubrication intervals.
Clean the operation
- When used properly, the Viper WRL will create a minimum to no clutter
- When using the Viper WRL system, all of the lubricant stays on the rope with no waste
- The Viper system does not require any rags for lubrication
Improved lubricant effectiveness
- The unique seal design of the Viper WRL brings the lubricant into the core of the wire rope, which significantly reduces corrosion and friction and thus significantly extends the service life of the operating rope
Effective rope cleaning
- The unique Viper Rope Cleaner removes impurities from the wire rope before lubrication and significantly improves the effectiveness of the lubrication process.
Viper WRL is an expert in wire rope lubrication in a number of industries. Our own production and construction systems as well as our know-how enable us to offer tailor-made solutions for specific industry challenges.
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The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Maritime Executive.
