Electrolift offers custom engineered solutions for all manufacturing applications where quality and reliability are critical to success.

Shupper-Brickle Equipment contacted the Electrolift team to help them find a solution to this lifting challenge.

The Challenge: Shupper-Brickle Equipment’s customer required a hoist to meet extensive safety standards including dual redundant hoist brakes. For most applications, a dual braking feature refers to the standard hoist motor brake plus a Weston type mechanical load brake. However, the hoist in question would be used with a load bar on the hook at all times, and a mechanical load brake requires a removal of all weight from the hook between picks to allow the required lubrication between the disks.

The Solution: Electrolift hoists are manufactured with a worm gear drive for high-powered lifting that also acts as a second load brake. A high-ratio worm gear is considered a secondary brake, because it resists being back-driven and won’t lock up. The hoist motor can transmit motion through the gear reducer, but the load cannot transmit motion back through the gear reducer.The final unit was a 5000 lb wire rope hoist with true vertical lift built for this low-headroom application with close end approaches. To meet the end-user’s safety requirements, the hoist also included motor thermal protection for both the hoist and trolley motors, safety drop lugs on the trolleys, a trolley travel limit switch with adjustable triggers, a geared upper and lower limit switch, and an overload device configured for no loss of headroom.